Was born on March 29, 1964 in Omsk, Russia. In 1989 he graduated from the Kiev Institute of Physical Culture.
A family
- Wife Alla Akhmetova, born 1960
- Daughters Anastasia, born in 1991 and Alexandra, born 1998
Private bussiness
Alexander Volkov is considered the man of Dmitry Firtash.
Political migrations
Literally shortly after receiving parliamentary powers, A. Volkov "in the company" with the deputy, "our Ukrainian" Vladimir Zaplatinsky and the people's deputy from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Valentin Zubik, joined the so-called anti-crisis coalition - as part of the Party of Regions, the SPU and the CPU. Six months later, the example of the defectors was followed by several more "our Ukrainians" and "BYuT", which, as a result, provoked the early termination of the powers of the parliament of the 5th convocation and early elections. After receiving the deputy mandate on the list of the PR, he joined the party of Viktor Yanukovych.
Parliamentary bouncer
From February 2 to October 21, 2010, Volkov missed 39 meetings. For a deputy like him, waving his fists in parliament is his main professional activity.
As you know, a fight between deputies of the opposition and ruling parties broke out on December 17, 2010, after the opposition blocked the work of parliament all day, protesting against the initiation of a criminal case against the leader of Batkivshchyna, ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Five deputies from the opposition faction "BYuT-Batkivshchyna" suffered as a result of this fight with the ruling Party regions, two of them were in serious condition (the victims: Mikhail Volynets, Vasily Kravchuk, Yuri Gnatkevich and Yevgeny Suslov. "Regionals" hit Vladimir Bondarenko with a chair, and broke his arm, Volynets broke his jaw, Yuri Gnatkevich and Vasily Kravchuk received a concussion) ...
At least 100 deputies from the Party of Regions took part in the fight. The incident, according to a number of opposition MPs, was planned in advance. Before the fight in parliament, the first deputy chairman of the Party of Regions faction, Mikhail Chechetov, said that his faction would "take control of the situation" on Friday.
On the part of the Party of Regions deputies, part-time deputies ("deputies on call"), officials Zlochevsky and Salamatin ("Ukspetsexport") were involved in the fight.
The most brutal participants in the fight were the regional deputies Salamatin, Tsarev, Volkov and Zlochevsky, Pyotr Tsyurko
Basketball deputy Volkov is also a frequent participant in brawls in the Verkhovna Rada. In addition to clashes in parliament, he also takes part in the fights of the city council deputies. For example, during the famous clash between the deputies from the Klitschko Bloc and the Chernovetsky Bloc in October 2009, the "regionals" Volkov and Tedeev, who also took part in the fight, came to the session hall in support of Chernovetsky's team.
Volkov's sports business
Alexander Volkov really got involved in the basketball business, but not in the format that the Ukrainian fan expected. Why go far for examples? Suffice it to recall the 2008 FBU Presidium. The head of the federation spoke a lot and with fervor about how he wanted the national teams to be shod, well fed and provided for, and immediately sacrilegiously betrayed national interests by abstaining from the voting, which determined whether there would be a limit on legionnaires in the national championship. Agree, it does not fit in my head how the first person of Ukrainian basketball can not have his own position in solving strategic issues?
However, the answer to the question is quite simple. Volkov needed this limit like a hare needed a stop signal. First, the restriction would entail a decrease in financial flows to the FBU, because for each legionnaire, clubs pay huge contributions to the federation. To understand the size of these subsidies, it is enough to do some simple arithmetic. Last season, 78 Varangians passed through the Superleague, each of them costing at least $ 10,000. But Alexander Volkov's interest was not limited to this either, since it was necessary to help his own brainchild - BC Kiev, which is paired with another grand - "Azovmash", seeks to take more foreigners to satisfy the European Cup ambitions.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg, tangible, so to speak, for a common man in the street. What can we say about the cases that Alexander Anatolyevich does in secret from the public. For example, you know why Volkov is so opposed to the creation of the Ukrainian Basketball League, which, we recall, has already included six clubs (Budivelnik, Dnipro, Kryvbassbasket, Odessa, Polytechnic and Cherkasy Mavpy), advocating the transition of Ukrainian basketball to professional rails? This conglomerate does not come up with a dummy proposal, but has significant developments in all areas, including enlisting the support of the Biola trademark, which is ready to allocate $ 5 million for the project next season.
But this is the whole problem. It is one thing to have 5 "lemons" that you won't touch, and quite another - your own interest. On the sidelines, they gossip that he really exists, but in a different "vegetable garden". Volkov seems to have received the go-ahead from one of the country's leading mobile operators for a sponsorship package for the Super League in the amount of three million "green", from which, according to rumors, he will have a percentage. The only problem is that in the Super League after the revolution, “UBL” at the moment there are only seven clubs, and the speech with the patrons, they say, was originally about thirteen. But the head of the FBU is no stranger to getting out of such situations. According to the latest, naturally unofficial information, Alexander Anatolyevich promised the "networkers" active PR in the East European League, where "Kiev" and "Azovmash" are already sleeping and seeing themselves. This is by the way about how much Volkov is concerned about the national interests of domestic basketball, however, like the domestic championship in particular ...
And don't worry about the Olympic champion. He will get out in any situation, since he learned to cover the traces of fraud masterly. Don't believe me? Then take a look at the protocol of the scandalously memorable third quarterfinal match of the 1995 basketball Superleague between the Greek Olympiacos and CSKA Moscow.
For your reference, let us remind you that then five basketball players of the army club mysteriously fell ill with severe poisoning, and the champion of Russia had to play a fateful game with five of them! But Alexander Anatolyevich himself was a participant in that cruel parody on the part of the Greek club. But why should the public remember this? Volkov decided and, thanks to his excellent connections with FIBA, he corrected the protocol. Isn't it Ostap Bender of our time?
Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Olympic champion, European champion, two-time champion USSR, champion of Greece
One of the strongest heavy forwards of Soviet and European basketball in the 1980s - 1990s, who managed to reach great heights not only in sports, but also in politics.
Alexander Anatolyevich Volkov was born on March 29, 1964 in the Siberian city of Omsk into a family where basketball was a longtime hobby of both parents - mechanical engineers.
The childhood and adolescence of the future Olympic champion was held in the ancient Ukrainian city of Chernigov. Like all boys, he was fond of hockey, football, boxing. Before his years, a tall, agile, brave, dexterous 9-year-old boy who played yard football with his peers attracted the attention of Alla Georgievna Vergun, the coach of the local CYSS # 1. It was A. Vergun and his father A. Volkov who always remained grateful for the foundations of basketball skills.
The son liked the way his father hammers the ball into the ring from above, and in order to develop the jumping ability necessary for this, the eighth-grader Sasha Volkov himself set a daily norm of a thousand jumps and punctually performed it, until one day, feeling a fantastic feeling of flight and the joy of victory, he saw his the first ball nailed into the ring - from above!
At the beginning of 1981, Volkov, as part of the youth team of Ukraine, became the bronze medalist of the All-Union Spartakiad of Schoolchildren. In the spring of the same year he graduated from a specialized sports boarding school... In the summer, in the same place in Kiev, he entered the State Institute of Physical Education, and in the fall he already played in his first professional basketball club - Kiev "Builder", under the guidance of the famous coach Boris Vdovichenko.
The 17-year-old boy, who claimed to be a forward, not only did not get lost among the experienced masters of the Kiev club, but quickly became one of the leaders of the team. Playing for "Builder", the young striker often and successfully attacked from long range, but could also close all positions - from 1 to 4 numbers. And, spinning like a top, at first he played both in the double and in the main team! Therefore, he deservedly received his first "adult" medal - the "silver" of the USSR Championship in 1981, together with everyone else.
In 1983, together with the future "gold" Olympians of Seoul-1988 A. Sabonis, V. Tikhonenko, Sh. Marchiulionis and I. Miglinieks in the starting five of the USSR national team under the leadership of V.N. Obukhova Volkov became the silver medalist of the junior world championship.
Distinctive feature play style young A. Volkov (height 206 cm, combat weight 105 kg) had the ability to pass outside the box, unpredictably, under someone else's shield through the defense of rivals. However, even then the 20-year-old Volkov understood that: “First of all, we need to play honestly in defense. And besides, try to bring the team an approximately equal number of points in the fast break, after passes, with shots from middle distance and after the fight for bounces. If the striker manages to give his partners, especially the centers, a sufficient number of sharp passes, then his game task can be considered completed. " So he acted - carefully, reasonably, balanced, commanding. And if the opportunity fell, then, breaking the applause of the stands, he knew how to show off with a rapid passage through the entire site, with a witty feint, a dashing throw from above.
In 1985, in his first "adult" European Championship in Germany, A. Volkov invariably began all meetings in the starting five and was very noticeable on the court in most matches. He became the third in his team in rebounds and personally scored 80 points. The strength of the Soviet national team in that championship can be judged at least by the result of the final match, in which it skated through the national team of Czechoslovakia - 120: 89.
The following year, 1986, A. Volkov performed brilliantly at the World Championships in Spain. On preliminary tournament in Ferrol in group B, the Australian national team was the most fortunate - it lost to the then the current champion the world of the Soviet national team "only" 30 points. The rest of the opponents suffered defeats with a greater difference - from "-38" to "-40". In the semifinal round, the traditionally strong national teams of Greece, Brazil and Spain could not resist the unstoppable onslaught of the sovieticos. In the semifinals, in a difficult confrontation, Soviet basketball players in overtime managed to defeat the strong Yugoslavs as never before - 91:90.
The winners in their semifinal groups - the USSR national team and the USA national team, which had one defeat - from Argentina, clashed for the "gold" of the tournament. In that dramatic match, especially in its second half, Soviet basketball players gave everything to the game, but there was not enough time to win. The result of the match - 85:87 and the silver medals of the championship. At that championship, the USSR national team in 12 games "thrashed" a fantastic 1287 points (against 1038 for the nearest Americans), in which A. Volkov's personal 111 points were not lost either.
Success never goes unnoticed, and A. Volkov met the beginning of the new basketball season with servicemen of the Soviet army in the main team of the country - Moscow CSKA under the command of head coach Yuri Gennadievich Selikhov. At that time, CSKA's main problem in the USSR championship was Zalgiris from Kaunas and its young supercenter A. Sabonis. And, if in 1987 CSKA did not solve this problem for the third season in a row and remained the second, then in 1988 Zalgiris was finally thrown from the top step of the podium, and the first gold medal champion of the USSR. The first medal immediately pulled the second one. A. Volokov "with his comrades" achieved it after the long-awaited return home to Kiev "Builder" dear to his heart after the Olympics.
For the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, the USSR national team prepared ahead of time and thoroughly. Back in 1987 in Atlanta (USA) A. Gomelsky and the American coach M. Fratello with the support of “a great friend of the USSR and personally M.S. Gorbachev ”by the American billionaire Ted Turner, a two-week training camp and sparring with the NBA Atlanta Hawks team was organized for the USSR national team. On next year before the Olympics, sparring was repeated on the territory of the USSR. After such an "internship" the Soviet athletes were no longer afraid of the American or any other rival.
Having lost their first match to the national team of Yugoslavia (79:92), the USSR national team won the remaining 4 matches in their group. In the quarterfinals, she beat the Brazilians (110: 105) together with their super-stellar sniper O. Schmidt. And in the semifinals (for the first time after the unhappy final of the Munich Olympics in 1972), she met the US team and beat it - 82:76. Even after many years, having repeatedly watched the video of this match, which was destined to become the last in the historical confrontation between the two basketball superpowers, A. Volkov never ceased to be amazed at how modern in its level that game remained.
The debut of the final match with the Yugoslavs was not easy - by the fourth minute the opponent was leading "+6". However, the “sons” and “bandits”, over-motivated by head coach A. Gomelsky, got together and won not only the first half (31:28), but the entire match - 76:63, making the USSR national team a two-time Olympic champion.
In Seoul, A. Volkov was one of the best in the team. He played in all matches, and not only perfectly assisted the team's snipers, but also personally contributed 91 points to the total piggy bank. And most importantly - in decisive match with the Americans did not allow his ward D. Mannig to score even once, while gaining 12 points.
In the 1989 season, the Kiev "Builder" won the first (and last) Ukrainian "gold" in the history of the USSR championship. In the same year, rich in significant events in 1989, A. Volkov, as a member of the USSR national team, won the bronze medal of the European Championship, graduated from the Kiev Institute of Physical Culture, was recognized as the most valuable player in the USSR Championship and received an invitation from overseas to play in the NBA. So A. Volkov became the first Ukrainian basketball player and the first “red” (read - Soviet) in the predominantly “black” (African American) ethnic club of the NBA “Atlantic Hawks” (USA).
Already in his first incomplete season of 1989 A. Volkov became the best in Atlanta in throws from behind the 6-meter line. And in the second season he played in the NBA in 77 games (27 of them starting at the start), received an average of 19.7 minutes from coach M. Fratello and brought the team 8.6 points, made 3.4 rebounds and 3, 2 assists per match. During the incomplete three seasons that Volkov played for Atlanta, he played in 149 games, gaining an average of 6.8 points, making 2.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.
Playing at the limit of strength led to a serious injury - multiple fractures of both hands. There was no time for treatment: it was necessary, together with the USSR national team, to defend the country's honor at the 1990 World Cup in Argentina. The entire tournament Volkov worked tirelessly, with which he could not even raise a cup of tea without injections. If not for these hands, with which Volkov won 141 points in that tournament with 55 rebounds, then after a crushing loss to the Yugoslavs (77: 100), the victory of the Soviet national team over the Brazilian national team (110: 100) and reaching the semifinals might not have happened. The victory in the semifinals against the Puerto Ricans (98:82) allowed them to fight for the "gold". But the forces at that time were unequal: in the final, the Yugas, who had “overwhelmed” even the Americans (99:91), put the squeeze on the USSR national team (92:75), leaving only silver medals.
Two serious surgeries, a cast, a long recovery period - Volkov and his loving family - his wife and two daughters - had to go through all this. It took almost a year. Volkov's return to the Atlanta Hawks team, which had become much younger during this time, was triumphant: demonstrating versatile, beautiful basketball that the public liked, he became the best player of the season in the team. And at the end of 1991 A. Volkov's name was forever included in the list of 50 greatest players in the history of FIBA.
At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona (Spain), for the first time in history, the ban on the participation of professionals was lifted, which was successfully used by the United States, which made up its national team of NBA stars. This team, the strongest in the history of basketball, defeated (+30 and more) all its rivals without question and won the gold. Volkov, for the rest of his life, was offended not for losing the Olympic “bronze” to his “Lithuanian colleagues”, but for the semifinals with the Croats, his best match in the tournament (20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists), in which the united CIS team lost to the Croats only 1 point - 74:75.
The 1992/1993 Italian season for the Panasonic team from the southern city of Reggio Calabria began successfully for Volkov, promising both the club and his new player good prospects. However, playing a knee injury, surgery, treatment and long-term rehabilitation of Volkov, the team leader, did not allow the club to achieve its goals. The club changed the owner, and Volkov - the country of residence and place of work: he moved to the Athens BC Panathinaikos, shining with European basketball stars, and helped the club to win the bronze of the 1994 Euroleague. And the next year, in the equally brilliant Piraeus Olympiacos, Volkov became the champion of Greece and the silver medalist of the Euroleague.
It is in that final match Euroleague against Real Madrid Volkov was overtaken by a new test - a spinal injury with displacement intervertebral discs... The pain did not let go either day or night, did not allow me to stand or lie down. Tbilisi sports doctor M. Safarov helped relieve pain with special injections and start to move at least somehow. I had to forget about further performances in big sports, as it seemed, forever.
At the age of 32, Volkov suddenly turned out to be not a lot, he lived in isolation in his house in Atlanta, gained weight, which aggravated his condition, and gradually lost hope of a cure. At the suggestion of A.Ya. Gomelsky Volkov courageously gave himself into the hands of a certain masseur and chiropractor who treated with starvation. How A. Volkov and his family together survived that nightmare of many weeks is known only to themselves. The treatment, coupled with a strong desire to return to basketball, gave the result, fortunately, positive.
In 1998, Volkov returned to his homeland and founded the Fund for the Development of Basketball of Ukraine, which in 2005 became known as the “Fund for the Promotion of Sports of Olympic Basketball Champion Alexander Volkov”.
“I then had a goal - to return to the site. But from 1999 to 2000 I was the Minister of Dispute of Ukraine, and only in 2000 I was able to return to the site. I spent the 2000/2001 season playing for BC Kiev, played three matches for the Ukrainian national team as a playing coach, realized that I was no longer getting the same pleasure and finished my performances, ”A. Volkov recalled.
1999 became a new starting point in the biography of A. Volkov and the year of the beginning of the realization of his old dream: with the support of friends, associates and basketball veterans, Volkov founded and headed the basketball club of the same name in Kiev, which over the next decade was an adornment of Ukrainian basketball. BC "Kiev" won the Ukrainian championship more than once, became the owner of the National Cup, the winner of the FIBA Eurocup, successfully played in the NEBL championship - a league, one of the founders of which was A. Volkov.
The famous basketball player and aspiring sports functionary at home was immediately involved in politics - by the President of Ukraine he was appointed the country's minister for physical culture and sports, then he was elected a people's deputy. True, Volkov did not remain minister for long, less than a year, but he was elected a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU) three times. He was a member of the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Family Issues, Youth Policy, Sports and Tourism. In 2002 A.A. Volkov was elected to the executive committee of FIBA Europe, as well as to the executive committee of the NOC of Ukraine.
Since 2001, Volkov, along with fulfilling his other duties, worked as vice-president of the Basketball Federation of Ukraine (FBU). In 2007, he headed the FBU, voluntarily taking personal responsibility for all further ups and downs of Ukrainian basketball. And since then, for a number of years, every day, without fuss, unnecessary slogans and idle talk, neatly and recklessly unravels the endless tangle of affairs and relationships (from the Ukrainian Super League to children's basketball) of all participants in the daunting process called Ukrainian basketball.
Thanks to Volkov, in 2011, the most experienced and authoritative NBA coach M. Fratello was invited to the post of the head coach of the Ukrainian national team, through whose efforts two years later the Ukrainian national team reached the quarterfinals of Eurobasket 2013 for the first time in its history and took a worthy 6th place there. ...
November 28, 2013 at Kiev Palace Sports at the Euroleague match between Budivelnik and CSKA in honor of Alexander Volkov took place solemn ceremony raising a banner in the form of a jersey with the number "5".
A.A. Volkov - Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Olympic champion (1988), two-time silver medalist of the World Championship (1986, 1990), European champion (1985), silver medalist of the European Championship (1987), bronze medalist of the European Championship (1989), champion world Universiade(1985), two-time champion of the USSR (1988, 1989), two-time silver medalist of the USSR championship (1981, 1987), two-time bronze medalist of the USSR championship (1983, 1984), winner of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR (1983).
He played for the teams: "Builder" ("Budivelnik") (Kiev) (1981-1986, 1988-1989), "CSKA" (Moscow) (1986-1988), "Atlanta Hawks" (Atlanta, USA) (1989-1992 ), Calabria / Panasonic (Reggio Calabria, Italy) (1992-1993), Panathinaikos (Athens, Greece) (1993-1994) - bronze medalist of the Greek championship (1994), bronze medalist of the Euroleague championship (1994), Olympiacos (Piraeus, Greece) (1994–1995) - silver medalist of the Euroleague championship (1995), champion of Greece (1995), BC Kiev (Kiev) (1999–2000).
Career as a coach of club teams: playing coach, coach (1999-2006) honorary president of BC "Kiev" (since 2007) - champion of Ukraine (2000, 2005), silver medalist of the Ukrainian championship (2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008) , bronze medalist of the Ukrainian championship (2003), winner of the Ukrainian Cup (2007), silver (2005) and bronze (2006) medalist of the FIBA EuroCup, silver (2005) and bronze (2006) medalist of the FIBA Euroleague.
Awarded with orders: "Badge of Honor", Friendship, "For Merit" III degree (Ukraine).
Big game
Legendary basketball player Alexander VOLKOV: "Sabonis and Marchiulionis were very friendly since childhood, but they constantly argued over which of them is more important in Lithuania. Sometimes they could go to the toilet and fight."
Alexander Volkov is only 40 years old, but they contain so many victories and troubles that they would be enough for several lives. World basketball star, universal striker, champion Olympic Games 1988, European champion, Soviet Union and Greece - he was one of the first Ukrainian players to open a window in the NBA. Nevertheless, several times life subjected him to such tests of strength that it is time to remember Pavka Korchagin ...
Alexander Volkov is only 40 years old, but they contain so many victories and troubles that they would be enough for several lives. World basketball star, all-round striker, champion of the 1988 Olympic Games, champion of Europe, the Soviet Union and Greece - he was one of the first Ukrainian players to open a window in the NBA. Nevertheless, several times life subjected him to such tests of strength that it is time to remember about Pavka Korchagin ... In the 1993-1994 season, when Volkov played for the Greek Olympiacos, a terrible thing happened. Fate did not seat Alexander in wheelchair just because he could not even sit ... He was saved by a miracle. And colossal courage. And friends-doctors - one, risking his reputation, injected curare, exhausted by unbearable pains, Sasha, the other spent him over the abyss of long hunger strikes (the last was 60 days, almost a week of which was "dry"). Having lost 30 kilograms out of the then 120, Volkov found the strength to overcome a severe spinal injury, recover and return to big sport ... President of the Basketball Development Fund of Ukraine (his name), President and then Honorary President of BC "Kiev" -President of the Basketball Federation of Ukraine, a member of the FIBA-Europe Executive Committee, Alexander Volkov admits that in his youth his favorite words were from the diary of the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar: "23 years old, and nothing has been done for immortality."
"MY FIRST CAR WERE" ZHIGULI ", AND I NORMALLY FIT IN IT.
- Sash, how does such a giant live? I can imagine what it is like for you to get on a plane or a car (I don't think you go on the subway), but just sleep in a bed, being two meters six centimeters tall ... What inconvenience do you experience? Do you feel like a black sheep?
Now I do not, I act instinctively, but in childhood, of course, there were complexes, especially when I began to rapidly stretch out and instantly grew out of clothes. The coat on me sat somehow awkwardly, my arms protruded from the sleeves - naturally, I was embarrassed to be in full view all the time, because I had to go to trainings across the whole of Chernigov. I even came up with various tricks - for example, I jumped into the cabin of the bus at the last stop and quickly sat down or, if there were no empty seats, remained standing on the bottom step so as not to stand out ...
- Do you remember how old you were when you began to grow intensively?
Probably 14-15. I was thin, long, awkward and by this, of course, attracted everyone's attention. Then there were other problems. When I entered the Kiev sports boarding school, I felt more comfortable. Kiev - Big city, people here had no time for me, but how difficult it was to buy clothes and shoes ... Moreover, I did not earn money yet ...
- And try to get the "Adidas" sneakers ...
Yes, just shoes and trousers, a jacket, a coat! Something was altered by the mother from his father's things, something was bought with great difficulty. It is fortunate that I got into the USSR national team and began to travel abroad. There are great shops for the big ones, where we basketball players tried to buy everything, and for the first time I felt like a human being.
True, when we went to games and training camps, on the way, I prayed that the bed in the hotel would have only one back - at the head.
- And if the back was at the foot?
Then, if the administrators did not satisfy the request to change the bed or give another room, the lost night was secured. This happened especially often in the regions - provincial hotels were terribly uncomfortable. Well, I tried to lie across - even a chair could not be substituted under my feet. I thought: it's better to have a short bed, but without a back ... I curled up in the fetal position, but still felt discomfort, could not relax ... Now in the hotel you can choose a bed to order, spacious, without a back ...
- How do you adjust on airplanes?
If possible, I always book a ticket in the first row of business class - there is a greater distance between the seats. These are specific tricks. People with normal height do not think where they will sit, but we calculate in advance. If you can't get business class, I ask for an economy class seat near the emergency exit ...
You probably flew around America on domestic flights in small airplanes, where it is difficult for a person with an average height to squeeze. How did you get out of the situation there?
In desperate situations, you just have to endure, curled up in a bagel. Usually, some options are still found, and most people are compassionate - if they can help, they always help.
And with cars it is much easier now. My first car was a Zhiguli, and I remember that I fit in it normally. The same giants sat side by side, and we drove without any particular inconvenience. Probably, then the spine bent better ... Now you look at the "Zhiguli" and think: "Have I ever ridden in this cage?" Thank God, there is already an opportunity to choose a larger car. In America, a Mitsubishi jeep served me faithfully for many years, and in Kiev I drive a Ford forwarding agent.
Sasha, your height is two meters six centimeters. Alexander Belostenny has 2.14, Volodya Tkachenko has 2.20, and poor Alexander Sizonenko has 2.38 ...
Already 2.43, and the foot is size 58 - it continues to grow ...
- In my opinion, this is a tragedy for the guys. Or am I over-dramatizing the situation?
Well, let's say, Belostenny is still nothing, from a distance his growth is not very different from 2.10, but Tkachenko had constant problems. Not to mention Sasha Sizonenko, who played for the St. Petersburg "Spartak" and the Kuibyshev "Builder" (his name was entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest basketball player in the world) - now he lives somewhere in St. Petersburg, I don’t know in what condition. ..
In a difficult one ... I read about him: twice had an operation on the pituitary gland, because of severe osteoporosis, he moves on crutches, he suffers from arrhythmia and diabetes, he lives on a pension of a disabled person of the II group ...
Trouble ... We are called gullivers, but few people know about the problems of big people. You don't need to go far for examples - the former basketball player Nikolai Sushak has everything too serious with his legs and spine ... But you can't say that he is a super giant - only 2.10 ...
The giants have both difficulties and certain complexes. It is fortunate that there are sports where growth provides certain opportunities, even benefits, and that they are interested in you. If there was no need for basketball, volleyball, handball in the guys at 2.17, 2.18, what would they do in life, especially now, who would need it? Thank God, they have a chance not only to make money, but to be in demand, maybe become stars that the whole world will recognize.
Now for a provocative question. You have achieved in basketball imaginable and inconceivable medals and titles, were the champion of Europe and the Olympic Games, achieved success in the NBA, Greece, and a number of other countries for whose clubs you played. If, for example, you were asked today: "Sasha, do you want to exchange it all for your usual height?", Would you agree?
Well, of course not. By the way, I cannot say that I am such a colossus - sometimes I can buy things even in ordinary stores, slip through somewhere unnoticed. And in recent times- in the present life, when some kind of prosperity and financial stability have appeared, growth does not interfere.
In the late 80s, when, in fact, your most loud victories, the country was going through a transitional period: before perestroika there were some circumstances, after it - others, it was already possible to earn and save up for a comfortable old age. And although the Chinese only want their enemies to live in times of change, do you think it’s good that you found yourself at this turning point of eras?
Perestroika has become an undoubted success for our generation. In fact, we were the first - not only basketball players, but athletes in general - who tasted the joy and experience of real professional life, worthy salaries and attitude towards oneself. We could compare what we have now and when we played for the USSR national team or our leading clubs of the Union.
I will not say that it was better abroad than at home - there you are generally in a different state, in a different world. It was life in two different coordinate systems - in a straight line and figuratively... But our players were also very capable, talented - real stars of world basketball: Kievites, Muscovites, Leningraders ...
- ... the people of Vilnius ...
Residents of Kaunas, residents of Riga ... Soviet fans bought a ticket to the game for two or three rubles, well, for five, and watched the best players in Europe and the world (today in the USA a front row ticket to the Los Angeles Lakers game costs from 500 to 2000 dollars) ... What excitement was then! Then in the USSR the concept of "empty space in the hall" did not exist - people sat on the steps, even we, basketball players, sometimes did not have enough chairs.
- What were the only matches of CSKA - “Zalgiris”!
And that's another story altogether! At the same time, I sincerely feel sorry for the generation of slightly older children (not to mention the winners of the 72 Olympics) who saw our capabilities and understood that they, too, could taste all the benefits in full ...
- They were heroes ...
But their opportunities appeared too late, it was more difficult for them than for us. Of course, we had our own difficulties, but we nevertheless became pioneers. professional sports for domestic players, but they failed to do this for objective reasons. They followed our careers, saw what we can afford ... I know many guys, and, in my opinion, they have developed some kind of inner complex ...
- It's a shame ...
Sergey Tarakanov played with me in CSKA. He is older, but was able to play a little in Belgium, Germany - not for very big money. When I was about to leave the NBA, he called and said: "Sasha, if fate gave me such an opportunity, I would sit there on the bench for free! Do not try to leave!" There was such regret in his voice that he did not have time ...
- ... on the bandwagon of this train ...
If his generation was two or three years younger, he would also make the dream of any basketball player come true - to play at least six months in the NBA and say: "I was there." Then it was well, oh-very prestigious, almost unattainable, it's hard to even think of what could be better ...
"SABONIS HAS SOMETHING TO ADMIT TO ME:" I ARE NOT AFRAID OF ANYONE BUT GOMELSKY "
- As the saying goes, "see Paris and die" ...
Nobody wanted to become an NBA champion - they just wanted to get into the "All Stars Game"!
Now this is a completely surmountable path, all the guys dream of getting there, believe in luck and have already begun to think about how to become an NBA champion. For example, Andrey Kirilenko is our first representative in the "All Stars Game" ...
Sasha, is the level of the NBA players really much higher than that of those who are just as successful in the prestigious championships of a number of other countries?
I would say that in many ways it is promotion. In general, world basketball is now experiencing a recession, it seems that a breakdown is about to occur, after which it will be forced to rise. There are some clubs, new relationships ... In Russia, for example, crazy money is spent on basketball, we also have a certain prosperity, even a certain excitement. The situation is similar in Poland, but in Greece, on the contrary, the financial collapse of almost all clubs. By the way, in Turkey, where there were crazy contracts five years ago, things went much worse.
In Europe, a change of leaders is taking place, and then there is still an incomprehensible structure of the current European basketball ... The conflict between two organizations - FIBA-Europe and the Union of European Basketball Leagues ULEB - has protracted, and they do not conduct any negotiations. At the end of World War II, the victors demanded complete and unconditional surrender from the Germans, and now both disputing parties expect the same surrender from each other. I - a member of the FIBA Executive Committee - I can't understand: like adults, Europeans, friends ...
- Money, Sasha, money ...
Nightmare: they rested and do not want to make concessions, they are waiting for who will be the first to bend. As a result, the whole European club basketball suffers. I feel that the NBA will come to these wreckage in Europe in some form (although I myself am a part of this association and visited its kitchen) ...
- ... and will absorb both FIBA and ULEB?
This will all end! Of course, on the one hand, it’s not a bad option, but on the other hand, it’s our own fault: everything will happen as a result of the intractability of the Europeans.
- The title "Olympic champion" does not have the prefix "ex-", it is for life. How did you feel when in 88, as part of the star team of Alexander Gomelsky, you became the Olympic champion? It didn’t seem to you that this is the peak, above which already
do not rise?
It is impossible to convey those feelings, it really was some kind of indescribable euphoria. It so happened that we became Olympic champions, and we had to fly home only three days later. The Olympics are still going on, and we have already lost our heads from happiness! It all started not only weakly - even, I would say, gloomy. The very first fight, and a mediocre loss to the Yugoslavs - the teams and my personal ...
- There was a terrible match with Puerto Rico too ...
Yes, they swayed with a creak. We expected that the game would go on with the arrival of Sabonis, but it turned out the other way around: the summer was being prepared without him, he arrived in three days, and all the game schemes were broken. It was necessary to somehow adjust, and people are already on their nerves - the end of the preparation. We barely got used to it ...
Of course, well done Gomelsky, that he withstood all this!
- How did he set you up for victory: shouted, swearing?
Firstly, in Seoul, we somehow internally gathered, everyone sincerely believed that we could win, although they didn’t admit it to others, not even to ourselves ... Never before had I seen such an extreme concentration of each player, and that's it. however, as usual in Soviet times, at the start we surrendered to the Yugoslavs - the most implacable rivals. Usually, in such cases, some Komsomol leaders, heads of the sports committee come to the meetings to scold the players ...
- ... they say, as at Stalingrad, that "beyond the Volga there is no land for us" ...
And that you are, they say, traitors, we will show you where the crayfish winter! And then suddenly Gomelsky calmly promised: "Guys, I won't let anyone near you, anyway we are the best and we will win against everyone here." He very skillfully instilled in us the belief in the miracle that happened as a result.
- I wonder how such a small person can handle giants? What keys did he pick for you?
Obviously, this is a mysterious natural phenomenon. It happens, for example, that a handsome man for some reason lives with an inconspicuous woman (and vice versa), no one understands what he found in her, and they do not love each other. Apparently, a small person knows and feels especially well what big people need ...
For many years in a row, Alexander Gomelsky traditionally invited us to his birthdays, where many friends gathered, famous people... Previously, he usually arranged veteran games, but then it became noticeable that this no longer arouses the same interest and ceased to be a beautiful sports spectacle: after all, we are slowly getting old, the level of struggle is not the same, the speed is not. Now, just going to chat ...
So, on one of these holidays, Sabonis lit a cigarette somewhere on the sidelines. Suddenly, Alexander Yakovlevich appeared, and Arvydas hastily began to hide his cigarette, although so many years have passed ...
- Reflex - you can't go anywhere ...
Sabonis once confessed to me: "I'm not afraid of anyone, except for Alexander Yakovlevich."
"WE KNEW IT IS BETTER NOT TO JOKE WITH A WHITE-WALLED JOKE"
- Many years later, Gomelsky told me that all three Olympic days the basketball players had a terrible booze. So violent that even he felt uncomfortable, and he threatened Belostenny that he would take away the title of "Honored Master of Sports" for the third time ...
Well, yes, it was ... (smiles)... True, I would call it rather general jubilation ...
The Olympic Village in Seoul was a specially built huge residential building, no different from our nine-story buildings (when the Olympians left, the townspeople moved in there). There were two apartments in the stairwell. In one - 227 - we lived, in the other - the rest of the members of our delegation: doctors, coaches. The apartment is neat, designed for an ordinary Korean family: a hall, several bedrooms, two toilets, decent furniture, a TV ...
I return in the evening after the victory - the table has already been laid, guests of absolutely incomprehensible nationalities, countries, sports are constantly coming ...
- Fraternization has begun ...
And real fun. People took turns, as if in a kaleidoscope: one slept on a sofa in the hallway, woke up, another lay down in his place, someone dozed off right in the bathroom ...
Gradually, a mountain of used plates and glasses, empty bottles, forgotten things grew on the floor. The atmosphere was festive and peaceful, but Gomelsky complained that we were rowdy ...
- Didn't he participate in the manifestation of the general joy?
Alexander Yakovlevich is a very modest person: he ran a cross-country race and is resting, he sleeps at night and carefully looks after himself. Of course, he also always supported the holiday, not without this, but he had to react when the head of the Soviet delegation, Marat Gramov, called him and said: they say, calm down, it’s a shame in front of the world. The Olympics are still going on, but the basketball players have made a brawl, yelling and do not let the rest of the athletes sleep ...
Wise Gomelsky realized that he could not cope with the newly-made Olympic champions so easily, and made two tactical moves. Firstly, he intercepted another bag of alcohol, handed over, so to speak, from the outside, and locked it in his metal safe, and secondly, he said to Belostenny: "Sasha, you were deprived of the" Honored Master of Sports "twice, tomorrow you will be assigned him for the third time. If in half an hour there is no peace and order here, you will not restore the title. "
We laughed: "What kind of blackmail is this?"
- What words did Belyostenny find?
I don’t remember. We were indignant, demanded to leave us alone, yelled: "Sasha, what's the matter! How to disperse? You're kidding - we became Olympic champions! But he remained adamant:" That's it, take a walk and that's enough! Let's clean up all this mess. "Nobody wanted to contact him, of course ...
- Were you afraid?
That's not the point, it's just that if he's tuned in to something, it's better not to joke with him.
- Curiously, there were situations when it came to a fight between famous basketball players?
Constantly...
- Yes? And why did you quarrel?
Usually they could grapple in training, where, of course, fights periodically occurred. Sometimes they argued on political topics. The Balts, for example, opposed the Muscovites ... It did not come to major scandals, but sometimes they were balancing on the brink ...
- Consciousness awakened?
Of course. In addition, there was constant competition between Sabonis and Marchiulionis. They are fellow countrymen, they studied in the same class and always competed, found out which of them is more important in Lithuania. They were very friendly, but sometimes they grappled seriously ...
I remember a long tour of the USA - 40 days in constant games and flights. This is very difficult to bear psychologically - with our overloads for days to see each other. Everyone knew: America is a test of whether you are fit, to be bet on (not only in basketball, but also in life). Gomelsky constantly took three or four young players there to check what he could count on and what to do with them next. So it was hard, and the final detente came only on the plane on the way home, although before that ... All the tours we saved up money - bonuses, daily allowances, and in New York we were given two days ...
- ... to loot shops?
Let's call it that. We had verified points suggested by friends - Russian-speaking emigrants. Someone bought gifts for loved ones, but mostly they took radio equipment. At this stage, all disagreements ended, the next morning fraternization began, all offenses were forgiven, and it became very good on the plane. At the same time, the flights were long, with two landings (not like the current direct flights Kiev - New York). First they landed in Newfoundland, Canada, then in Irish Shannon, and only then in Moscow, from where they departed throughout the Union. Naturally, as it was always customary for us, we relaxed a little - our plane, the flight attendants, finally, relatives, the Russian language ... And one could often observe the following scene: Sabonis and Marchiulionis sat down next to each other somewhere in the back, started peacefully talk, and after a while everyone turned around and saw that they were in a clinch (laughs).
Moreover, at the airport, in the hall for transit passengers, they could go to the toilet and fight. Then again they settled down in the adjacent seats in the aircraft cabin as if nothing had happened. They constantly told each other something in Lithuanian, unraveling unclear relationships that had been going on since childhood.
- Are these showdowns still going on?
Well, now the guys are already adults and will not show it in plain sight.
- Will they go to the toilet?
- (Laughs) No, they behave correctly - after all, the level, but I think they still have so much childhood left!
- Sasha, in the opinion of a professional, is Sabonis really a great basketball player?
I believe that the greatest of the greatest! Going through so many injuries, playing in the NBA, then breaking a multi-million dollar contract, playing for his native Zalgiris almost free of charge and practically bringing him to the Final Four is just a miracle! Yes, Kaunas lost to Tel Aviv Maccabi decisive game for reaching the Final Four, after which the Israelis, who had one chance in a thousand, became ULEB Euroleague champions. In the last half-minute of the game, Sabonis sat down on the bench for five fouls and could no longer help the team, but 15-20 seconds before the end “Zalgiris” won six points and, in all fairness, had to get into the “Final Four”.
Sabonis at 39 (almost 40) years old, was recognized as the best player in the Euroleague! Who else, spitting on five million dollars a year, can return home to take care of the image of their team, raise its level, give a chance for the future, attract sponsors? Such examples of nobility are extremely rare, not to mention the talent of Arvydas, his fanaticism. He is a patriot, which few, you can argue with him on any topic, criticize Lithuania, a little - Kaunas, but if you touch "Zalgiris" - that's all, the end, Sabonis does not forgive this.
"IN THE FIRST NBA GAME I GOT A SHOCK: WE HAVE LOST, AND SUDDENLY THE COACH AND THE BEST PLAYER START TO FIGHT ..."
- Sasha, the NBA was generally unattainable for a Soviet person. You not only got there, but also proved yourself with better side... What struck you the most there?
Of course, I dreamed about the NBA, read everything I could get my hands on, knew the details about each player - probably, no one had such information as I had. I studied the language - I bought a self-study book, found a teacher who gave English lessons (for five rubles an hour) ...
When I flew to the USA, my first impression was admiration, but also a little ... disappointment ...
- In what?
This is not to say that sport is a complete injustice, it is fair, but there are elements of injustice in it ... I felt that my regalia, physical and psychological data were not enough for me to prove to these guys that I could immediately join the team and be with them on an equal footing in the most serious moments.
- Isn't the Olympic champion a regalia for them?
No, this is impressive, but still a white person from Europe, especially from the Soviet Union ...
- ... among handsome black men ...
I can't say that I was badly received, but the realization that in the first game you only come out for a minute is shocking. In training, you are the best, in the preliminary games you are praised, but it comes down to it - and that's it, they don't trust you. I went through this many years ago when I first entered the sport, and at the Atlanta Hawks I had to start from scratch again. It was hard to rebuild ...
- What was it - tactics or politics?
There, the coach has no time to think if you understood what he wanted to tell you. For example, today you can address our players in any language - English, Russian, Ukrainian - but this does not mean that it has come to them ... And then the NBA was so intense games ... Can you imagine how difficult it was for an English-speaking coach to assess the situation ? And although I spoke English well enough, I myself was not quite sure that I fully comprehend what they want from me (at first, of course). And the coach noticed that once a misunderstanding flashed in my eyes, and the second time he did not explain.
There were others unpleasant situations... At the very first game, I was shocked: we were losing, and suddenly Michael Fratello and Dominic Wilkins start ... to fight ... Imagine, coach and the best player! They are separated, they swear at each other ... Maybe, I think it was an accident, but a minute later Moses Malone, known for his extremely aggressive style of attack, grappled with Fratello. Such is the situation ...
- Funny...
At the same time, the older generation of guys - real stars - accepted me very well. For example, the same Moses, who was already playing out in the club. By the way, he was one of the first to come to the NBA at the age of 19 right after high school, bypassing student basketball. Now no one wants to go to college, because studying there is very expensive, and then it was a rarity.
Many different stories were told about Moses Malone: the guy was born in Pittsburgh, Virginia, in a poor family, grew up without a father, his mother locked the refrigerator with a key so that he did not eat all the supplies ... Moses spoke very bad English - such a Negro slang, that practically nothing could be understood, but he was distinguished by extreme sociability. For me, Malone was an idol, a star, it was inconvenient for me to avoid communicating with him - so funny things happened.
In America, the life of athletes is not organized in the same way as ours. We are accustomed to the fact that in a restaurant or canteen the team is set tables with the same dishes - we ate together and left together. And there it is accepted differently: you were given a daily allowance, and what you want, then do with them.
I got up in the morning, went down to the hotel restaurant, ordered breakfast. I see: Moses is coming. He sat down at my table and starts talking to me. I so wanted to answer something, to understand what he was talking about, but ... Such a terrible, monstrously untranslatable slang mixed with English obscenities can sometimes be heard only in humorous American films ...
The next day I go to eat again, and there again Moses. I looked around, no one else is visible. Then I ask the guys: "Why are you not coming down for breakfast?" They answered: "We are ordering to the room, so as not to talk to Moses." And I followed their example.
I just won't save from him - he is on the bus and constantly tells something. I ask Cliff Livingston, who was on our team: "Why is everyone laughing?" - "Nobody can understand Moses" ...
And he played well! At the very beginning, when even before the training camp, the guys are gathered for individual training, Malone called me: "Let's play with you one-on-one." He, of course, is the center, but I was in good shape, faster and beat him. Moses looked at me with respect (they say, they brought a normal guy), recognized and then always defended. Yes, and his wife helped me a lot - in the very first year of my contract, Alla was pregnant, our eldest daughter was born in America ...
Then young people came to the team, to whom we, foreigners, especially from somewhere in the Soviet Union, seemed like foreign bodies. They did not notice us at all, they had their own culture. The older generation of dark-skinned guys are almost my relatives: I still keep in touch with all of them, and I greet the new ones when we meet, but no more.
Once I asked Valery Filippovich Borzov: "How can one explain that black athletes show such brilliant results in the sprint and almost never let whites go ahead?" He answered very interestingly. I want to ask you the same question: "Why is American basketball mostly black? How are black athletes better than whites and are they better?"
Better, and I think it's in their physiology. I'm not a scientist to argue such things, but Black is really more plastic, jumping over us, playing sharper, grasping everything on the fly. Basketball is part of their culture, since childhood everyone dreams of a career in this particular sport. Tests are often conducted in American schools. Little black boys sit on the floor, taking turns being asked who they would like to be. Doctors? Loyers (lawyers)? Several hands are raised. Basketball players? Everyone is pulling their hand. On the one hand, as soon as they learn to walk, they are already with the ball. On the other hand, these guys are closer to nature, healthier, physically stronger. The average black figure is more athletic, although it cannot be said that if you are African American, then automatically - good basketball player... Of course, among them there are both bad athletes and simply losers. At the same time, there are whites who will give odds to any blacks.
- You didn’t become a racist in America?
Rather, the opposite is true. I grew up in a provincial city and when, when I came to Kiev, I saw black people on a trolleybus or subway, it seemed to me something extraordinary. As a child, a Negro was as much of a curiosity to me as, say, King Kong. Today, me, my wife and children who live in the United States do not care what color the skin of passers-by, acquaintances and friends is.
"AFTER THE ANESTHESIA, I WAKE UP ALL WATCHED UP. HAND IN SOMETHING HEAVY GYPSUM. TRYING TO LIFT IT - I WON'T RISE. WANTED TO STAND UP - I COULD NOT ..."
- In America, you experienced a terrible trauma. In the biographical book of Yuri Krikun about you, one of the chapters begins with the words: "Volkov came to himself all in vomit. He could not move his hands, he was paralyzed ...". What happened to you, Sasha?
- (Pause)... Imagine, just a wrist injury that happened in the first year, which was supposed to be a shock for me - a real springboard to the future ... I counted on a long career in the NBA, but twice in a row I seriously injured my hands and finished the season with severe pain ... When I underwent a medical examination, the doctors said that I had fractures in the bones of my wrists: I needed to apply a cast or undergo surgery. I asked if everything could heal without any intervention. They said that yes, if I didn’t overexert myself, but the cracks not only didn’t heal, but exfoliated in the second year - I could no longer bring a glass of water to my mouth, shake my hand ...
I decided to have an operation. I imagined it like this: they cut something off, took it out, sewn it up, and you went home.
And from Atlanta I have to fly to Dallas to operate on the first wrist. The wife asks: "Take the necessary things with you - clothes, books." I say: "Why? Give me a newspaper, a cosmetic bag. I'll be back in a couple of days and start training."
I come to the clinic and feel that I am starting to worry, some kind of incomprehensible anxiety is growing ...
Early in the morning they took me to the operating room, put me on the table ...
I woke up after anesthesia all, sorry, oiled. I don't understand, my hand is in some kind of heavy cast. I tried to lift it - it does not rise, I wanted to get up, but I could not.
- Did you experience the shock?
Of course, this is the first operation in my life. I had no idea what happens ...
- ... so helpless?
I just thought: how do people do operations on the heart, brain, liver? It would seem, what is it? But I also had a piece of cartilage pulled out of the thigh in order to plant it on the non-fused bone on the wrist and stimulate this process. (When they told me about this, I realized where I got a bruise on half my thigh). Oh, it was generally a nightmare! I could not step on my foot, even get up, I was plagued by terrible pain throughout my body. I thought that I would have a slight local pain in the hand, but here it’s just torment ...
A week after the operation, I tried to walk, but could not (there was no question of running). Then I had to learn to walk again ...
Thank God, the second surgery was easier.
- Was there despair?
Yes... (Frowns). The operations were left behind, I believed that in a few weeks I would get up and be in normal shape, but two or three months pass, and the pain does not stop, the hands are not developed ...
I remember at some point I said to myself: "I need to calculate how much I earned under the contract, and, probably, it's time to think about how I will live on ... without basketball."
Fortunately, I met Lesha Ovchinnikov - an emigrant from Leningrad, an adherent of yoga, well acquainted with oriental medicine ... Thanks to him! ..
Did the American basketball system kick you out or were you told: "Sasha, don't worry. We will pay for your treatment in full, everything will be fine"?
Nobody threw me out. After the operation, I remained a member of the team, I was paid a salary. When I could walk, I went everywhere with the guys, sat on the bench during games ... No, everything was fine. They treated me very loyally, with understanding, no one forced my entrance to the site. Over the summer I recovered and played in America for another year after my injuries ...
"REGARDING SOMEONE IN THE OFFICE OF MINISTERS SOMETIMES WOULD LIKE TO USE PHYSICAL FORCE"
- Several years ago, Alexander Volkov became the Minister of Sports of Ukraine, which was perceived ambiguously: they say, how could such an intelligent, bright, charming person become an official? As far as I know, apart from disappointment and heartache, this position did not bring you anything ...
Dima, I will defend the officials - there are many smart and bright people among them.
- And I have no doubt ...
But it really came as a surprise to me ...
- Who offered to take a high post?
Rumors reached me for a long time, but Leonid Danilovich suggested it directly. Probably, I was brought up so that I could not answer "no" or "I'm afraid". Of course, I was afraid of this appointment, did not understand what I would do there at all, but refuse, and then scold myself all my life for a missed chance? ..
Frankly, it was hard, there were moments when I was humiliated (at least, so it seemed to me), when I felt out of place. Yes, something worked out, but, let's say, I was not happy ...
And how creative is it basketball lover, who recently played a man suddenly sit down in a boring ministerial chair? You have to make decisions, sign mountains of papers ...
It’s difficult, of course. I am grateful to the assistants and in general to everyone who did not set me up, although this could have been done elementary.
A lot of people helped, but there were also those who took advantage of my weakness ... Here the situation is about the same as if I called someone from the ministry's employees to play basketball and mocked him: they say, you can't be on the court just like me ...
When a new player joins a basketball team, veterans give him some resistance, check him for lice, for strength. Was there something similar when the newcomer Alexander Volkov got into the Cabinet of Ministers?
Well, of course, of course ...
- And how was it checked?
Some bosses uttered very specific texts!
- What kind?
You know, I can't even quote them from Boulevard ... (Smiling)... At first I was a little dumbfounded: having lived 10 years in the West, I got used to different relationships. "What's going on? - I think. - Where are the human rights?" (laughs)... And they explained to me: Sasha, it is so accepted, here it is a normal style of communication with subordinates ...
- Did you not want to answer in equally strong terms?
It arose, of course, and not only verbally - sometimes I wanted to use physical force ...
Yes! Thank God I restrained myself. In response, he simply parried, put forward counter arguments. If he felt that he was right, he tried to defend it.
So there were both good and bad moments, but time passed, and I gained a lot of experience, met many interesting people, saw life from an unfamiliar side ...
- ... from behind the scenes ...
And of course, I am grateful to Leonid Danilovich for inviting me there. I do not regret for a second that I made this decision.
Recently I learned one fact that simply shocked me. Roman Grigorievich Viktyuk told me an amazing story. “You know,” he said, “there is a very talented guy who is going to become a director, but he has absolutely no money. Whoever I asked:“ Establish a scholarship for a person so that he can study - a real star will grow out of him. This is the future of Ukraine! "Nobody did anything ... By chance we met Sasha Volkov, I asked him and ... a few days later the money was transferred."
Sasha, and you see a lot of money! What is this emotional impulse? I want people to know about your deed - after all, it is not fashionable to do something pleasant to others, to give joy, to pay for school ...
Dima, it turned out very simple. Roman Grigorievich and I talked (by the way, on the set of your video), he said that he would like to help a former basketball player who dreams of becoming a director. The guy, they say, is from a very poor, large family ... I said: okay, let future star will come to me, I will talk to him and, if I can, I will help.
After a while, a guy came - really, tall, tall ... I remembered him - he played in Exactly and in Kiev CSKA, but his sporting fate did not work out ... And I have a fund created to help basketball players - current and former. In general, I gave the task to transfer money - I hope that Viktyuk will make a good director from his "godson".
- Can you call yourself an accomplished person, an established personality, or is everything still ahead?
I came to the conclusion long ago: as soon as you decided that you have already achieved everything and fully succeeded, this is the end. At a certain moment it seemed to me that I had achieved something in basketball - and my career went down sharply, setbacks and injuries began. I just stopped setting goals for myself, it became uninteresting for me to listen to someone, it seemed that I knew everything myself. This feeling of omniscience, the feeling that you have reached heights and now you can automatically move up, leads to the fact that you really stop, or rather, roll down ...
Now I think that I am at the origins, at the beginning, and only trying to find my way. It seems to me that I groped it correctly, and even then I'm not always sure of this. Therefore, I am interested in living, reading, communicating with bright people who will help me to realize something new.
I was recently invited to a meeting with George W. Bush, the former president of the United States. Thank God, knowledge of English made it possible to listen to it without an interpreter. You know, I didn't even expect to get such pleasure. A man in excellent shape (he celebrated his 80th birthday by jumping twice with a parachute from a height of 4000 meters!), Everything is great with him. He said: “If you are 80, it does not mean that you are already out of the game. This, according to him, gives a boost of youth and an incentive to live brightly ...
Or the same Gomelsky - who can call him an old man? And such a thought will not arise. He has a young wife and small children. I am "retiring", and he is boiling, he has plans for 10, or even 20 years ahead. The most important thing is that Alexander Yakovlevich is not afraid to learn and change. I have been watching him for a long time and remember that at 50 he was one, at 55 he was different, at 60 he continued to transform, improve and now he is developing further.
He was a brilliant coach and is now the president of CSKA. Everyone said: "Well, Gomelsky will not let anyone in there, he will run everything himself."
- Let him go?
He did not just let him in - he made his "enemy" Dusan Ivkovic the head coach, with whom he fought and argued for decades, and appointed the general manager of the competitor with whom he fought at all - Sergei Kushchenko from Perm, the former president of Ural Great. Gomelsky took them to his place, realizing that it was the best people... Kushchenko entrusted the promotion of the team, and Ivkovich - everything related to basketball itself. I think that if a person in his eighth decade is able to make such decisions, it means that he thinks, analyzes, seeks to change himself.
That is why to say to myself: they say, I have already taken shape as a person is a big mistake.
"OUTSTANDING NBA PLAYERS ARE EARNING $ 20-30 MILLION PER YEAR. MICHAEL JORDAN - 60 MILLION"
- I'm not asking if you are a wealthy person - I think this question is tactless and indecent - but is it true that there is a lot of money in the NBA?
Huge! In my opinion, the contracts there are too big.
- Is basketball really profitable?
- Yes, everything pays off. Three or four years ago there was a slight stagnation in the NBA, but now the rise has begun again. Television pays the association crazy money, and the most interesting thing is that this is not done by advertising managers, but by the players themselves ... Do you know who significantly increased the NBA budget over the past year?
- No...
One man. You will never guess ...
- Who?
Chinese man Yao Ming.
- How did he manage it?
Due to television advertising rights to his country, the whole of China is rooting for him and watching games with his participation. Can you imagine what kind of advertising market a state with almost one and a half billion people has ?! Sometimes you watch the Houston Rockets games in America, and on the billboards around the perimeter of the site there are Chinese characters ...
- How much can American basketball superstars actually earn a year today?
Outstanding players - $ 20-30 million each, Michael Jordan - $ 60 million (a monument was erected to him during his lifetime in front of the Chicago United Center Sports Palace) ...
And what, as a rule, do they use these unthinkable sums for? Are there any successful businessmen among basketball players?
But of course, but I also know those who, even with such crazy money, will never spend an extra penny. Many athletes live modestly, as they used to - they have opened accounts in reputable banks, receive high interest rates, but do not allow themselves unnecessary luxury. There are also such copies (let them forgive me for expressing myself a little incorrectly), which, no matter how much you pay, will still be lowered to the last cent. I think that such a different attitude to money is not only characteristic of high-paid stars basketball, but people in general.
- What are the spenders spent on - on casinos, women?
They have 10 cars, two or three houses, apartments in different countries the world. Much is handed out to relatives - this is the custom. Blacks hold family values in high esteem, and there are usually a lot of relatives and friends of relatives. The whole clan needs to live, so they help each other when someone breaks out of poverty.
By the way, it is not in vain that basketball players are required in the States earlier - after school and before professional career- spent four to five years in college. During this time, they formed as individuals, as athletes and managed to understand: is it worth making basketball your profession or is it just a hobby.
Imagine, Dima, that they signed a contract with you, a high school graduate, for, say, three million dollars. Wouldn't you be crazy about that kind of money? Personally, I just would not know what to do with them, and probably would have done a lot of stupid things ... I remember, having received my first salary - 140 rubles, I could not decide what to spend it on. I can imagine what would have happened to me if it had been a multi-million dollar contract ...
- Now our basketball players also receive considerable contracts - are they going crazy or? ..
This is a separate story. Our players are ... (picks up the word).
- I think I hooked you to the living ...
Products (let them forgive me for calling them that) of the transition period between this and this system - they fell into a rift, everything was mixed ... The worst thing is that some of them are too focused on money. They do not understand that they need to grow creatively, seek, and the money will come by itself, they will bring it to you! No, the guys measure everything in dollars, euros, hryvnia - how much per month, what bonuses, bonuses, additional benefits ... Some openly declare: they say, I got mine, everything is fine, do not touch me, I feel good, no more , nothing less is needed ...
- Thanks, enough? ..
And this is a tragedy, because the athlete has no desire, no incentive to move forward. We had times in our clubs when we owed the players a few months' salaries, and if they played badly, we could not bring a claim against them, because we felt indebted. And they went out to the site, as if they were doing you a favor. Once in the locker room, I told them: "Guys, you will remember those times when you will have money, but you will receive your salary on time, and you will lose the habit of playing at full strength and will no longer realize yourself 100 percent. Divide the concepts of" money "and "professionalism": either leave the big sport altogether, or give yourself up to the maximum. "
And so it happened: today salaries and bonuses are paid on time, but they can no longer give their best in the game ...
Sasha, are there any bright names now - at the level of the stars of past years - or has the transition period leveled the skill?
The bar of the middle level has even risen, but to say: "Yes, basketball player Name-rek is a star" - I want to, but it does not work. We have several players in Ukraine who could be represented as potential stars (I really hope so). And in Europe there are guys who also want to assign a star status, but for now, alas ...
- The language does not turn?
Yes. Two Ukrainians play in the NBA - Stanislav Medvedenko and Vitaly Potapenko, but Slava is not the first in the Los Angeles Lakers, but Vitalik is in the Seattle Supersonics. And for the national team, so that at least here they can be called real luminaries of basketball, they do not play ... Therefore, I prefer to say that today we have just oh-oh-very talented athletes.
You said that in the chair of the sports minister you did not feel happy. Well, now you feel like a fully realized, calm, self-confident person?
Of course. I am not chasing something unrealizable, I just know that I am in my place, and I understand what to do next, I see a perspective. I try to make out this path and those who surround me ...
Of course, there are enough difficulties, there are depression, setbacks, resentment, misunderstanding (moreover, mutual - I do not understand, they do not understand me), but, thank God, here in Ukraine you can no longer run around with your tongue out in search of funds to implement your plans, but there is an opportunity to implement them ...
Alexander Volkov Alexander Volkov Position: Small forward, heavy forward Height: 208 cm Weight: 99 kg Citizenship ... Wikipedia
Olympic champion(1988, Seoul) (basketball); born on March 29, 1964; Honored Master of Sports; participant of the Olympic Games in Barcelona (1992) ... Big biographical encyclopedia
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