Semyon Viktorovich Belits-Geiman (russian: Семён Викторович Белиц-Гейман; born 16 February 1945) is a former Soviet
freestyle
Freestyle may refer to:
Brands
* Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe
* Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile
* Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine
* ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker
* Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...
swimmer.
He set a world record in the 800 m freestyle, and won two Olympic medals.
Early life
Belits-Geiman is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and was born in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
where he attended the
Transport Engineering Institute,
studied journalism, and worked as a journalist for the magazines ''Sports Life in Russia'' and ''
Soviet Sport
, logo = SovSport.png
, image = Sovetskiy Sport nameplate May 19 1988.png
, caption = ''Soviet Sports'' nameplate on the May 19, 1988 issue
, type =
, format =
, own ...
''.
Swimming career
Belits-Geiman began swimming when he was eight.
He was affiliated with the Moscow club Dynamo, and became a member of the Soviet swimming team in 1962.
He competed at the
1964 Olympics 1964 Olympics refers to both:
*The 1964 Winter Olympics
The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Ba ...
in Tokyo, and finished in seventh place in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay and eighth in the 400 meter freestyle.
At the
1965 Summer Universiade, he won the
gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
in the 400 m freestyle and three silver medals in the 1,500 m and relay races.
In 1965, his time in the 1,500 m was the second-fastest in the world (17:01.90).
In 1966, he won the gold medal against three of the best American freestyle swimmers in a US vs USSR competition in Moscow.
That year at the European championships, he won gold medals in the 1,500 m freestyle (16:58.5) and 4 × 200 m freestyle relay (8:00.2) and a silver medal in the 400 m freestyle (4:13.2; behind German
Frank Wiegand
Frank Wiegand (born 15 March 1943) is a German former swimmer, Olympic medalist and world record holder. He participated in the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics, winning a total of four silver medals.
He won eight medals at two European ch ...
, and ahead of Frenchman
Alain Mosconi).
In 1966, he was ranked number three in the world in the 1,500-meter freestyle.
On 8 March 1966, he set a world record in the 800 m freestyle, at 8:47.4, in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
.
That was 4.1 seconds faster than the former record set by Australian
Murray Rose
Iain Murray Rose, (6 January 1939 – 15 April 2012) was an Australian swimmer, actor, sports commentator and marketing executive. He was a six-time Olympic medalist (four gold, one silver, one bronze), and at one time held the world records ...
in 1962.
At the
1967 Universiade in Tokyo, he won a silver medal in the 1,500 m freestyle, behind American
Mike Burton.
He won a silver medal at the
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
in the 4×100 freestyle relay (3:34.2), swimming the lead leg, and a
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...
in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay (8:01.6), swimming the second leg.
In the 4 × 200 m relay, one of his teammates was
Vladimir Bure
Vladimir Valeryevich Bure (russian: Владимир Валерьевич Буре, born 4 December 1950) is a Russian former freestyle swimmer and a fitness coach for the New Jersey Devils of the NHL. Bure is the father of retired NHL players ...
.
He also swam two individual freestyle events, finishing seventh in the 200 m freestyle, and ninth in the 400 m race.
He broke 67 Soviet national freestyle records.
In 1974, he was named president of the Moscow Swim Federation and vice president of the Soviet Union Federation.
Post-swimming career
Later in his life he competed in
cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...
and
speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marath ...
, and became a Soviet
Master of Sport
Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR (russian: Единая Всесоюзная спортивная классификация) is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for both athletes an ...
and coach in both disciplines.
Beginning in the early 1980s, he developed training programs for
figure skater
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
s.
He created a program to increase coordination and flexibility which was used by Australian ice dancing champions
Natalie Buck
Natalie Buck (born 5 July 1980 in Sydney) is an Australian former ice dancer. She competed with Trent Nelson-Bond. They are the 2002–06 Australian national champions. They have competed five times at the World Figure Skating Championships a ...
and
Trent Nelson-Bond
Trent Nelson-Bond (born 30 December 1979 in Sydney) is an Australian ice dancer. He competed with Natalie Buck. They are the 2002–2006 Australian national champions. They have competed five times at the World Figure Skating Championships
...
in the early 2000s.
Accolades
In 2017, he was inducted into the
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...
.
Personal
He met his wife, Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer
Natalia Dubova
Natalia Ilinichna Dubova (russian: Наталья Ильинична Дубова; born 31 March 1948) is a Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer.
Career
Competing as Natalia Bakh with partner Vladimir Pavlikhin, she wo ...
, when he covered one of her competitions as a sportswriter.
In 1999, they moved to
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...
.
See also
*
List of select Jewish swimmers
*
World record progression 800 metres freestyle
The first world record in the women's 800 metres freestyle in long course (50 metres) swimming was recognised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 1931. The women's 880 yard freestyle had been a FINA-recognised world record eve ...
References
External links
USSR Swimming profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belits-Geiman, Semyon
Living people
1945 births
Soviet male freestyle swimmers
Russian male freestyle swimmers
Jewish swimmers
Soviet Jews
Russian Jews
Swimmers from Moscow
Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists in swimming
Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union
Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union
Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Moscow State University alumni
Soviet journalists
Male journalists
Soviet male cross-country skiers
Soviet male speed skaters
European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medalists in swimming
Universiade medalists in swimming
Universiade gold medalists for the Soviet Union
Universiade silver medalists for the Soviet Union
Medalists at the 1965 Summer Universiade