Semyon Viktorovich Belits-Geiman (russian: Семён Викторович Белиц-Гейман; born 16 February 1945) is a former Soviet

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

swimmer. He set a world record in the 800 m freestyle, and won two Olympic medals.

Early life

Belits-Geiman is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he attended the Transport Engineering Institute, studied journalism, and worked as a journalist for the magazines ''Sports Life in Russia'' and '' Soviet Sport''.

Swimming career

Belits-Geiman began swimming when he was eight. He was affiliated with the Moscow club Dynamo, and became a member of the Soviet swimming team in 1962. He competed at the

1964 Olympics 1964 Olympics refers to both: *The 1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Ba ...

in Tokyo, and finished in seventh place in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay and eighth in the 400 meter freestyle. At the

1965 Summer Universiade The 1965 Summer Universiade, also known as the IV Summer Universiade, took place in Budapest, Hungary. Sports at the 1965 Summer Universiade * Athletics * Basketball * Diving * Fencing * Gymnastics * Swimming * Tennis * Volleyball * Water polo M ...

, he won 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 bee ...

in the 400 m freestyle and three silver medals in the 1,500 m and relay races. In 1965, his time in the 1,500 m was the second-fastest in the world (17:01.90). In 1966, he won the gold medal against three of the best American freestyle swimmers in a US vs USSR competition in Moscow. That year at the European championships, he won gold medals in the 1,500 m freestyle (16:58.5) and 4 × 200 m freestyle relay (8:00.2) and a silver medal in the 400 m freestyle (4:13.2; behind German

Frank Wiegand Frank Wiegand (born 15 March 1943) is a German former swimmer, Olympic medalist and world record holder. He participated in the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics, winning a total of four silver medals. He won eight medals at two European cha ...

, and ahead of Frenchman

Alain Mosconi Alain Mosconi (born 9 September 1949) is a French former swimmer, Olympic medalist and world record holder. He competed at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics in six freestyle, butterfly and medley relay events. In 1968 he won a bronze medal in the ...

). In 1966, he was ranked number three in the world in the 1,500-meter freestyle. On 8 March 1966, he set a world record in the 800 m freestyle, at 8:47.4, in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. That was 4.1 seconds faster than the former record set by Australian

Murray Rose Iain Murray Rose, (6 January 1939 – 15 April 2012) was an Australian swimmer, actor, sports commentator and marketing executive. He was a six-time Olympic medalist (four gold, one silver, one bronze), and at one time held the world records ...

in 1962. At the 1967 Universiade in Tokyo, he won a silver medal in the 1,500 m freestyle, behind American Mike Burton. He won a silver medal at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

in the 4×100 freestyle relay (3:34.2), swimming the lead leg, and a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay (8:01.6), swimming the second leg. In the 4 × 200 m relay, one of his teammates was

Vladimir Bure Vladimir Valeryevich Bure (russian: Владимир Валерьевич Буре, born 4 December 1950) is a Russian former freestyle swimmer and a fitness coach for the New Jersey Devils of the NHL. Bure is the father of retired NHL players P ...

. He also swam two individual freestyle events, finishing seventh in the 200 m freestyle, and ninth in the 400 m race. He broke 67 Soviet national freestyle records. In 1974, he was named president of the Moscow Swim Federation and vice president of the Soviet Union Federation.

Post-swimming career

Later in his life he competed in

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

and

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marath ...

, and became a Soviet

Master of Sport Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR (russian: Единая Всесоюзная спортивная классификация) is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for both athletes an ...

and coach in both disciplines. Beginning in the early 1980s, he developed training programs for

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

s. He created a program to increase coordination and flexibility which was used by Australian ice dancing champions

Natalie Buck Natalie Buck (born 5 July 1980 in Sydney) is an Australians, Australian former ice dancer. She competed with Trent Nelson-Bond. They are the 2002–06 Australian Figure Skating Championships, Australian national champions. They have competed fi ...

and

Trent Nelson-Bond Trent Nelson-Bond (born 30 December 1979 in Sydney) is an Australian ice dancer. He competed with Natalie Buck. They are the 2002–2006 Australian national champions. They have competed five times at the World Figure Skating Championships and ...

in the early 2000s.

Accolades

In 2017, he was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

Personal

He met his wife, Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer Natalia Dubova, when he covered one of her competitions as a sportswriter. In 1999, they moved to

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

References

External links

USSR Swimming profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belits-Geiman, Semyon Living people 1945 births Soviet male freestyle swimmers Russian male freestyle swimmers Jewish swimmers Soviet Jews Russian Jews Swimmers from Moscow Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Moscow State University alumni Soviet journalists Male journalists Soviet male cross-country skiers Soviet male speed skaters European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Universiade medalists in swimming Universiade gold medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade silver medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1965 Summer Universiade