Since a certain time until 1991 in the end of each year the Federation of Sports Journalists of the USSR held an inquest among its members to name top ten athletes of the year of the USSR. Here is a list of them.
Valeriy Pylypovych Borzov is a Ukrainian former sprint athlete who competed for the Soviet Union. He is a two-time Olympian, a former president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, and Minister for Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
Faina Grigorievna Melnik was a Soviet discus thrower, a 1972 Summer Olympics champion in the discus event. During her career she set 11 world records.
Boris Grigoryevich Onishchenko is a former Soviet modern pentathlete who competed at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. He was a multiple Olympic and world champion, but was disqualified for cheating at the 1976 Summer Olympics and banned for life from sports.
Alphabetical order.
Mykola Avilov is a retired Ukrainian Soviet decathlete (Odessa) who competed at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics. He won a gold medal in 1972, setting a new world record, a bronze in 1976, and finished fourth in 1968.
Lyudmila Ivanovna Bragina is a retired Russian middle distance runner. She competed for the Soviet Union in the 1500 m at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics; she won the event in 1972 and finished fifth in 1976. In July 1972 she set a new 1500 m world record of 4:06.9, at the Soviet championships, and then progressively improved it in round 1 (4:06.47), the semi-finals (4:05.07}, and the final, of the 1972 Olympics. The same year she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. She also set three world records in the 3000 m: 8:53.0 in 1972, 8:52.74 in 1974 and 8:27.12 in 1976. At the European Championships, Bragina won four silver medals: in the 3,000 m outdoors, and in the 800 m and 1,500 m indoors.
Olga Valentinovna Korbut is a Belarusian former gymnast. Nicknamed the "Sparrow from Minsk", she won four gold medals and two silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games, in which she competed in 1972 and 1976 for the Soviet team, and was the inaugural inductee to the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1988.
Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina is a Russian politician and figure skater, who is the only pair skater to win 10 successive World Championships (1969–78) and three successive Olympic gold medals. She was elected to the State Duma in the 2007 legislative election as a member of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. As a figure skater, she initially competed with Alexei Ulanov and later teamed up with Alexander Zaitsev. She is the first pair skater to win the Olympic title with two different partners, followed only by Artur Dmitriev.
Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva, born October 7, 1952, is a former Russian gymnast and a nine-time Olympic medalist for the Soviet Union.
Nadezhda Vladimirovna Chizhova is a retired Russian shot putter who won three Olympic medals and four European titles, and set seven new world records. She became the first woman to break both the 20 metre and 21 metre barriers. She retired after the 1976 Olympics and later worked as athletics coach in Saint Petersburg.
Tatyana Borisovna Averina was a Soviet Russian speed skater. After getting married, her name also appeared as Tatyana Barabash.
Sergei Alexandrovich Belov was a professional basketball player, most noted for playing for CSKA Moscow and the senior Soviet Union national basketball team. He is considered to be one of the best European basketball players of all time, and was given the honor of lighting the Olympic Cauldron with the Olympic flame during the 1980 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, in Moscow.
Irina Vladimirovna Kalinina is a former Soviet diver and olympic champion. She competed at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, where she won the gold medal in Women's 3 metre springboard.
Ordered by number of points:
Tamara Vladimirovna Bykova is a Russian former track and field athlete who represented the Soviet Union and competed in the high jump. She is the 1983 World Champion, the 1988 Olympic bronze medallist, and is a former world record holder, with clearances of 2.03 and 2.04 metres in 1983 and 2.05 metres in 1984. She also won silver medals at the 1982 European Championships, the 1989 and 1991 World Indoor Championships, and three times at the World Cup.
Dmitry Vladimirovich Bilozerchev is a Russian gymnastics coach and retired gymnast who represented the Soviet Union. One of the most accomplished gymnasts in history, he is a two-time World All-Around Champion and three-time Olympic Champion. He trained at the Armed Forces sports society in Moscow.
Vladimir Valeryevich Salnikov is a Russian former freestyle swimmer who competed for the Soviet Union and set 12 world records in the 400, 800 and 1,500 meter events. Nicknamed the "Tsar of the Pool" but also the "Monster of the Waves" or simply the "Leningrad Express", he was the first person to swim under fifteen minutes in the 1500 m freestyle and also the first person to swim under eight minutes in the 800 m freestyle. He was named the Male World Swimmer of the Year in 1982 by Swimming World magazine.
Announced on December 28, 1984.
Announced on December 27, 1986.
Ordered by number of points: [1]
Ordered by number of points: [2]
Ordered by number of points: [3]
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once again after Kasparov broke away from FIDE in 1993. He held the title until 1999, when he resigned his title in protest against FIDE's new world championship rules. For his decades-long standing among the world's elite, many consider Karpov one of the greatest players in history.
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Azerbaijann chess grandmaster, former world chess champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider to be the greatest chess player of all time. From 1986 until his retirement in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world No. 1 for 225 out of 228 months. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013. Kasparov also holds records for consecutive professional tournament victories (15) and Chess Oscars (11).
The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 371 competitors, 298 men and 73 women, took part in 180 events in 22 sports.
The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 410 competitors, 285 men and 125 women, took part in 189 events in 22 sports.
Dynamo Moscow is a Russian leading sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on April 18, 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club and the only one still connected to the old Dynamo. Throughout its long history, the society has produced elite athletes like Galina Gorokhova, Lev Yashin, Mikhail Voronin, Vitaly Davydov, Maria Isakova and Ludmilla Tourischeva among others. Vladimir Pronichev former head of the Border Guard Service is the Chairman.
Igor Arkadyevich Zaitsev is a Russian grandmaster of chess.
Alexei Nikolaevich Ulanov is a retired pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With Irina Rodnina, he is the 1972 Olympic champion and a four-time (1969–1972) world champion. With later partner Lyudmila Smirnova, he is a two-time world silver medalist.
Alexander Anatolyevich Motylev is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was Russian champion in 2001 and European champion in 2014. Motylev is also Sergey Karjakin's trainer and one of the coaches of the Russian national team.
Fizkultura i sport is a Russian publisher of sports books and magazines. It was established in 1923 in the USSR. Its logo depicts the famous sculpture Discobolus by Myron.
The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. 312 competitors, 246 men and 66 women, took part in 164 events in 18 sports.
Vasiliy Vladimirovich Khmelevskiy was a Soviet athlete who competed mainly in the hammer throw. He won a bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics with a throw of 74.04 metres, behind compatriot Anatoly Bondarchuk and Jochen Sachse of East Germany. He also finished in third place at the national championships in 1971 and 1972. He achieved a personal best of 74.98 meters on 8 July 1975 in Minsk.
Karin Büttner-Janz is a German medical doctor who won world and Olympic gold medals in artistic gymnastics for East Germany. From 1990 to 2012, she was chief physician of clinics in Berlin, Germany. She has a foundation named Spinefoundation.
The World Chess Championship 1984 was a match between challenger Garry Kasparov and defending champion Anatoly Karpov in Moscow from 10 September 1984 to 15 February 1985 for the World Chess Championship title. After 5 months and 48 games, the match was abandoned in controversial circumstances with Karpov leading five wins to three, and replayed in the World Chess Championship 1985.
The World Chess Championship 1990 was played between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. It was the fifth and final Kasparov–Karpov championship match, Kasparov winning by a single point.
Events of 1999 in chess include the list of top chess players and news.
Events in chess in 1993;
The FIDE World Chess Championship 1998 was contested in a match between the FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov and the challenger Viswanathan Anand. The match took place between 2 January and 9 January 1998 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The challenger was determined in a tournament held in Groningen, Netherlands, between 9 December and 30 December 1997. After the championship match ended in a draw, Karpov won the rapid playoff, becoming the 1998 FIDE World Chess Champion.
The 1985 World Chess Championship was played between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov in Moscow from September 3 to November 9, 1985. Kasparov won, to become the thirteenth and youngest world champion at the age of 22.
Sergei Yuryevic Makarichev is a Russian chess player, who gained the Grandmaster title in 1976.