"Alexander & Sergei Belov"

The victorious Alexander was a role model for his compatriots, a decorated Red Army officer and one of the best players in Europe. Even in his personal life, everything seemed to be going well. His relationship with fellow international basketball player Alexandra Ovchinnikova appeared destined to end in marriage. Then came 1976, after the Montreal Olympics, when Belov began complaining of intense chest pains. The examinations he underwent revealed nothing alarming, but the discomfort continued, forcing Kondrashin to rest Spartak's star for considerable periods during every game of the 1976–77 season. Alexander appeared to be recovering and, with the support of his wife, Ovchinnikova, from the spring of 1977 he believed that his ordeal was over and that his health was once again what it should be for a high-level 26-year-old athlete like himself. Until that trip to Milan. A customs inspection at the airport led to the discovery of several small statues and religious icons in his luggage. The player was accused of smuggling, and the newspapers, following orders from above, gave the story extensive coverage. The player's downfall came at lightning speed. He was stripped of his rank in the Army and removed from Spartak and the national team. Such intense action raised questions and fuelled rumours of Gomelsky's involvement. Those rumours turned into an avalanche when, shortly after the punishment, the "Colonel" asked Sasha to transfer to CSKA, while promising him a return to the national team. Once again, Belov refused, citing his deteriorating health as his main reason and avoiding any cooperation with Gomelsky.

    Alexander and Sergei Belov, despite sharing the same surname, were not related. Their bond was forged on the basketball court, as opponents with their respective clubs but also as teammates on the national team, winning titles and medals. The two of them were heroes in the triumph of Munich in 1972. Fate had it that they would leave this world on the same date, October 3rd, 35 years apart...

Many people confuse him with his namesake Sergei, with whom he had absolutely no family connection. Most associate him with the Munich final and the Americans' fall from the summit of the Olympic Everest. Alexander Belov, however, was a great basketball player who played with heart—the same heart that betrayed him at just 27. Born on November 9, 1951, in Saint Petersburg, then called Leningrad in honour of the founder of the Soviet Union, Alexander joined Spartak's youth academy at the age of ten, following the encouragement of the man with whom he would go on to experience the greatest moments of his career, both at club and national level. Vladimir Kondrashin was 32 years old in 1961 and could already see himself on the bench of his beloved Spartak. His career as a player was approaching its end, while his coaching career was beginning, starting with the club's younger teams in Leningrad. Looking for talent, Kondrashin visited the city's schools every day, and during one such scouting trip, his eye fell on ten-year-old Alexander Belov. For the next six years, Kondrashin worked with the raw youngster on a daily basis. He had never even held a basketball in his hands before, and when Kondrashin judged that he was ready, he threw him into the fire of the Soviet championship. So what if he was only 16? His talent and fearlessness could not be hidden. It was in Riga in 1967, against VEF and their 2.21-metre giant Janis Krumins, that the 20-centimetre-shorter Belov made his debut and showed that Soviet basketball had found the centre of its next decade. His call-up to the national team for the 1969 EuroBasket came as no surprise. Alexander had moved beyond the stage of being a promising prospect, and after Kondrashin, Gomelsky too considered him a ready-made player, capable of being part of the reigning European champions' roster.

When the call-ups for the decade's major tournaments came around in the 1970s, his name was always on the national coach's list, especially when that coach was his mentor, Vladimir Kondrashin. The latter took over as head coach of the USSR in 1970 from Gomelsky after the World Championship in Ljubljana and began preparations with the ultimate goal of the 1972 Olympic Games. In the meantime, coach and player won another gold medal at the 1971 European Championship, and the following year they travelled to Munich. The events of the Olympic basketball final are well known and have been written about countless times: the famous three seconds, William Jones' intervention, and the Americans' first defeat in Olympic history. History records that as the ball left the hands of former javelin thrower Ivan Edeshko and reached those of Alexander Belov, the Soviet centre managed, with an incredible leap while being pressured by two opponents, to free himself. From that moment, all he needed to do was put the ball into the American basket—and that is exactly what happened as the final horn sounded. The Soviets were Olympic champions, and Belov was a hero throughout the country. His fame crossed the borders of the USSR, even breaking through the invisible walls erected by the Iron Curtain. At the height of the Cold War, two NBA teams offered the player a contract worth one million dollars and Spartak two million dollars to allow Belov to move to America. There were rumours that the matter had reached the highest political level between the two countries, but the final decision belonged to the Central Committee of the CPSU and, naturally, permission for the player was never granted.

Alexander remained in Leningrad, continuing to add to his collection of medals, not only at national-team level but also with his club. In 1973, at the Alexandreio in Thessaloniki, he won the Cup Winners' Cup with Spartak, scoring 18 points in the final. The following year, in Puerto Rico, and once again with Kondrashin on the bench, the World Championship trophy followed. At 23, Sasha had won everything there was to win with the national team. In the domestic championship, however, CSKA's dominance was unquestionable. The other Belov and Gomelsky left no room for anyone else. The "Colonel" tried many times to bring Alexander to Moscow but was met with the player's firm refusal. Belov wanted to win the championship with the team from his hometown and with his beloved coach. He finally achieved it in 1975. The league title came to Leningrad to join his second Cup Winners' Cup, with the Soviet Union's best centre leading the way. Gomelsky would remember forever the game at Spartak's home court, a genuine derby that decided the title. With only a few seconds remaining and the game tied, the CSKA coach called a timeout. Spartak's starting five had all fouled out except Belov, who was engaged in epic battles with Zharmukhamedov and Mishkin. "What do you say, will we win in overtime?" the "Colonel" asked his players. They glanced at the opposing bench and nodded. There was no way they could lose to Belov alone. The rest, in Gomelsky's own words: "The overtime started, with us facing Sasha. We were certain of victory. The result? Belov defeated us. He alone, not Spartak."

On October 3, 1978, the accredited journalists covering the World Championship, which was due to begin in three days, were stunned by the news of Alexander Belov's death. The news quickly reached the Soviet players as well, who could not believe that their friend and teammate had passed away just one month before his 27th birthday. In the short span of his life, Alexander Alexandrovich Belov managed to become a symbol of Soviet basketball. His name would remain forever in history in connection with Munich, but it would be unfair to remember him only for that. Gomelsky, who admired him and desperately wanted him at CSKA, described better than anyone who Alexander Belov really was. And with his words, I will close this tribute... "Possessing a powerful leap, Sasha was always in the right place at the right time. Belov's jump inspired admiration and astonishment. At times, it seemed as though he was hanging in the air, as if he were floating. With his knees slightly bent and his strong, long legs, his elbows spread wide and raised, he occupied so much space in the paint that opponents simply could not get close to him. Scoring in front of him was unthinkable, because he let no one near the basket. Moreover, he had an incredible sense for the game. He could 'smell' where the ball was going, while also possessing the necessary tactical intelligence. Sasha was a great player and an even greater fighter."

By Antreas Tsemperlidis

Eventually, the punishment was revoked in December 1977 and Alexander was allowed to return to the court. Working hard to overcome his dependence on alcohol—his psychological state had been tragic during his suspension—and to make up for lost ground, he was rewarded with a call-up to the national team's preparation for the 1978 World Championship in the Philippines. The reception he received from his teammates in Talsi, Latvia, where the national team's training camp was based, was ecstatic. No one had believed that he had been involved in smuggling; his name remained untarnished within the team. He was ready for new triumphs under the flag of the hammer and sickle, but fate had other plans. A few days later, during training, Belov collapsed to his knees on the court. The heart pains had not forgotten him. The team doctor took him to the local hospital, but the doctors there were inexperienced and lacked even the means to conduct a thorough diagnosis. His transfer to Leningrad was deemed necessary, and while the rest of the team flew to Manila, Alexander was admitted to the Institute of Medical Studies. The country's most distinguished cardiologists took on his case, and the final diagnosis was devastating for Belov's health and life. Sasha had been struck by an extremely rare disease, one that was incurable. Cardiac sarcoma could not be treated, and the efforts of the doctors and Kondrashin to find help from medical centres in America came to nothing.

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