Viktor Alexandrovich Sidyak (Russian: Ви́ктор Алекса́ндрович Сидя́к; born 24 November 1943) is a Russian former left-handed sabre fencer, a pupil of Mark Rakita and David Tyshler. He was known for his aggressive style and the "one-and-a-half tempo attack".
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Sidyak became the first Soviet sabreur to win individual gold. At the same Olympics, he fenced in the team final with his right eye bandaged over after having a fragment of the ItalianMichele Maffei's blade removed from his eye the previous day. Besides Sidyak, the team consisted of Vladimir Nazlymov, Eduard Vinokurov, and Viktor Bazhenov. The Soviet and Italian teams met again in the finals, Italy taking gold, and USSR silver. In 1994, Maffei's 1972 teammate Mario Aldo Montano invited Sidyak to coach the young fencers, including his own son, at his club in Livorno.[3]
At the world championships Sidyak's won an individual title in 1969 and team titles in 1969–1971, 1974, 1975 and 1979.[citation needed]
As of 2016, Sidyak was the chairman of the professional boxing association of Belarus.[3]
