Alexander Belov (stylist)

Alexander Belov (November 9, 1951 – October 3, 1978) was a Soviet basketball player who won the gold medal with the senior Soviet Union national basketball team at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, scoring the game-winning basket in the gold medal game. Belov died from a very rare disease – cardiac sarcoma, in 1978, at the age of 26. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. He was enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.

Club career

Born in Leningrad, Belov was the star player of Spartak Leningrad, leading the club to the Soviet Union League title in 1975, and to three European-wide 2nd-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup finals, in 1971, 1973, and 1975, winning the last two. In 2016, the club was renamed to Kondrashin Belov, in his honor.

1975 NBA draft

In the tenth round of the 1975 NBA draft, the New Orleans Jazz selected Belov with the 161st pick of the draft; like the vast majority of Soviet players drafted into North American sports leagues, he would never end up playing for the team that drafted him. It would not be until 1989, that the first Soviet player, Lithuanian-born Šarūnas Marčiulionis, would play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

National team career

Belov won four gold medals with the senior Soviet Union national team. The highlight of his basketball career came when he hit the game-winning shot in the 1972 Summer Olympic Games gold medal game.

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