On August 11, legendary Belarusian freestyle coach Nikolai Kozeka passed away. This was announced on his Instagram page by Belarusian hammer thrower and Olympic silver medalist Vadim Devyatovsky, writes "Tribuna". He was 76 years old.
Nikolai Kozeka was born on April 5, 1950, in Minsk. He came from an intellectual family. The future coach's mother, Olga Dmitrievna, worked as a primary school teacher, and his father, Ivan Dorofeevich Kozeka, was the editor-in-chief of Beldzyarzhvydat.
In his youth, Nikolai Kozeka was involved in trampoline jumping. In 1965, he participated in the first All-Union competitions in this sport, which took place in Yerevan. He achieved his greatest success as an athlete in 1972 when he became the USSR trampoline jumping champion. In addition, he repeatedly became a prize-winner of All-Union competitions.
After completing his sports career, Kozeka transitioned to coaching. Initially, he worked as a diving coach. In 1986, he became the senior coach of the BSSR national freestyle team in the discipline of "ski acrobatics".
After Belarus declared independence, Kozeka continued to work with the national team. From 1993, he led the Belarusian national freestyle team. Over the years of his coaching career, his protégés achieved significant success on the international arena and brought Belarus many Olympic awards.
A special place in his biography is occupied by the events of 2020. On August 18, Nikolai Kozeka, along with other representatives of the Belarusian sports sphere, signed an open letter demanding that the presidential elections in Belarus be declared invalid. After this, his presidential scholarship was revoked, and he was no longer invited to national team training camps. Soon after, the coach was completely dismissed from his work with the national team.
Nevertheless, it is impossible to erase Nikolai Kozeka's name from the history of Belarusian sports, and his protégés remain the main result of his many years of work. Dmitry Dashchinsky, Alexei Grishin, Alla Tsuper, Anton Kushnir, and Anna Guskova won eight medals of various values at the Winter Olympic Games, four of which were gold. And these are just the most decorated of the many athletes with whom the renowned specialist worked. This made Nikolai Kozeka the most successful Belarusian and one of the most successful freestyle coaches in the world.
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Светлая памяць!
Дзякую за сумленне ў 2020!