Alexander Alexandrovich Belov, commonly known as Sasha Belov (November 9, 1951 – October 3, 1978), was a Soviet

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. During his playing career, he played at the center position. Belov is most remembered for scoring the game-winning basket of the gold medal game of the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games, which gave the

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 ...

to the senior Soviet national team. In 1978, when just 26 years old, Belov died of cardiac sarcoma, a type of cancer. Belov was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. He was enshrined into the

FIBA Hall of Fame The FIBA Hall of Fame, or FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, honors players, coaches, teams, referees, and administrators who have greatly contributed to international competitive basketball. It was established by FIBA in 1991. Originally built in ...

in 2007. In 2018, he was named one of the 101 Greats of European Basketball.

Club career

Born in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Belov was the star player of Spartak Leningrad (later known as Spartak St. Petersburg), as he led the club to the Soviet Union League title in 1975, and also to three European-wide 2nd-tier level

FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the European professional club basketball system, second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winn ...

(Saporta Cup) Finals (

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

). Including winning the title in both 1973 and 1975. During his club career, Belov was a two-time FIBA European Selection (1971 and 1972). In 2016, the club that Belov played for was renamed to Kondrashin Belov, for a short time. The club was renamed in honor of both Belov, and the club's former head coach

Vladimir Kondrashin Vladimir Petrovich Kondrashin (; 14 January 1929 in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Soviet Union – 23 December 1999 in Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Soviet and Russian professional basketball player and Coach (basketball), coach. He was inducted ...

1975 NBA draft

In the tenth round of the 1975 NBA draft, the New Orleans Jazz selected Belov with the 161st pick of the draft; like the vast majority of Soviet players drafted into North American sports leagues, he would never end up playing for the team that drafted him. It would not be until 1989, that the first Soviet player, Lithuanian-born Šarūnas Marčiulionis, would play in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA).

National team career

Belov won four

s with the senior Soviet Union national team. While representing the USSR, Belov won gold medals at the 1969 EuroBasket, and the bronze medal at the

1970 FIBA World Championship The 1970 FIBA World Championship was the 6th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia in Sarajevo, Split, Croatia, Spli ...

. He also won the gold medal at the 1971 EuroBasket. The highlight of Belov's career occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, when he scored the game-winning basket in the Olympic Basketball Final against Team USA, which gave the Soviet Union the gold medal. After that, he won the gold medal at the

1974 FIBA World Championship The 1974 FIBA World Championship was the 7th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Puerto Rico from July 3 to 14, 1974. The tournament was won by the Soviet Union men's ...

, the silver medal at the 1975 EuroBasket, and the bronze medal at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

Life and death

Belov was born in

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 ...

, on 9 November 1951. Belov died in Leningrad, on 3 October 1978, at the age of 26. His cause of death was a very rare disease, cardiac sarcoma.

References

External links

Alexander Belov
at the

* * *
101 Greats: Alexander "Sasha" Belov

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belov, Alexander 1951 births 1978 deaths Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics BC Spartak Saint Petersburg players Centers (basketball) Deaths from cancer in the Soviet Union Deaths from heart cancer FIBA EuroBasket–winning players FIBA Hall of Fame inductees FIBA World Championship–winning players Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics New Orleans Jazz draft picks Olympic basketball players for the Soviet Union Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in basketball Russian men's basketball players Soviet men's basketball players 1970 FIBA World Championship players 1974 FIBA World Championship players Spartak (sports society) sportspeople Basketball players from Saint Petersburg 20th-century Russian sportsmen