Sergei Belov

Sergei Alexandrovich Belov (Russian: Сергей Александрович Белов; born January 23, 1944 in Naschtschokowo in the Tomsk Oblast, Soviet Union, † October 3, 2013 in Perm ) was a Soviet- Russian basketball player, coach and functionary.

He won selection as Player of the Soviet Union in 1972 Olympic victory, was several times World and European champions and with CSKA Moscow won the European Cup and is considered one of the most important non-American basketball player.

Career

Association

Below began his career in 1964 at Sverdlovsk in Uralmash now Yekaterinburg. He moved in 1968 to the club CSKA Moscow, where he remained until his retirement in late 1980. In his first season there Below won the European Champions Cup, which he won a second time after a final defeat in the following year 1971. In 1973 a further meeting with CSKA Below the finals of this competition. He also won a total of eleven Soviet championships.

National

Even with the national team of the USSR won Below in his first major competition the title, namely the World Cup 1967. Also in the following three European Championships (1967, 1969, 1971), he won the Soviet selection of gold, to bronze at the 1968 Olympic Games as well as the world Cup 1970. the biggest success for Below followed but with the Olympic gold medal in 1972, in which by a controversial 51:50 triumph at the Olympics an American selection did not win the gold medal for the first time.

After a third place at the European Championship in 1973, he became in 1974 a second time world champion. This was followed by silver medals at the European Championships in 1975 and 1977 and the 1978 World Cup, he also won in 1976 one more time the Olympic bronze medal. With the European Championship title in 1979, he was one of the few players with four title wins at European basketball championships.

At the end of his career he lit the Olympic Games in 1980 the flame. Below is the only basketball player who was given such an honor. In this tournament, he finished with the Soviet selection in third place. Thus Below also won many medals at international tournaments in a total of 15 participants.

Coach

From 1981 to 1982 Below took over as coach at CSKA and led the club to the Soviet Championship. Until 1989, he was then in charge of the youth section of the club. Then he led the team of the Italian Association unterklassigen AD Pallacanestro Cassino until 1993. Below From 1993 to 1998 was president of the Russian Basketball Federation and coach in personal union. He led the national team twice in the World Cup finals (1994 and 1998) as well as EM- Bronze 1997. From 1999 to 2005 he coached the club team Ural Great Perm and was thus involved in the only two championships in the Super League Russia, not CSKA Moscow could decide for themselves. He then moved to the position of general manager of Ural Great.

Awards

Below was founded in 1991 by the World Federation FIBA awarded " Best European Player of All Time". He was in 1992 the first international player who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The ' FIBA Order of Merit ' he received in April 1995. In September 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed him Merited Worker in the field of sport ( recognized items). Followed in 2007 by the inclusion in the FIBA Hall of Fame. Below 2008 was named one of the top 50 players in the history of Europe league.