RUS - Legend Belov passes away

PERM - Sergei Belov, a true international basketball icon, has died.

The Russian Basketball Federation have announced that their legendary player and coach passed away on Thursday in Perm.

He was 69.

Belov is known the world over for his time as a player with the former Soviet Union, and as a coach of Russia.

He twice reached the top of the podium at FIBA World Championships, in 1967 in Montevideo, Uruguay, and in Puerto Rico in 1974.

In 1972, Belov celebrated a gold medal triumph with the Soviets at the Munich Olympics after scoring 20 points in the title-game triumph over the United States.

With CSKA Moscow, whom he played for from 1968 until 1980, Belov helped the team achieve glory in the European Cup for Men's Champion Clubs (current Euroleague) in 1969 and 1971.

His CSKA teams also won 11 USSR championships.

Belov was so revered as a sportsman in the Soviet Union that he lit the Olympic cauldron during the Opening Ceremony for the Moscow Games in 1980.

As a coach, Belov famously steered Russia to silver medals at the 1994 (Toronto) and 1998 (Athens) FIBA World Championships.

He was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame as part of its first class in 2007 and enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.

FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member Patrick Baumann paid tribute to Mr Belov.

"It is with a deep amount of sadness and sorrow that we hear of the passing of Sergei Belov. He was one of the greatest international players and one of the stars that helped grow the game of basketball around the world," he said.

"He was an integral part in the Soviet Union achieving great success at FIBA World Championships, European Championships and Olympic Games from the late 1960s to the early 1980s and was equally successful at club level with with CSKA in the USSR League and Euroleague.

"On behalf of FIBA, I would like to extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to his family and loved ones."

FIBA