Eduards Andersons (1 April 1914 – 29 November 1985) was a Latvian

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. Andersons won a gold medal at the 1935 EuroBasket competition, becoming the first European champion. He participated also at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

and at the

1937 EuroBasket The 1937 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1937, was the second FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA. Eight national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) took pa ...

Career

Andersons was born in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

then part of

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He graduated Riga State Gymnasium No.1 and started

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

studies at the

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

in 1932. Andersons played basketball since 1930. Since 1933 he played for the university team Universitātes Sports and became a four time Latvian champion (1934-1937). He also participated in

1933 International University Games The 1933 International University Games were organised by the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants (CIE) and held in Turin, Italy. Held from 1–10 September, 27 nations competed in nine sports. Women competed only in the athletics (sport), ...

where the Latvian team won the silver medal and in University games in 1935 and

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

where Latvia won gold. He was member of a latvian

student fraternity In North America, fraternities and sororities ( and ) are social clubs at colleges and universities. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Greek life or Greek-letter organizations, as well as collegiate fraternities or collegiate sorori ...

''Selonija''. Overall Andersons played sixteen games for the

Latvian national basketball team The Latvia men's national basketball team () represents Latvia in international basketball. They are organized and run by the Latvian Basketball Association. Latvia has reached the European Basketball Championship 15 times, with their ultimat ...

. In 1938 Andersons became chief of the sport department of the Presidium Convent. Under the Nazi occupation of Latvia during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Andersons briefly (1943–1944) became chairman of the

Latvia Basketball Association The Latvian Basketball Association (), also known as LBS, is the national governing body of basketball in Latvia. It was founded in 1923 and was one of the FIBA Europe co-founders, but due to the Soviet and Nazi occupations, the federation disap ...

. Andersons was arrested in 1945 and sent to a

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

camp in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. He was released in 1956 and returned to Latvia. For the rest of his life he worked in the administration of trams and trolleys in Riga. He died on 29 November 1985.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Andersons, Eduards 1914 births 1985 deaths Basketball players from Riga People from Riga county Basketball players at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players for Latvia Latvian men's basketball players University of Latvia alumni