Biography
Although Alexander Gomel was unable to become a famous basketball player, he dedicated himself to coaching work and reached this height. The mentor made an invaluable contribution to the development of Soviet sports and left the memory of himself in numerous photos, books and interviews.Childhood and youth
Alexander Gomelsky was born on January 18, 1928 in Kronstadt. His parents were a teacher and military, who was soon translated into Leningrad. There, the family found the war, the father went to the front, and the mother with three children was evacuated to the village of Stepnoy.
At that time, Sasha had to be not easy, he worked hard and often hungry. The teenager instructed the care of horses, he was a stable and shepherd. After returning to Leningrad, Gomelsky contacted a bad company and almost fell behind the bars, but he was lucky to meet the coach Alexander Novozhilov. So the young man began to professionally engage in basketball, and then entered the coaching school at the Institute of Peter Lesgaft.
Already at 18, Sasha first tried himself as a mentor, he was entrusted to train the Women's Basketball Team "Spartak". In parallel, he continued to study, entered the topographic school, and then at the Military Institute of Physical Education.
During the years of student, the athlete was a player of SKA and stubbornly trained, dreaming to get to the 1952 Olympics. He stayed late in the gym, honing the throws, but it was not destined to become the Olympic champion of Sasha. Shortly before the competition, the coach Stepan Spandaryan cozen the fervor of a young basketball player, saying that with a growing 165 cm in the national team there is nothing to do.
Sports career
Despite the failure in the game career, Gomelsky could not say goodbye to the basketball and decided to devote himself to coaching, which became a new page of the biography. Soon after the end of the institute of physical education, he received a appointment in Riga, where he became the coach of the local club SKA. Under Alexander Yakovlevich, new young players came to the team, who under his leadership were repeatedly became champions of the USSR and owners of the European Champions Cup.The progress of the mentor could not be without attention, so in 1961 he was first entrusted to the preparation of the national team. That year, the national team of the Soviet Union won the European Championships, which was repeated later repeated, thanks to the talent of the star.
Alexandra Yakovlevich was called not only a strong coach, but also a good psychologist. He knew how to configure the victory of the players, for which he was worried about how for his native children. It is not surprising that soon the wards began to call the mentor not otherwise as dad.
The next team, which the celebrity trained, became CSKA. As in the case of SKA, he quickly found the approach to basketball players and repeatedly led them to victories at the Championship of the Soviet Union and the European Champions Cup.
The cases in the national team of the USSR also walked perfectly, among the merits of Alexander Yakovlevich were awards of the World and Europe championships, and among his wards there were players like Vladimir Tkachenko and Arvidas Sabonis, who became the stars of Soviet Sport. The only thing that lacked the mentor was to win at the Olympic Games.
The opportunity to correct the situation appeared in Gomel only in 1988. In an interview, the coach repeatedly stressed that the wards did not believe in victory, but he managed to customize them on the right way, which made it possible to conquer the long-awaited Olympic gold.
After the triumphal victory, Alexander Yakovlevich worked abroad for some time, and upon returning to Russia, he received the post of chairman of the Basketball Federation. In 1997, he became president of CSKA and remained to them until death, while maintaining activity and love for sports.
Personal life
With his first wife, Olga Gomelsky met in his youth when he worked as the Spartak coach. The girl was the most young female athlete that did not prevent her to achieve heights and become a leader. Soon after the wedding, the spouse devoted himself to the family, gave birth to a star of two sons. Senior of them, Vladimir Gomelsky, became a famous telecommatutor.
The children were already adults when the coach met a new love in the face of a young flight attendant Lily. She conquered a star reading and beauty and soon gave him the heir to Kirill. Although initially Alexander Yakovlevich did not plan to leave the family, as soon as he took the child to his hands, I realized that there was no other exit.
Celebrities managed to preserve warm relationships with the ex-wife and sons of the first marriage, who supported the Father. He was happy with Lilia for almost 25 years, but in 1993 women did not. After that, the coach was for a long time, but managed to re-establish a personal life when he met Tatiana Gomel's athlete. She was under the stars for 40 years, which did not prevent them from creating a family and become the parents of the son of Vitaly. With the third wife, the mentor lived until the death.
Death
In 1998, Alexander Yakovlevich found a small swelling at his mind, which eventually turned out to be a malignant cancer tumor. Although the forecasts of doctors were disappointing, the star managed to extend their lives for another 7 years. He died on August 16, 2005, the cause of death became complications of the disease.Achievements
- 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1979, 1981 - European champion
- 1963, 1970 - Bronze Word Championship winner
- 1964 - Silver Provision of the Olympic Games
- 1967, 1982 - World Champion
- 1967, 1977, 1982, 1988 - The best coach of the USSR
- 1968, 1980 - Bronze medalist of the Olympic Games
- 1977, 1987 - Silver Championship winner of the European Championship
- 1978 - Silver winner of the World Cup
- 1983 - Bronze Championship winner of the European Championship
- 1988 - Olympic champion
- 1995 - Member of the Basketball Hall of Fame
- 2007 - Member of the Fib Glory Hall
Awards
- 1965 - Master of Sports International Class
- 1956 - Honored Coach of the USSR
- 1982 - Honored Coach of the Lithuanian SSR
- 1982 - Order of the Labor Red Banner
- 1993 - Honored Worker of Physical Culture of Russia
- 1998 - Silver Olympic Order
- 2003 - Order "For Merit" (Ukraine)
- Order of the Red Star
- Order of friendship peoples
- Two orders "Honor Sign"