Nikolai Nikolayevich Ozerov (russian: Николай Николаевич Озеров; 11 December 1922 – 2 June 1997) was a Soviet tennis player and actor, who was best known as a leading sports commentator of the Soviet Union in the 1950s–80s. He was awarded the

Olympic Order The Olympic Order, established in 1975, is the highest award of the Olympic Movement. It is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport. Traditi ...

in 1992, and received the

Paul Loicq Award The Paul Loicq Award is presented annually by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to honour a person who has made "outstanding contributions to the IIHF and international ice hockey". Named after Paul Loicq, who was president of the I ...

in 2016.

Biography

Ozerov was born to the opera singer Nikolai Ozerov Sr.; his mother Nadezhda trained as a stage actress, but abandoned her career to raise her two sons. His elder brother

Yuri Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Jap ...

became a prominent film director, and his great-grandfather Mikhail Vinogradov was a notable 19th century composer. In the 1930s–60s Ozerov was a leading Soviet tennis player, and won 24 Soviet titles in singles and doubles between 1940 and 1963. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when the German army approached Moscow, Ozerov and a few remaining in Moscow tennis players were commissioned to play a long series of exhibition matches in various parts of the city. Those matches were enthusiastically covered by radio reports to raise the people's spirit. In 1941 Ozerov enrolled to the acting department of

GITIS The Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) (russian: Российский институт театрального искусства – ГИТИС) is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia. Located in Moscow, ...

, and after graduating in 1946 joined the

Moscow Art Theater The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; russian: Московский Художественный академический театр (МХАТ), ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ)) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was f ...

, where he played more than 20 roles. He was also featured as a sports commentator in 13 movies, such as ''The Hockey Players'' and ''

O Sport, You Are Peace! ''O Sport, You Are Peace!'' (russian: О спорт, ты - мир! transliterated as O sport, ty - mir!) was a 1981 documentary film directed by Yuri Ozerov. It showed the opening and closing ceremonies, and sporting events of the 1980 Summer Oly ...

'' His sports commentator career began on 29 August 1950, when he had his first solo report of the association football match

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

vs.

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

. The report was met with a positive feedback from the radio listeners, and in the early 1950s Ozerov semi-retired from tennis to devote himself to commentator's work; though he continued to win Soviet titles until 1963. As a commentator Ozerov covered

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

at 8 Olympics and 30 world championships, and football at 8 World Cups and 6 European championships, visiting approximately 50 countries. He also trained newcoming sports commentators such as

Vladimir Maslachenko Vladimir Nikitovich Maslachenko (russian: Владимир Никитович Маслаченко; 5 March 1936 – 28 November 2010) was a Soviet footballer and football commentator. He was born in Vasylkivka, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, in the ...

, Vladimir Pereturin,

Yevgeni Mayorov Yevgeni Aleksandrovich Mayorov (russian: Евгений Александрович Майоров; 11 February 1938 – 10 December 1997) was an ice hockey forward who played in the Soviet Hockey League for HC Spartak Moscow. He won the world ti ...

and

Anna Dmitrieva Anna Vladimirovna Dmitrieva (Russian: Анна Владимировна Дми́триева, born 10 December 1940) is a retired female tennis player who competed for the Soviet Union. Career Anna Dmitrieva started playing tennis at the age of ...

. Ozerov was forced to retire in 1988 as a result of competition on the Soviet television and radio. After that between 1992 and 1996 he served as chairman of the sports society

Spartak Spartak may refer to: In sports *Spartak (sports society), an international fitness and sports society that unites some countries of the former Soviet Union In Russia *FC Spartak Moscow, a football club *FC Spartak Kostroma, a football club *PFC ...

, for which he previously played tennis and football. In the 1990s, he had his foot amputated after a

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

bite, and rarely left his house after that. Leg inflammation due to the bite, combined with

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

, eventually resulted in his death on 2 June 1997. He was buried at the

Vvedenskoye Cemetery Vvedenskoye Cemetery ( rus, Введенское кладбище, p=vʲːɪˈdʲenskəjə) is a historic cemetery in the Lefortovo District of Moscow in Russia. Until 1918 it was mainly a burial ground for the Catholic and Protestant communitie ...

in Moscow.

Personal life

Ozerov married aged 47, though he knew his wife since the age of 31. They had twins Nikolai and Nadezhda. Nikolai was a promising tennis player, but had to retire after a leg injury, which he received in a failed parachute jump while serving in the Soviet Army. Nadezhda received the

on behalf of her deceased father in 2016.

Awards and honors

*Honored Master of Sports (1947) *

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour (russian: орден «Знак Почёта», orden "Znak Pochyota") was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding ...

(1957, 1978) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

(1971) *

Honored Artist of the RSFSR Honored Artist of the RSFSR (, ''Zasluzhenny artist RSFSR'') was an honorary title granted to Soviet artists, including theatre and film directors, choreographers, music performers, and orchestra conductors, who had outstanding achievements in the ...

(1964) *

People's Artist of the RSFSR People's Artist of the RSFSR (russian: Народный артист РСФСР, ''Narodnyj artist RSFSR'') was an honorary title granted to Soviet Union artists, including theatre and film directors, choreographers, music performers, and orchest ...

(1973) *

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

(1982) *

(1992) *

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

(1992) *

Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (russian: Медаль ордена «За заслуги перед Отечеством») was established on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree No.442. Its award criteria were modified on 6 J ...

(1995) *

TEFI TEFI (russian: ТЭФИ) is an annual award given in the Russian television industry, presented by the Russian Academy of Television. It has been awarded since 1994. TEFI is presented in various sectors (up to 50 nominations in 2008), such as tele ...

(1997) * Russian Tennis Hall of Fame (2003) *

(2016)

References

External links

Nikolai Ozerov at peoples.ru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozerov, Nikolai 1922 births 1997 deaths Male actors from Moscow Soviet sports journalists Russian sports journalists Honored Artists of the RSFSR People's Artists of the RSFSR Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the USSR State Prize Honoured Coaches of Russia Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Soviet male tennis players Russian Academy of Theatre Arts alumni Russian association football commentators Paul Loicq Award recipients Tennis players from Moscow Mass media people from Moscow