Aleksey Kiselyov

Aleksey Kiselyov took up boxing in 1954, rising to fame in 1958 when he surprised everyone by winning the gold medal at the World Army Championships as a middleweight. In 1959, Kiselyov won his first medal, a bronze in light-middleweight, at the Soviet Championships, repeating this in 1960. In 1961, Kiselyov again won gold at the World Army Championships, this time as a light-middleweight. In 1962, Kiselyov switched back to middleweight and again won gold at the World Army Championships and a silver at the Soviet Championships, which he repeated in 1963. In 1964, Kiselyov won his first Soviet title, this time as a light-heavyweight and was selected for the 1964 Soviet Olympic team. At the Olympics, Kiselyov won a silver medal, losing in the final to Italian Cosimo Pinto by decision. Kiselyov fought as a light-heavyweight until the end of his career, winning gold at the 1966 World Army Championships and his second and last Soviet title in 1966, taking silvers in 1965, 1967 and 1968. But at the 1967 European Championships, Kiselyov fought again as a middleweight, taking silver. Kiselyov also fought as a middleweight at the 1968 Olympics, where he took his second Olympic silver behind Brit Chris Finnegan. Kiselyov retired from boxing after the 1968 Olympics with a record of 225 wins out of 250 bouts. After his boxing career, Kiselyov was the head coach of the Soviet national team from 1969-70 and again from 1975-80. He was also head coach of the 1976 and 1980 Soviet Olympic boxing teams. In 1972 Kiselyov received a Candidate of Sciences degree and from 1975 until his death in 2005, he was the head of physical culture department at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, replacing fellow boxer Valery Popenchenko, who died tragically in 1975. From 1993 to his death, Kiselyov was also president of the Russian Student Sports Union.