Few things are known about Belarus in the World. But
the names of Belarusian sportsmen are well recognized everywhere. Olga Korbut
(four time Champion in gymnastics), Vitali Scherbo
(six time Olympic Champion in gymnastics), Igor
Zhelezovsky (six time World Champion in skating), five time Champion Nelli
Kim, four times champions in fencing - Victor
Sidyak and Elena
Belova-Novikova, Alexander
Kurlovich (2x Olympic Champion in super-heavy weight lifting), Leonid Taranenko, Natasha
Zvereva, Svetlana Boguinskaia
(3-times Olympic medallist in gymnastics), Max Mirnyi (tennis), Vladimir
Voltchkov (tennis), Yekaterina Khodotovich
(rowing), Yelena Piskun, Alexander
Medved (wrestling), Vladimir
Parfenovich (canoeing), and Tatiana Samusenko (fencing) and many
others.
Over the
course of Olympic history Belarusian athletes have won 156 Olympic medals,
including 80 gold ones. At the Barcelona Olympics (1992) the National team of
Belarus won 17 gold, 4 silver and 6 bronze medals. The gymnast Vitaly Scherbo,
who won 6 gold medals, became the national sports hero. The traditions of
brilliant performances were laid by Mikhail Krivonosov, the first Belarusian won
a silver Olympic medal in Melbourne (1952) in hammer throwing, and by
women-gymnasts Larisa Petrik, Olga Korbut, Tamara Lazakovich, Nelli Kim. The
names of Alexander Medved, the first ever triple Olympic champion in wrestling,
Igor Zhelezovski, 6 times world champion in skating, Tatiana Samusenko and Elena
Belova, masters of fencing and many others, - became legendary. Today the
athletes known in the world live in Belarus. They are Alexander Kurlovich &
Leonid Taranenko weight lifters. Belarusian Athletes in Athens 2004 Olympiad These are few NBC screen shots of Belarusian Olympic delegation at Athens 2004 Olympiad opening. The flag is carried by Alexander Medved - the first man who had won gold medal in three consecutive Olympiads - 1964, 1968, 1972.
153 athletes arrived from Belarus to compete in Athens 2004 Olympiad. Read more about Belarusian team from Olympiad website. You can read short biographies of Belarusian athletes participating in Athens 2004 Olympiad here. Belarusian Athletes in Sydney Olympics 2000 The 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney are over. Belarusian athletes have won 17 medals in Olympic games in Sydney
Belarus is #15 in medal count. It's not bad - we are ahead of countries like Canada, Sweden, Spain, Czech, Poland. We were # 18 in Atlanta Olympic games with 1 golden, 6 silver and 8 bronze medals - total of 15. But we have definitely under performed in many sports in Sydney, especially in gymnastics and weight lifting. Such, two-time World champion in Men's Gymnastics - Ivan Ivankov - was the forth in Sydney. In 1992 we were #1 in Barcelona as a United Team, for the last time after USSR breakdown with a total of 112 medals. Then again, counting medal rankings is not exactly in Olympic spirit. Currently there are 482 sports schools for children and youth, including 120 Olympic Reserve specialized sports schools, 13 schools of higher sports training, 8 Olympic Reserve colleges. Personal pages about outstanding sportsmen of Belarus
Belarusian sports links:
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Interestingly...
President of Belarus - Alyaksandar Lukashenka - is so in love with sports that he fired Olympic Committee Chairman and appointed for a chairman himself. Belarusian president (left in photo) - enjoys playing ice hockey and roller skiing. Below is his photo (left) with famous NHL player Pavel Bure (right).
President of Belarus Alyaksandar Lukashenka also loves skiing and shooting:
He also likes the successes of Belarusian biathlonists - skiing and shooting among best in the World. Here he is attending one of the biathlon events:
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