Sergei Kovalenko

Sergey Kovalenko, queued here as Sergei Kovalenko, was a Soviet basketball player who won an Olympic gold medal with the Soviet Union men's team at the 1972 Summer Olympics, after taking bronze at the 1968 Games. Born on 11 August 1947 and standing 216 cm tall, he played club basketball for Stroitel Kyiv from 1969 to 1975 and then, following a dispute with the club's management, for CSKA Moscow until 1980, where he won five Soviet titles. With the national side he also won gold at the 1969 European Championships, bronze at the 1970 World Championships and bronze at the 1973 European Championships. After retiring he worked as an assistant coach at SKA Kyiv and later went into the building materials business. He died in Kyiv on 18 November 2004, aged 57.