Oleksandr Anatoliyovych Volkov (; born 29 March 1964), commonly known as Sasha Volkov, is a retired Ukrainian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He was born in

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. At tall, he played at the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

and center positions. He was versatile with the ball and quick on his feet, which made him a very sought after player.

Professional career

Volkov played professionally for Stroitel (1981–1986; 1988–1989), CSKA Moscow (1986–1988),

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

(1989–1992), Panasonic Reggio Calabria (1992–1993), Panathinaikos (1993–1994), Olympiacos (1994–1995), and

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

(2000–2002). In the USSR, he was also selected MVP in 1989, and was one of the key players on the Soviet national team since 1985, winning the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Games. In 1986, he was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 6th round, together with CSKA Moscow teammate Valeri Tikhonenko. Fellow Soviet player Arvydas Sabonis was also drafted late in the first round. This was the second NBA draft when Soviet players were selected, after Alexander Belov was drafted in 1975. Volkov signed with the Hawks three years later on 1 August 1989. His brief career in NBA was hampered by injury as well as competition from several all-star front-men: Dominique Wilkins, Kevin Willis and Moses Malone. Volkov averaged 5 points and close to 2 rebounds per game during his first (89–90) season. After missing the whole next season, he came back stronger, roughly doubling his statistical output on the floor and even starting in 27 games. Afterwards, he chose to continue his career in Europe. He was one of the founders of BC Kyiv. Volkov, who had already retired from playing in 1995, returned to play several games, to help the newly found team in 2000. He later also served as the team's president.

National team career

Volkov won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

, as a member of the senior Soviet Union national basketball team. He also briefly came out of retirement, to play for the senior Ukrainian national basketball team, in 1998.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, 72 , , 4 , , 13.0 , , .482 , , .382 , , .583 , , 1.7 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , .3 , , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 77 , , 27 , , 19.7 , , .441 , , .318 , , .631 , , 3.4 , , 3.2 , , .9 , , .4 , , 8.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 149 , , 31 , , 16.5 , , .455 , , .333 , , .613 , , 2.6 , , 2.2 , , .7 , , .3 , , 6.8

Political career

From 1999 to 2000, Volkov served as a chairman of the State Committee on Sports in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. In June 2007, he was elected the head of the Ukrainian Basketball Federation. Volkov was elected to the

Ukrainian Parliament The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

on the party list of the Our Ukraine Bloc. But against the will of his faction, he joined the Anti-Crisis Coalition, which prompted early elections. In the early parliamentary elections in 2007 he was reelected to Parliament through the

Party of Regions A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

.Волков Александр Анатольевич
file.liga.net Volkov was again elected through the Party of Regions to the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. But left this party's faction in parliament on 17 April 2014. and joined the (then new) faction

Economic Development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

one week later. In the

2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an un ...

Volkov failed to get reelected into parliament; he was number 9 on the election list of Strong Ukraine, but the party won only one constituency parliamentary seat.

Personal life

In 2022, following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Volkov joined Ukrainian volunteers fighting against Russian forces. Volkov's family home in Chernihiv was destroyed by the bombings.