Soviet Union top ten athletes of the year

Last updated February 23, 2019

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.

List

1971

Vasily Alexeyev (Athlete of the Year)
Yevgeniy Arzhanov
Valeriy Borzov
Alexander Medved
Faina Melnik
Boris Onishchenko
Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov
Irina Rodnina and Aleksei Ulanov
Nina Statkevich
Ludmilla Tourischeva

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.

1972

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.

1973

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.

1975

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.

1979

Ordered by number of points:

Boris Mikhailov (Athlete of the Year)
Vladimir Salnikov
Yurik Vardanyan
Anatoly Karpov
Alexander Dityatin
Natalya Linichuk and Gennadi Karponossov
Sergei Sukhoruchenkov
Lyudmila Kondratyeva
Galina Kulakova
Nellie Kim

1983

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.

1984

Announced on December 28, 1984.

1986

Announced on December 27, 1986.

1988

Ordered by number of points:^[1]

1989

Ordered by number of points:^[2]

1990

Ordered by number of points:^[3]

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References

↑ "The country is proud of them - the world knows them". Sovetsky Sport (in Russian). 1988-12-27.
↑ "Top 10 in 1989". Sovetsky Sport (in Russian). 1989-12-29.
↑ "Top ten in 1990". Sovetsky Sport (in Russian). 1990-12-29.

Panorama of the 1971 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1972.
Panorama of the 1972 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1973.
Panorama of the 1973 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1974.
Panorama of the 1975 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1976.
Panorama of the 1979 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1980.
Panorama of the 1983 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1984.
Panorama of the 1984 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1985.
Panorama of the 1986 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1987.