Semion_Belits-Geiman

Semyon Belits-Geiman

Semyon Belits-Geiman

Soviet swimmer

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Viktorovich and the family name is Belits-Geiman.

Semyon Viktorovich Belits-Geiman (Russian: Семён Викторович Белиц-Гейман; born 16 February 1945) is a former Soviet freestyle swimmer.[1] He set a world record in the 800 m freestyle, and won two Olympic medals.

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Early life

Belits-Geiman is Jewish and was born in Moscow,[2][3][4] where he attended the Transport Engineering Institute,[5] studied journalism, and worked as a journalist for the magazines Sports Life in Russia and Soviet Sport.[6]

Swimming career

Belits-Geiman began swimming when he was eight.[3] He was affiliated with the Moscow club Dynamo, and became a member of the Soviet swimming team in 1962.[3][7] He competed at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, and finished in seventh place in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay and eighth in the 400 meter freestyle.[7]

At the 1965 Summer Universiade, he won the gold medal in the 400 m freestyle and three silver medals in the 1,500 m and relay races.[3] In 1965, his time in the 1,500 m was the second-fastest in the world (17:01.90).[3][8]

In 1966, he won the gold medal against three of the best American freestyle swimmers in a US vs USSR competition in Moscow.[3] That year at the European championships, he won gold medals in the 1,500 m freestyle (16:58.5) and 4 × 200 m freestyle relay (8:00.2) and a silver medal in the 400 m freestyle (4:13.2; behind German Frank Wiegand, and ahead of Frenchman Alain Mosconi).[3][9] In 1966, he was ranked number three in the world in the 1,500-meter freestyle.[3]

On 8 March 1966, he set a world record in the 800 m freestyle, at 8:47.4, in Budapest.[1][10][11][12] That was 4.1 seconds faster than the former record set by Australian Murray Rose in 1962.[5][13]

At the 1967 Universiade in Tokyo, he won a silver medal in the 1,500 m freestyle, behind American Mike Burton.[8]

He won a silver medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City in the 4×100 freestyle relay (3:34.2), swimming the lead leg, and a bronze medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay (8:01.6), swimming the second leg.[1][2][3] In the 4 × 200 m relay, one of his teammates was Vladimir Bure.[3] He also swam two individual freestyle events, finishing seventh in the 200 m freestyle, and ninth in the 400 m race.[3] He broke 67 Soviet national freestyle records.[3] In 1974, he was named president of the Moscow Swim Federation and vice president of the Soviet Union Federation.[3]

Post-swimming career

Later in his life he competed in cross-country skiing and speed skating, and became a Soviet Master of Sport and coach in both disciplines.[1][3]

Beginning in the early 1980s, he developed training programs for figure skaters.[3][14] He created a program to increase coordination and flexibility which was used by Australian ice dancing champions Natalie Buck and Trent Nelson-Bond in the early 2000s.[15]

Accolades

In 2017, he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[16]

Personal

He met his wife, Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer Natalia Dubova, when he covered one of her competitions as a sportswriter.[14][15] In 1999, they moved to Stamford, Connecticut.[17]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Paul Taylor (2004). Jews and the Olympic Games: the clash between sport and politics: with a complete review of Jewish Olympic medalists. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 9781903900871. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  2. [2]
    Bob Wechsler (2008). Day by day in Jewish sports history. KTAV Publishing House. ISBN 9780881259698. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  3. [3]
    "Belits-Geiman, Semyon". Jewsinsports.org. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  4. [4]
    "Jewish Olympic Medalists". Jewishsports.net. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  5. [5]
    "A Roundup Of The Sports Information Of The Week". Sports Illustrated. 15 August 1966. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  6. [6]
    "Белиц-Гейман Семен". Ussr-swimming.ru. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  7. [7]
    Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Semyon Belits-Geyman". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  8. [8]
    Ralph Hickok (16 January 2010). "World University Games Men's Swimming Medalists". HickokSports.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  9. [9]
    Todor Krastev (18 December 2010). "Swimming 11th European Championship 1966 Utrecht (NED)". Todor66.com. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  10. [10]
    "Suited for Swimming". Boys' Life. July 1967. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  11. [11]
    "Aussie Bests Swim Mark". Spokane Daily Chronicle. 16 January 1967. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  12. [12]
    "Burton Sets 2 World Marks". The Telegraph-Herald. 31 August 1967. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  13. [13]
    "Rose's Swim Record Falls to Russian". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 August 1966. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  14. [14]
    Judy Wells (30 April 2000). "Famed skating coach takes to the ice with local talent". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  15. [15]
    "Australian Dancers Flourish Under Dubova". Golden Skate. 1 November 2003. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  16. [16]
    "Ervin, Korzits, Selinger among newest inductees in Jewish Hall of Fame". 19 June 2017.
  17. [17]
    Harold Davis (20 September 2009). "From Russia with love: Olympic champ and wife still live sporting life in Stamford". Connecticut Post. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
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