Sport in Belarus

Sport in Belarus

Belarus Sports Achievements

Physical culture and sports have always been given great attention in our country. The sporting achievements of Belarusian athletes allowed the whole world to learn about our country. Our talented people have been showing themselves in international competitions and at the Olympic Games for a long time thanks to the state's policy of supporting gifted athletes. One hundred and thirty-two sports are successfully developing in our country, among which the most popular are football, athletics, gymnastics, hockey, biathlon and others.

Belarusian kinds of sport

Belarus can rightfully be called an athletic country. New sport complexes and facilities are continually being built here, and are supported not only by legislation, but also by the President of the Republic himself. 280 Belarusians have already become world and European champions in various sports. One of the main sporting achievements is that our country has raised seventy-six Olympic medalists.

Belarusian Olympic Champions

Promotion of Belarusian sports

The development and formation of sports on the territory of Belarus began in Soviet times. Sports were assigned one of the core positions in the lives of USSR citizens. However, in the Republic of Belarus, which was part of the USSR and the Polish state. While residents of Minsk, Mogilev, Vitebsk and Gomel competed in the Soviet national teams, natives of Grodno, Brest and Pinsk won awards in Polish competitions.

In the Soviet Union, it was almost impossible for ordinary citizens to master any kind of martial arts or hand-to-hand combat. These sports were available only to elite special services and the police. Great importance was attached to the moral image of an athlete: if you were seen in street fights, you could immediately put an end to your sports career.

Sport in USSR

Then weightlifting and kettlebell lifting have become widespread. Soviet athletes engaged in these sports were always ahead. Nowadays, weightlifters have retrained into bodybuilders and powerlifters.

As now, all kinds of sports related to the ball were very popular. Preference was given to football, which everyone knew how to play. Athletics, cycling, sailing and rowing have developed over the years.

Belarus at the Olympic Games

The first Olympian among our natives, Karol Rummel, participated in the Olympic Games three times. At the IX Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928, as part of the Polish national team, he won bronze in triathlon.

The further participation of our country in the Olympic competitions is also directly related to Soviet history. For the first time, the natives of Belarus - four athletes and two fencers - took part in the XV Olympic Games, which were held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. However, they return empty-handed. But from the next XVI Olympic Games, which were held in Melbourne, Australia in 1956, the Belarusian M. Krivonosov for the first time received a silver medal for hammer throwing.

Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia

The history of the Belarusian winning Olympic awards as an independent team started in 1994, at the Olympics in Lillehammer (Norway). Then the national team of the Republic of Belarus, which included 162 people, took part in the XXVI Games in Atlanta. The gold was won by E. Khodotovich, who was the best in the single kayak rowing competition. Six silver and eight bronze medals have also arrived in Belarus.

In 2004, 147 athletes who took part in twenty-three sports came to Athens as part of the national team. Participation in the XXVIII was surprisingly fruitful: Belarusians won two gold medals (Yu was the best in running Nesterenko, and in judo – I. Makarov), as well as 6 silver and 7 bronze awards.

Summer Olympics Games 2004 in Athens


The absolute record for Belarus was participation in the Beijing Olympics, held in 2008. Then our athletes received as many as 19 awards, and the national team took the sixteenth place in quality and the thirteenth in the number of medals. That year Belarusians brought home 4 gold medals received for achievements in athletics (A. Aryamnov), hammer throwing (O. Menkova), group rowing and canoeing: kayak-four, 1000 meters (R. Petrushenko, A. Abalmasov, A. Litvinchuk, V. Makhnev), two-man canoe, 1000 meters (A. and A. Bogdanovichi).

It is impossible not to mention the achievements of Belarusians in winter sports. The first prize-winner of the Winter Olympic Games, in which the natives of Belarus have been participating since 1964, is the speed skater I. Zhelezovsky at a distance of 1000 meters. A landmark event took place back in 1988, in the Canadian city of Calgary. Since then, Belarusian athletes have successfully competed at every Winter Olympics.

In 2014, during the XXII Winter Olympic Games held in Sochi, Belarusian athletes especially distinguished themselves: they won the largest number of gold medals of all time. Daria Domracheva won three of them, becoming the first woman in the world to receive three top awards at once. Besides her, the freestyle skiers Alla Tsuper and Anton Kushnir distinguished themselves, who were also awarded gold medals.

Famous athletes from the Republic of Belarus  Famous athletes from the Republic of Belarus  Famous athletes from the Republic of Belarus

There are more and more opportunities and venues for winter sports in Belarus. A freestyle training center with professional equipment and special trampolines has been built in Minsk, where athletes can train in a comfortable environment for them.
Belarus was represented by 124 athletes in 19 sports at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). For the first time in the history of its performances at the Olympic Games, Belarus is represented in taekwondo competitions. On July 12, 2016, at the ceremony of sending off the Belarusian delegation to the Games in Rio de Janeiro, it was announced that the 2012 Olympic champion shooter Sergey Martynov would be the flag bearer during the opening of the Olympic Games, however, a few days before the start of the Games, Martynov was replaced by cyclist Vasily Kiriyenko, since the IOC decided that current athletes should be the flag bearers of their countries. At the closing ceremony, the flag of Belarus was entrusted to Ivan Tikhon, who became a silver medalist in the hammer throw. According to the results of the competition, Belarusian athletes had 1 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals, which allowed the Belarusian national team to take 40th place in the unofficial medal standings.
Belarus was represented by 33 athletes in 3 sports at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang (Korea). By order of the President of the country, Belarusian athletes who have become Olympic champions will receive $150,000 in prize money. 75 thousand will be paid for the silver medal, and 50 thousand for the bronze one. At the opening ceremony of the Games, the right to carry the national flag was entrusted to the Olympic champion of 2014, freestyle skier Alla Tsuper, and at the closing ceremony — biathlon  Daria Domracheva, who won her fourth Olympic gold medal as part of the women's relay team. According to the results of the competition, Belarusian athletes had 2 gold and 1 silver medals, which allowed the Belarusian national team to take 15th place in the unofficial medal standings.
Belarus was represented in 20 sports by 108 athletes at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (Japan). It was the smallest delegation of Belarus at the Summer Games. The Belarusian national team flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Games became Nikita Tsmyg from the swimming team and archer Anna Marusova.
Originally, the Olympic Games were supposed to take place in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Olympic Committee decided to postpone the Games to 2021.
Belarusians won only 7 medals, which is the worst result at the Summer Games in the history of independent Belarus. Previously, the worst result was in 2016 in Brazil — 9 medals. As at the 2016 Olympic Games, Belarusians won the only gold in men's trampoline jumping.

Famous for the whole world: sports achievements of Belarusian sportsmen

Despite its small sizes our country can be proud of our sportsmen whose names are famous all over the world.

Even in Soviet times Alexandr Medved and Olga Korbut glorified our country. Medved was the Olympic prizewinner for 3 times. He was the best free-style wrestler of the 20th century.

Olga contributed a lot to Belorussian sport too. The legendary gymnast was the best sportsman in the world in 1972 when she got 3 gold prizes at the Olympiad in Munhen.  
Belarusian sports players  Belarusian sports players


Vitaly Shcherbo succeeded in gymnastics and was the best sportsman of the decade (from 1991 to 2000). He was the Olympic prizewinner and the world champion for 14 times.

Igor makarov and Juliya Nesterenko left their marks in sport history too being winners in 2004.

Maxim Mirny and Victoria Azarenko achieved  a lot in tennis competitions. Mirny ia a famous Belarusian sportsman. It was he who led our tennis team to Stanley Cup. Victoria Azarenko was the Olympic Champion and the first sportsman in Women tennis association rate in 2012.
Famous tennis players from Belarus

Sergey Martynov contributed a lot to Belarusian biathlon. He was called “the king of small-bore rifle” because he made world record. He scored 600 points from 600 possible points. Darya Domracheva was the Olympic biathlon winner too at the Olympic games in Sochi. In 2010 the young sportsman was declared as the best biathlete of the year.

Hockey is the favorite sport of our President. All hockey achievements are concerned with the name of Ruslan Saley. Being the of the national hockey team he led it to participation in the final Stanley Cup game. In 2014 our country held the World Hockey Cup.
 
In addition, in 2015 the Republican center of Olympic training of winter sports "Raubichi" hosted the junior biathlon championship. The place was not chosen by chance: the complex is equipped with the most advanced equipment, there is also a ski roller track, passing through a beautiful forest area.
Olympic center Raubichi

So sports traditions exist in Belarus and thanks to efforts of Belarusian sportsmen our country is famous all over the world. Belarus nation loves sport so that’s why we are the healthy nation.