Andrey Lopatov

Andrey Lopatov started playing basketball as a teenager (by age 15, he was 192 cm tall) and played for the youth team of the Komi Republic. In 1974, he went to Moscow to enter the Moscow Forestry Engineering Institute, but then transferred to the Moscow Regional Institute of Physical Culture, from which he successfully graduated.

At the age of 17, Lopatov turned to Aleksandr Gomelsky and the renowned coach brought him to CSKA. The next 16 years he was with CSKA and from 1978 with the Soviet national team. In 1981 he added another degree, after graduating from the Higher Officer Courses of the USSR Ministry of Defense. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, he took part in seven matches, missing the Yugoslav game, and scored 59 points. Against Spain, Lopatov scored 26 points.

At the 1982 World Championships in Colombia, Lopatov helped the Soviet Union to a gold medal, and three times he won European Championships with the USSR national team. He was a 10-time Soviet Champion with CSKA but ended his sports career in France with Valence Bourg Basket in 1991. After finishing his career, he worked in several commercial banks in Russia.