Sergei Belov “He was a real star, he had a charisma that allowed him to be a leader in all teams,” the world champion, emeritus coach of Russia, told . Stanislav Eremin.
On January 23, Belov would have turned 80 years old. One of the most successful Russian basketball players died in 2013.
“I was lucky: I somehow went through life next to Sergei Belov. We played together on the same team. Both for CSKA and for the national team. For a while, I even lived in the same room as him. Then, already when we were coaches, we worked together for a few years: I helped him with the national team. Then life separated us and we became rivals: he ruled the Great Urals, and I was in Kazan. So, for a long time, our lives lived side by side or in parallel.
Belov is a unique person. In my opinion, he really is a real star. We often call people stars who don’t deserve it. But Sergei Belov deserves it 100%. He was a top basketball player with a great shot. He had a charisma that allowed him to be a leader on any team. He always set big goals for himself and achieved them.
It was always easy and difficult at the same time with him. Because he has always been very demanding. Both towards yourself and those around you. He had high self-esteem. And rightly so, in my opinion. My opinion is that he is the best basketball player in the entire Soviet Union at least. Unfortunately, he died prematurely.
We had a friendly relationship. Overall, Sergei had no real friends: he kept himself apart and tried to hide his life. And this gap between him and those around him really made him a real star. Because the availability of great and great people often turns everything into a somewhat ordinary situation. And he was inaccessible.
At the same time, by his example, he showed everyone how to work. I remember that he was already over 60 years old and weighed between 160 and 180 kg. Belov was very fond of the barre and instilled in his students a love for this device. And, most importantly, as a coach, he developed in his students traits of leadership and invincibility, the belief that we are the strongest.
And probably the most important trait of Belov is the thirst for victory and refusal of defeat, ”Eremin told the correspondent.
Belov is an eleven-time USSR champion as a player; with the USSR national team, the basketball player won gold in all tournaments (Olympiad, twice World Championship, four times European Championship). As a coach – two-time champion of the USSR, with the national team two-time vice-world champion and bronze medalist of the European Championship.
The trophy for which the participants of the VTB United League are fighting is named after Sergei Belov.
Source : MatchTV
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