Tiit Sokk (born 15 November 1964) is a retired Estonian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and current coach. Often cited as one of the very best European

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

s of his generation, he is widely recognized as the greatest Estonian basketball player in history. Elected to the Hall of fame of Estonian basketball in 2010. Eesti korvpall 100 - Kuulsuste Hall - Tiit Sokk

Professional career

Sokk was awarded the Estonian best male athlete award in 1988. He won the Soviet Union League title in 1991 with

Kalev Tallinn Kalev Tallinn is a multi-sport club in Tallinn, Estonia. The club was formed as Jalgpalliselts Meteor (Football Union Meteor) in 1909 and changed to its present name in 1911, when it joined the all-Estonian sports organisation Estonian Sports Ass ...

, and ended his career as a player in 1997, after playing a season with

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

in Greece.

National team career

Sokk's most notable achievement was winning the Olympic gold medal as a member of the Soviet Union national team at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

. He also won two

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

silver medals in

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 ente ...

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 Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, as well as the bronze medal at

EuroBasket 1989 The 1989 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1989, was the 26th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Yugoslavia between 20 and 25 June 1989. Eight national teams entered th ...

Coaching career

After his playing career, Sokk founded a basketball school in Estonia, and coached in the Estonian Basketball League. He also was

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the Estonia national team during two different stints from (2004–2007) and (2009–2019).

Personal life

Tiit Sokk has two sons, Tanel and

Sten The STEN (or Sten gun) is a family of British submachine guns chambered in 9×19mm which were used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. They had a simple design and very low production cost ...

, who also play professional

at the international level for Estonian teams

BC Tartu University of Tartu basketball team ( et, link=no, Tartu Ülikooli korvpallimeeskond ), for sponsorship reasons known as Tartu Ülikool Maks & Moorits, is a professional basketball team based in Tartu, Estonia. The team plays in the Latvian–Est ...

and Kalev/Cramo respectively. During his career in Greece he played under the name Tout Giannopoulos.

Achievements

;

*2× Soviet Estonian champion: 1984, 1985 * Soviet Union League champion: 1991 * Estonian League champion: 1992 *Estonian Basketball Hall of Fame: 2011 ;

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

*3× Greek League runner-up: 1993, 1995, 1996 *2×

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

winner: 1993, 1996

References

External links

Tiit Sokk
at basketpedya.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sokk, Tiit 1964 births Living people Aris B.C. players Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Estonian basketball coaches Estonian expatriate basketball people in Greece Estonian expatriate basketball people Estonian men's basketball players Greek Basket League players Greek basketball coaches Greek people of Estonian descent Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Naturalized citizens of Greece Olympic basketball players of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in basketball Panathinaikos B.C. players Point guards Soviet men's basketball players Sportspeople from Tartu Tallinn University of Technology alumni 1986 FIBA World Championship players 1990 FIBA World Championship players KK Kalev players