Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Zaytsev (russian: Вячеслав Алексеевич Зайцев, born 12 November 1952) is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

player who competed for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

, in the 1980 Summer Olympics, and in 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 ...

. Zaytsev was born in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. In 1976, he was part of the Soviet team which won the silver medal in the Olympic tournament. He played all five matches. Four years later, he won a gold medal with the Soviet team in the 1980 Olympic tournament. He played five matches. With the Soviet Union, Zaytsev won two other Olympic silver medals, two World Championships and six European titles. He was a major player to help

Soviet Union men's national volleyball team The Soviet Union men's national volleyball team was the national volleyball team that had represented the Soviet Union in the International competitions between 1948 until 1991. FIVB considers Russia as the inheritor of the records of Soviet ...

to dominate the World in late 1970s to early 1980s by winning

1977 FIVB Men's World Cup The 1977 FIVB Men's World Cup was held from 17 to 29 November 1977 in Japan. It was the 3rd edition of the competition. The FIVB Men’s World Cup made its final breakthrough when the decision was taken to hold the competition in Japan from tha ...

1978 FIVB Men's World Championship The 1978 FIVB Men's World Championship was the ninth edition of the tournament, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB. It was held from 20 September 1 to October 1978 in Italy. Qualification * Yugoslavia and Puerto Rico withdrew ...

1980 Moscow 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 ...

, 1981 FIVB Men's World Cup and 1982 FIVB Men's World Championship in row. At the 1988 Games, he was a member of the Soviet team which won the silver medal in the Olympic tournament. He played five matches. Zaytsev played for Avtomobilist Leningrad (now Spartak St. Petersburg), with which he won two CEV Top Teams Cup and two Challenge Cups in 1982–1983. He finished his career in Italy, playing in

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

Agrigento Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one o ...

and

Città di Castello Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. The city is north of ...

Family

He is married to Irina Pozdnyakova, a former competitive swimmer. They have a daughter, Anna (born 1975), and a son,

Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

, who is an Olympic volleyball player. Both children hold Italian citizenship:

was born on 2 October 1988 in Italy, where his father played for several years, whereas Anna married an Italian in 1993.

References

1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Saint Petersburg Soviet men's volleyball players Olympic volleyball players of the Soviet Union Volleyball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Russian volleyball coaches Olympic medalists in volleyball Russian men's volleyball players Coaches of Russia men's national volleyball team Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Goodwill Games medalists in volleyball {{Russia-volleyball-bio-stub