Kobe Bryant

On January 26, the world was struck by the terrible news: the legendary basketball player of the Lakers, Kobe Bryant, died in a plane crash at the age of 42.

The tragedy, which took place in the suburbs of Los Angeles, claimed the lives of nine people, including the 13-year-old daughter of the attacking defender Gianna.

They were on their way to a basketball academy match.

Bryant won the National Basketball League (NBA) five times in his 20-year career with the Lakers, was named the most valuable player in the regular season in 2008 and took part in the All-Star Game 18 times.

In total, he scored 32,310 points and is ranked fourth in league history.

In addition, two Olympics in a row - in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 - Kobe led the US team to gold medals.

  • Kobe Bryant

  • Reuters

  • © Mike Segar

Diego Maradona

For many, the biggest shock of this difficult year was the death of Diego Maradona.

The legendary football player died on November 25 from acute pulmonary edema.

A few weeks earlier, he underwent surgery to remove a brain hematoma.

Maradona has played for Barcelona, ​​Napoli, Sevilla, Boca Juniors and other teams.

In 1986, he became world champion in the Argentine national team, scoring two goals in the quarterfinal match against England at once, which will forever go down in the history of sports - “the naked century” and “the hand of God”.

In 1995 he received the honorary Golden Ball.

Maradona has been repeatedly recognized as the most outstanding footballer of all time by experts, fans and journalists, and the International Football Federation (FIFA) named him the best player of the 20th century on a par with Pele.

  • Diego Maradona

  • AFP

  • © Valery HACHE

Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov

On July 3, the famous martial arts coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov passed away.

During his career, the specialist brought up 18 world champions in combat sambo, for which he was included in the Russian Guinness Book of Records.

One of the main achievements of the specialist is the education of one of the best MMA fighters of our time, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Under the guidance of his father in 2018, he became the UFC lightweight champion, and then managed to defend him three times.

The death of Abdulmanap was a great loss for the whole world of mixed martial arts and a personal tragedy for Khabib, who decided to end his career after the departure of the mentor.

  • Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov and Khabib Nurmagomedov

  • AFP

  • © Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV

Victor Monday

On December 5, the legendary Soviet striker Viktor Ponedelnik passed away.

The last surviving European champion of 1960 in the USSR national team died at the age of 84 after a long illness.

Monday made his professional debut in 1956 as part of the Rostov Torpedo.

Three years later, he was called up to the USSR national team for the first ever European championship, held in France.

In the final of the tournament, Gabriel Kachalin's wards met with Yugoslavia.

Lost in the course of the meeting with a score of 0: 1, the Soviet footballers leveled the score thanks to a goal from Slava Metreveli and transferred the game into extra time.

At the 113th minute, Monday scored the ball into the opponent's goal and brought the team gold of the tournament.

After the triumphant tournament, the forward continued his career in the Rostov SKA, for which he spent a total of 159 matches and scored 54 goals.

  • Victor Monday

  • RIA News

  • © Yuri Somov

Football and hockey stars

On August 18, the former defender of the USSR national team Ivan Varlamov, first of all known for his performance in Moscow "Spartak", passed away.

As part of the red and white, he became the owner of the 1965 Country Cup.

After completing his playing career, he worked as the head of the Muscovites, and then as an assistant to Konstantin Beskov.

In October, after a long struggle with cancer, at the age of 55, another former Spartak player Vasily Kulkov passed away.

The defender joined the team in 1989, where he joined with coach Oleg Romantsev.

In the same season he became the champion of the USSR.

In 1991 he moved to the Portuguese championship, where he won first with Benfica and then with Porto.

Also in his track record was the English "Millwall".

In total, Kulkov played 42 matches for the national teams of the USSR, CIS and Russia, in which he scored five goals.

After finishing his career, Kulkov worked as a coach at Khimki, Lokomotiv, Spartak and other teams, and recently worked at the Fedor Cherenkov Academy.

On April 12, the legendary goalkeeper of London "Chelsea" Peter Bonetti, who ranks second in the list of record holders for the number of matches played (729) after Ron Harris, died.

In 1971, the goalkeeper won the FA Cup, and a year later won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

Despite not having the most successful performance in the England national team, he shared their first and currently the last world championship in 1966, as the second goalkeeper.

In 2020, there are still several triumphants of the home world championship in England.

Midfielder Nobby Styles, who spent most of his career at Manchester United, has died at the age of 78.

Interestingly, the midfielder is one of the three Englishmen, along with Bobby Charlton and Ian Callagon, who won the main trophies of the World Cup and the European Cup.

In addition, the world has lost famed Leeds United defender Jack Charlton as well as renowned defender Norman Hunter.

In 2020, Italian football also suffered losses.

On June 20, at the age of 78, the famous Inter midfielder Mario Corso died.

The player's career fell on the heyday of the Milan club, and with him he became the champion of Serie A four times, twice - the owner of the European Cup.

On December 9, one of the best football players in the history of Italy, Paolo Rossi, died of lung cancer.

First of all, the ex-striker will be remembered for his performances for Juventus, in which he became a two-time champion of Italy and won the European Cup.

At the 1982 World Cup victorious for Italy, he was recognized as the best scorer and the best player, and later became the owner of the Ballon d'Or.

  • Paolo Rossi

  • Reuters

  • © Action Images

The hockey world also lost several of its heroes.

On May 21, the Olympic champion of the Games in Sarajevo, Alexander Gerasimov, passed away.

From 1980 to 1988, he played for CSKA Moscow and became a seven-time USSR champion.

In 1984 he was called up to the Olympic team, where he took part in seven matches and scored two goals.

On July 22, the famous defender Alexander Gusev died.

His successful career in the USSR championship was reflected at the world level.

For two years in a row - in 1973 and 1974 - he won the World Championship, which at that time was also the European Championship.

In 1976, the hockey player became the triumph of the Innsbruck Olympics.

He also took part in the USSR-Canada Super Series, in which he played a total of six matches.

Five days later, Eddie Sheck, four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Toronto Maple Leafs, is gone.

And on August 18, at the age of 57, the titled Canadian hockey player Dale Haverchuk, who is ranked 20th in the number of points scored in the National Hockey League (NHL), died.

In 2001, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Olympic legends

On April 29, the famous Soviet javelin thrower Janis Lusis, whose dominance for several decades amazed many sports fans, passed away.

The native of Riga was the world record holder in 1968-1969 and in 1972-1973, he won the gold medal of the Olympics in Mexico City and became the European champion four times.

He is rightfully considered one of the best representatives of this discipline in the history of athletics, for which he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Association of Athletics Federations (World Athletics).

  • Janis Lusis

  • RIA News

  • © Yuri Somov

On November 11, at the age of 83, the famous freestyle wrestler Boris Gurevich passed away.

In 1968, at the Olympic Games in Mexico, he became the winner in the weight category up to 87 kg, defeating such famous athletes as Jigzhidiin Munkhbat and Prodan Garzhev during the tournament.

In addition, the athlete twice became world and European champion.

Interestingly, it was Gurevich who served as the prototype for the famous sculpture by Yevgeny Vuchetich "We Will Beat Swords into Plowshares", installed in front of the UN building in New York.

Soviet gymnast Nina Bocharova died on August 31.

In 1952, she became a two-time Olympic champion in Hellinski in the balance beam and in the team event.

There, the athlete won silver in the all-around and group exercises.

Two years later, she won the team championship at the planet.

The athlete performed a unique exercise - a transverse split on the uneven bars.

On May 30, American sprinter Bobby Morrow left the world.

In 1956, he became the winner of several local tournaments, which secured him a ticket to the Olympics in Melbourne.

There he once again proved his superiority by winning the 100m and 200m races, and then leading his team to triumph in the 4x100m relay.

World Championships Heroes

In 2020, two representatives of the USSR gold national volleyball team, which had no equal at the 1956 and 1960 World Championships and the 1958 and 1963 European Championships, did not become at once.

On May 1, the setter Antonina Ryzhova, who played for Lokomotiv, CSKA and Dynamo, died.

On August 27, striker Alisa Krasheninnikova left the world and devoted her career to the Leningrad Spartak.

On April 27, unexpectedly for many, Marina Bazanova, three-time world champion in handball and five-time winner of the main trophy of the Champions League with Spartak Kiev, passed away.

Since 1991, she has lived in Germany and played for the local Vallee and Werder Bremen, and after finishing her career she worked as a rehabilitation therapist.

She was 57 years old.

On November 26, at the age of 85, one of the best strikers in the history of bandy Mikhail Osintsev passed away.

The national team has always been competitive at the international level, and in the late 50s - 60s its star was the player from SKA-Sverdlovsk, CSKA and Dynamo.

Together with the national team, he reached the finals of the world championships six times and won the tournament six times.

The famous fencer Valentina Prudskova died on 23 August.

She led the USSR national team four times to gold in the command foil at the 1958, 1961, 1965 and 1966 World Championships, and also won the highest award of the 1960 Olympics in the same discipline.

At the age of 80, three-time world champion in bullet shooting, Oleg Lapkin, died.

In addition to numerous domestic and international awards, he has seven world records.

For 15 years he was the permanent head coach of the Russian national team, including bringing up the titled shooter Artyom Khadzhibekov.

  • Oleg Lapkin

  • RIA News

  • © Yuri Dolyagin

On June 5, the famous American gymnast Kurt Thomas died from the effects of a stroke.

In 1978, he became the first world champion in the history of the United States in floor exercise, and the next year he repeated his own result, adding gold on the bar to it.

In honor of the athlete, two exercises are named - "Thomas circles" and "Thomas flips".

Coaches and functionaries

On November 10, the world of figure skating lost the famous coach Igor Moskvin.

He was one of the first Soviet figure skaters to take part in international competitions.

However, he achieved greater success in the coaching field.

So, among his most successful wards are Tamara Moskvina, Igor Bobrin, as well as the first domestic Olympic champions in pair skating Lyudmila Belousova - Oleg Protopov.

The specialist was 91 years old.

  • Igor Moskvin

  • RIA News

  • © Alexander Wilf

On August 7, the famous swimming coach Gennady Turetsky died.

Under his leadership, the famous swimmer Alexander Popov became a four-time Olympic champion, a six-time world champion and a 21-time winner of the continental championship.

On June 30, the famous water polo coach Alexander Kabanov passed away.

As an athlete, he became a two-time winner of the Olympic Games and World Championships.

And after completing his career, he decided to pass on his experience to young water polo players.

Under his leadership, the national teams of the USSR and Russia became multiple triumphs of European and continental championships and the Olympic Games.

The specialist died at the age of 73.

On September 1, hockey coach Milos Riha, well known and respected by many Russian fans, passed away.

He has worked in many Czech clubs, but he spent a significant part of his career in the Continental Hockey League (KHL) and alternately headed the Moscow Region Chemist, Moscow Spartak, St. Petersburg SKA and Omsk Avangard.

In the 2010/11 season, the Siberians, under the guidance of a specialist, reached the Gagarin Cup final.

  • Milos Riha

  • RIA News

  • © Vladimir Fedorenko

On December 8, famous coach and five-time Argentinean football champion Alejandro Sabella died.

Under his leadership, Estudiantes won the 2009 Copa Libertadores.

However, Argentine fans will remember him for his first time in 24 years to reach the 2014 World Cup final.

In the decisive meeting, his players lost to Germany with a minimum score of 0: 1.

On December 14, one of the best French coaches, the holder of the Order of the British Empire and the Order of the Legion of Honor Gerard Houllier passed away.

Under his leadership, PSG and Olympic became champions of Ligue 1, but the specialist achieved the greatest success with Liverpool.

He not only led him to victory in the UEFA Cup 2000/01 season, the main trophy of the FA Cup and Super Cup, silver and bronze in the Premier League, but also made a tremendous contribution to the development of the club in the early 2000s.

He completely rebuilt the team and changed the attitude of the players to football, revealing their best qualities.

On the first day of 2020, the fourth NBA commissioner, David Stern, passed away.

In his 30 years at the head of the league, he has significantly changed the face of North American basketball.

Under his leadership, the league's revenues have grown several dozen times, and the players' salaries have also increased.

Thanks to him, the association has become one of the most successful sports organizations in the world.

In 2014, Stern was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. 

Athletes

2020 claimed the lives of several active and retired athletes.

On April 20, many were struck by the news of the death of the 22-year-old Lokomotiv defender Innokenty Samokhvalov, who had recently played for the farm club of the Moscow team Kazanka.

Heart problems are the cause of death during morning jogging.

Samokhvalov was the winner of the youth championship of Russia as part of the "railway workers".

On July 10, the current world short track champion Lara van Ruuven unexpectedly died.

Over the past few years, she has been one of the strongest athletes on the planet in her discipline, three times became the winner of the European Championships, and also won the bronze medal of the Olympics in Pyeongchang.

At the 2019 World Championships, she finally managed to win gold in the 500-meter distance.

The cause of death of the 27-year-old Dutch woman was an autoimmune disease.

And on July 17, the world lost the world champion in figure skating among juniors and the winner of the junior Grand Prix final paired with Harley Uinsdor Ekaterina Aleksandrovskaya.

Since 2014, the Russian has played for Australia under the leadership of Nina Moser and Andrei Khekalo.

There she became a two-time winner of the national championship.

After the unsuccessful 2018 Olympics, the duo changed their coach, but then a series of injuries followed for both partners.

In January 2020, the athlete had an epileptic seizure and decided to end her career.

At the time of her death, she was only 20 years old.