Athletistic / Others. In the last days of spring in different years, significant events took place in all team sports. And each of them was associated with representatives of the USSR and Russia. We leaf further through the national sports calendar.

The origin of club football in the Soviet Union

On May 22, 1936, the first game of the USSR Football Championship was held at the Dynamo Stadium in what was then Leningrad. The local club with a name in harmony with the arena hosted the railway workers of the capital and won with a score of 3:1. For Dynamo, Baryshev and Fedorov (2) scored goals, but Lokomotiv player Viktor Lavrov made history. It was he who became the author of the first ball of the national championships, having already distinguished himself from the 5th minute of the meeting.

In the first season, only 7 teams were entered into Group A, which played the tournament in one round, ending the “spring” part on July 17. According to the results of 6 meetings, Dynamo Moscow became the first champion of the USSR, their “namesake” from Kyiv won silver, while Moscow “Spartak” was on the third row. The title of top scorer went to the blue and white player Mikhail Semichastny, who scored 6 goals against the opponents. The winners of League B were other representatives of the MIA company from Tbilisi, who received the right to play in the strongest cohort already in the fall of the 1936 USSR Championship.

Conquerors of North America

In the NHL and NBA championships in the United States and Canada, the month of May is the time for recap or decisive games. In particular, in 2015, the name of the first participant in the main series of the season became known to the National Basketball Association. On May 26, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Atlanta Hawks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals to win the championship. And it turns out that center Timofey Mozgov played for the “Riders” that season. Thus, he became the first Russian basketball player to reach the final of the NBA championship. Earlier, Andrei Kirilenko in the 2006/2007 season stopped one step away from the decisive series with the Utah “jazzmen”.

But in hockey, Evgeni Malkin earned recognition as the League’s top newcomer overseas on May 24, 2007. “Gini,” as he was nicknamed in the NHL, managed to score in his starting season at the “Pittsburgh Penguins” 85 points, after spending 78 games. Due to the striker, “Penguins” was 33 dropped pucks and 52 more accurate transmission to teammates.

But Malkin was not the first Russian to conquer this height. A year earlier, Alexander “Veliky” Ovechkin (then, however, without a nickname) became the best rookie in the National Hockey League, having conquered the 100-point line in one season: 52 goals and 54 assists. By the way, in the fight for the “Calder Trophy” Ovechkin was ahead of another representative of “Pittsburgh” – Sidney Crosby.

Don’t forget our hockey prodigy Artemy Panarin. The Russian, who joined the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015, managed to immediately enter the top 10 scorers at the end of the season, scoring 77 points (30+47).

And yet, back to the best of us in NHL history – Alexander Ovechkin. Two years ago, he really went big with a unique sniper feat. There is such an award in North American hockey as the “Maurice Richard Trophy”, and only the best sniper in the regular season receives it. In 2020, the presentation took place on May 27, since this season, we recall, ended earlier than expected due to the coronavirus pandemic. But Ovechkin managed to score 48 goals and won the prize only because David Pastrnak, who knocked on the opponents’ doors the same number of times, spent 2 more meetings – 70 against 68 for the Russian.

Thus, the captain of the “Washington Capitals” became the first who managed to win the award 9 times. And in general, only once in 8 years “Ovi” conceded the award – in 2016/2017 he was “shot down” by Crosby. Ovechkin in this ranking is ahead of such NHL legends as Bobby Hull (7 trophies), Phil Esposito (6), Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard (all 5), so we believe the Russian’s achievement will fall very soon .

Enter the field…

What do football fans remember from the 1970 World Cup? First, the fact that this Mundial was the first of those that took place outside Europe or South America. Secondly, the fact that for the first time representatives of all confederations took part in the qualification for the championship. Thirdly, by the fact that in the final the teams that at that time already had 2 titles of the strongest national teams on the planet – Brazil and Italy – converged. The South Americans then defeated the defending European champions – 4:1. But what does Russia have to do with it – excuse me, the USSR?

A curious event happened in Mexico in 1970 during the opening match between the local team and the Soviet Union. The fact is that before the start of this world championship, the International Federation of Football Associations approved a new rule. He suggested the possibility of substitutions during the match, which the USSR national team took advantage of. Thus, Viktor Serebryannikov became the first player to leave the field within 90 minutes of play, and Anatoly Puzach entered the history of the world championships as the first player to become a substitute. The reshuffle, by the way, already took place at the end of the first half. The reason for this may have been physical fatigue, as the match started at noon local time to please European TV channels and was played under the scorching Mexican sun.

continental knockout

On May 29, 1965, the European Boxing Championship, held in Berlin, ended. And practically in each of the 10 weight categories (in eight, to be exact), the representatives of the USSR became the best, thereby winning an unconditional victory in the overall medal standings. The following athletes have inscribed their names in boxing history in gold letters:

  • Up to 54 kg – Oleg Grigoriev;
  • Up to 57 kg – Stanislav Stepashkin;
  • Up to 60 kg – Vilikton Barannikov;
  • Up to 67 kg – Richardas Tamulis;
  • Up to 71 kg – Victor Ageev;
  • Up to 75 kg – Valery Popenchenko;
  • Up to 81 kg – Danas Poznyakas;
  • Over 81 kg – Alexander Izosimov.

For Grigoriev and Tamulis, the Berlin medals have already become the third highest level awards of European significance. The former had previously also received the title of Olympic champion at the Games in Rome, and for the Lithuanian this was the third consecutive victory in the framework of the European Championships.

We also note that for Vilikton Barannikov, success in the capital of West Germany became special, as he managed to avenge his defeat at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Pole Josef Grudzen again became a rival in the final for the Soviet boxer, and this time Barannikov proved to be stronger, putting the third gold medal of the tournament in the piggy bank of the USSR national team.

Alexander Petriakov, SPORT.RU