101 Greats of European Basketball

In January of 1977, I had the chance to see Belov
in his native city, with the jersey of his team, Spartak.
Radnicki Belgrade was playing the Saporta Cup there in
the same group as Spartak. At home, the Soviets won
easy, 99-84. I don’t remember how many points Belov
scored, but I do remember he was the best man on the
court. I have a picture with Coach Kondrashin, who talked
to me about the importance of Belov for the games
of Spartak and the national team. Alexander Gomelskiy
also said that Belov was “the pearl of Soviet, but also
European, basketball.”
Accused of smuggling
Some days later, on January 23 of 1977, before a
Spartak trip to Italy, Belov was accused of smuggling
orthodox icons, which were highly valued antiques in
the West. He lost all his acknowledgments and medals
and was expelled from the national team. There are
several versions about what happened, from his own
mistake to a setup to avoid his signing for CSKA. Some
even said it was a trap to make Spartak a weaker team.
This change turned him upside down. Some say that
even before this incident, he complained about chest
pains, but that doctors never found anything. In August
of 1978, he was called to the national team again by
Alexander Gomelskiy, who wanted him to help defend
in Manila the golden medal from San Juan. Belov made
it to the national team camp, but after just a few days,
he had to leave because he didn’t feel well. Two months
later, he died of cardiac sarcoma. He wasn’t even 27
years old and he still had a good career in front of him.
However, he had also accomplished a lot of things for
us to remember him as a great player, a humble and
calm man off the court, but a lion on it.
DATE | Sunday, November 2, 2014
Some days later, on January
23 of 1977, before a Spartak
trip to Italy, Belov was
accused of smuggling
orthodox icons, which were
highly valued antiques in
the West. He lost all his
acknowledgments and
medals and was expelled
from the national team.
There are several versions
about what happened, from
his own mistake to a setup to
avoid his signing for CSKA.
Alexander Belov
101 greats of european basketball
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