Sergey Novikov was one of the most successful Soviet judokas of the 1970s. Besides his 1976 Olympic heavyweight gold, Novikov also won the World Championships heavyweight silver in 1975 and heavyweight bronze in 1973. He was European open class champion in 1973 and 1974 and heavyweight champion in 1976. He also won heavyweight silver in 1975, open class bronzes in 1970, 1972 and 1980 and heavyweight bronze in 1978 at the European Championships. In addition, Novikov won the European title in sambo (a Soviet wrestling style similar to judo) half-heavyweight in 1972. Domestically, Novikov was Soviet half-heavyweight sambo champion in 1971 and 1972, judo heavyweight champion in 1974-79 and open class champion in 1977. After finishing his sporting career, Novikov worked as a sambo and judo coach. In 1996 he became president of the Federation International Amateur Unifight (a sport that emerged from the Russian military in the mid-1990s that contains the consistent application of exercises on an obstacle course, shooting airguns, sporting knives and hand-to-hand ring fighting).
Soviet Union