In 1960 Gusman Kosanov became the first ethnic Kazakh to win an Olympic medal, when he on the Soviet 4x100 relay team that won silver. Kosanov also competed at the 1964 Olympics, where he was fifth with the 4x100 relay team and he reached the 100 metre quarter-finals at the 1960 Olympics. Kosanov, who took up athletics in 1951, won his only Soviet title in 1960 in the sprint relay and his other medals at the Soviet Championships were silvers in the 1966 100 and 1964 4x100 relay, and a bronze in the 1963 100. Kosanov finished his sports career in 1967 and later worked as an athletics coach in his native Kazakhstan. Kosanov committed suicide by hanging himself in July 1990 after he was diagnosed with diabetes and was fired from his job as a director of a sports school in Almaty.
Personal Best: 100 – 10.2 (1962).
Soviet Union
Kazakhstan