Alexander Alexandrovich Below

Alexander Below
Player information
Full name	Alexander Alexandrovich Below
birthday	November 9, 1951
place of birth	Leningrad , USSR
size	200 cm
position	center
Clubs as active
1967–1978 Spartak Leningrad
National team
1969-1988	Soviet Union

Alexander Alexandrovich Belov ( Russian Александр Александрович Белов ; born  November 9, 1951 in Leningrad , † October 3, 1978 in Leningrad ) was a Soviet basketball player . He played as a center in the Soviet national team and for Spartak Leningrad .

Career as a player

Below began playing basketball in the Spartak youth sports school under Vladimir Kondrashin , who remained his only coach throughout Below's athletic career, both in youth, in the club and in the national team. At the age of 16, Below made his debut for Spartak in the highest Soviet league in 1967. Only a year later he was part of the Soviet national team at the Olympic Games in Mexico. Below achieved particular fame as the shooter of the last decisive hit at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, with which the USSR became Olympic champion for the first time. It was the first time that the US team did not win the Olympics. After that game there were invitations to the NBA, although the European players were not very popular in North America at the time. The engagement in the United States was prevented by the veto of the political leadership. In addition to the Olympic gold medal in 1972, Below won the 1974 World Championship and the 1969 and 1971 European Championship with the Soviet national team . With Spartak Leningrad , Below won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1973 and 1975 and was in the final of this competition in 1971. Also with Spartak, Below won the Soviet championship in 1975. It was the only time in the period from 1969 to 1984 that the championship did not go to CSKA . After that season there were efforts to bring Below to CSKA, but he stayed with Spartak until his death. He was named FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991 and was posthumously inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.

Customs scandal 1977

On January 23, 1977, icons were found in Alexander Below's luggage during a customs inspection on the occasion of a European Cup game . Although minor offenses against customs regulations were quite common among Soviet athletes at the time, an example was made to Below. He was stripped of all of his honorary degrees and his livelihood was cut. He was even banned from training. There were rumors that this intrigue was staged as leverage to switch to CSKA. After unsuccessful poaching attempts, Below was rehabilitated and got an invitation to the national team again in 1978.

Sickness and death

Shortly after the 1976 Olympics, Below began to complain of chest pain. As a result, his coach kept giving him time off. Because of the pain, he had to cancel the preparation of the national team for the 1978 World Cup. His illness was diagnosed as angiosarcoma . After an unfavorable course of the disease, Below died on October 3, 1978 at the age of almost 27 years.

Awards and Achievements

With the team

• Olympic Champion: 1972
• World Champion: 1974
• European champions (2 ×): 1969, 1972
• 3rd place Olympic Games: 1976
• 3rd place World Championship: 1970
• 2nd place European Championship: 1977
• Soviet champion: 1975
• European Cup Winners' Cup: 1973, 1975

Personal awards

• Best center of the 1974 World Cup
• Inducted into the FIBA ​​Hall of Fame in 2007

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Viktor Kozhbachtejew: Александр Белов. В память о великом игроке / In memory of a great player. October 8, 2003, accessed February 23, 2012 (Russian). 
2. ↑ Эпизоды биографии Александра Белова / Episodes from the biography of Alexander Belov. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 4, 2016 ; Retrieved February 23, 2012 (Russian). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Entry in the FIBA ​​Hall of Fame (English)