The year was 1976, and 80 divers from 22 nations travelled from their home countries to compete in the Montreal Summer Olympic Games. With the men’s 3-meter springboard underway, 19-year-old Alexandre Kossenkov of the Soviet Union approached the diving board at the Montreal Olympic Pool. He emerged from his dive with a final score of 567.24 and a bronze medal. Forty years later, Kossenkov, a two-time Olympian, is long retired from his career in competitive diving and can be found focusing his energy and extensive knowledge on coaching Emory divers.
Born in Belarus, Kossenkov moved to Sakhalin, Russia, at a young age. A Moscow coach noticed and recruited Kossenkov after he demonstrated natural talent in the pool at six years old.
“Every day, I practiced two to three hours,” Kossenkov said. “When I got to high school, I practiced for seven hours a day. That was my childhood. That’s how I grew up.”
Kossenkov’s childhood was anything but conventional. To compensate for the hours he spent diving daily, he enrolled into a special school with classes scheduled around diving practices. Kossenkov’s constant discipline and diligence bought him a ticket to the national championship at the Junior Olympics. The Soviet Union National Team recruited 16-year-old Kossenkov, and he competed in his first Olympic Games three years later.
The world saw Kossenkov return to the diving board at the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. Despite his success in the previous Olympic Games, Kossenkov fell short of medaling but still achieved an impressive fifth place.
“My first Olympic Games was much better for me. It was my first Olympics, and I was 19, so of course I was excited,” Kossenkov said. “In Moscow, I got fifth place, but was more mature. I had to quit after Moscow. I was 24 and my coach [told] me, ‘You’re too old for diving.’ ”
Kossenkov’s passion for diving was not curbed upon leaving the Soviet Union’s National Team; he went on to spend two years diving for the Soviet Army. Upon the Soviet Union’s collapse, Kossenkov transitioned to coaching the Belarusian National Diving Team, where he took four athletes to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Issues plaguing the Russian government prompted Kossenkov to relocate to the United States, where it did not take long for him to find his home coaching divers at Emory.
With three University Athletic Association (UAA) Diving Coach of the Year titles and seven students honored as UAA Diver of the Year during his time at Emory, Kossenkov has continued to channel his diving knowledge and expertise into perfecting the dives of student athletes.
“[Kossenkov is] truly understanding and very precise in his coaching,” sophomore Avery Botansky said. “I’ve learned a lot of dives under him and have improved in almost every area since he’s been my coach.”
Another of Kossenjov’s Emory divers, freshman Trevor Burke, took home two first-place victories at last month’s Sewanee Invitational, directly qualifying him for Nationals in May. Burke’s score in the 1-meter, 6 dive was 12.25 points away from the school record.
“We all take away so much from [Kossenkov’s] experiences and all he’s achieved over the years,” Burke said. “He emphasizes how we should never stop trying to improve, never stop trying to break records. He’s an extremely knowledgeable man, and we’re very lucky to have him here.”
Kossenkov, who has been coaching diving for 34 years, attributes his motivation for coaching to his love for the sport.
“I just really like diving,” Kossenkov said. “I had a successful competitive diving career and so far a good career in coaching. I started young, and I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t a part of my life somehow. I’m just used to it and I enjoy it.”
