Alexander Mikhaylovich Belostenny (; ; February 24, 1959 – May 25, 2010) was a Ukrainian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He was a member of the senior Soviet national team, from 1977 to 1992, except for an absence during a single competition,

EuroBasket 1987 The 1987 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1987, was the 25th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Greece between 3 and 14 June 1987. Twelve national teams entered the e ...

. At a height of 2.16 m (7'0 ") tall, and a weight of 120 kg (260 lbs.), he played at the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position.

Club career

Belostenny spent most of his club career at Budivelnyk from

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, and was a leading player in its only Soviet Union League title in 1989. Late in his career, he played with the German club HERZOGtel Trier, where he also competed in the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

. He was a FIBA European Selection, in 1979.

National team career

As a player of the senior Soviet national team, Belostenny won three gold medals at the

FIBA EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

(

EuroBasket 1979 The 1979 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1979, was the 21st FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Twelve national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation entere ...

EuroBasket 1981 The 1981 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1981, was the 22nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Czechoslovakia and took place from 26 May to 5 June 1981 ...

, and

EuroBasket 1985 The 1985 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1985, was the 24th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 5 to 16 June 1985 in West Germany. The Soviet Union defeated Czec ...

), one gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympic Games, and one bronze medal at the

1980 Summer Olympic Games The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

. In addition, he is one of the top medalists in FIBA World Cup history, having won four medals, one gold ( 1982) and three silvers ( 1978,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

Awards and accomplishments

Clubs

* FIBA European Selection: (1979) *2× USSR League Champion: (1980, 1989) *

Spanish Cup The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

Winner: (1990)

Death

Belostenny died on May 25, 2010, from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

.TBB Trier website

References

External links

*
Spanish League Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belostenny, Alexander 1959 births 2010 deaths Basketball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics BC Budivelnyk players Centers (basketball) Deaths from lung cancer in Germany FIBA EuroBasket-winning players FIBA World Championship-winning players Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class Liga ACB players Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players of the Soviet Union Olympic basketball players of the Unified Team Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in basketball PBC CSKA Moscow players Ukrainian expatriate basketball people in Spain Soviet expatriate basketball people in Germany Soviet expatriate basketball people in Spain Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Soviet men's basketball players 1978 FIBA World Championship players Ukrainian men's basketball players 1982 FIBA World Championship players 1986 FIBA World Championship players 1990 FIBA World Championship players