A tribute to the distinguished sportsman

The Sports Epoch Award of Yuriy Kutsenko, the Merited Master of Sport of the USSR, the 1980 Summer Olympics silver medalist in the field-and-track decathlon, the graduate of the Faculty of Physical Culture of Belgorod State University in 1983 will be annually awarded to the best Belgorod veteran sportsmen and coaches who dedicated many years to their profession.

The firs awardees were Valeriy Rudov, the coach of Yuriy Kutsenko, and seven times medalist of the Word Championship, three times European champion and seven times European medalist in daily running, the Merited Master of Sport Vladimir Bichkov who was a graduate of BelSU Faculty of Physical Culture in 1994.

The awarded were also presented diplomas and money reward of 100 000 rubles.

According to the Dean of the Faculty of Physical Culture of BelSU Pedagogics Institute Igor Nikulin, at the moment Vladimir Bichkov and four of his students are the members of the Russian track-and-field team.

The Award Regulations state that the award winners can be not only coaches and sportsmen in field-and-track, but also representatives of other sports. The award is presented once for the purpose of popularization of physical culture and sports, promoting healthy lifestyle, development of Olympic movement in Belgorod region.