Yury Chesnokov

Yury Chesnokov was born into sportive family, his father Boris was a football player and wrestler, who in 1910 established one of first amateur football clubs in the Moscow area and was the editor of sports journal “K Sportu”. From 1923 to 1953 Boris Chesnokov was also the chairman of Moscow Wrestling Federation. As a youth Yury Chesnokov excelled in football, hockey and speed skating, but later took up volleyball because of his body built – tall and thin.

As a volleyball player, Chesnokov played his entire career from 1953 to 1966 in one club – CSKA Moskva. He won nine Soviet titles with them (1954, 1955, 1958, 1960-1963, 1965, 1966) and also won the European Champions’ League twice - in 1960 and 1962. Internationally Chesnokov played with the Soviet national team from 1955 to 1964 and was the captain of the Soviet team from 1960 to 1964. He won gold at the 1964 Olympics, World Championships titles in 1960 and 1962 and bronze at the 1963 European Championships.

In 1958 Chesnokov graduated the Military-Engineering Academy in Moscow and after finishing his sporting career, he worked there in the physical culture department from 1965-1968. From 1969-1976 and 1985-1987, Chesnokov was the head coach of CSKA Moskva, from 1976-1983 the head coach of VS Moskva and from 1983-1985 the head coach of CSKA Moskva women’s team. From 1970-1976, Chesnokov was also the head coach of Soviet national team.

In 1976 Chesnokov started to work with Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), being the member of the Governing Body and Executive Committee of the FIVB from 1976-2008. From 1976-1992, 1994-1998 and 2002-2008 he was the vice president of the FIVB, from 1976 to 1992 he was the vice president of the Soviet Volleyball Federation, and from 1996-1999 he was the vice president of Russian Volleyball Federation. In 2000 Chesnokov was one of the first non-US players to be inducted to the Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Massachusetts.