Anatoli Firsov

Olympic medal record
Men's ice hockey
Gold	1964 Innsbruck	Team
Gold	1968 Grenoble	Team
Gold	1972 Sapporo	Team

Anatoli Vasilievich Firsov (Russian: Анатолий Васильевич Фирсов) (1 February 1941 in Moscow, Soviet Union - 24 July 2000 in Moscow, Russia) was a Russian ice hockey left wing and center, who competed internationally for the USSR. In the IIHF World Championships, he won the scoring title four times and was named the best forward three times. He was also named the most valuable player in the Soviet hockey league three times.

No one was as selflessly dedicated to hockey as Firsov or as hard on himself and fanatical in workouts. He even augmented the tough drills designated by Anatoli Tarasov. Coming down the ice with the puck, he would perform a variety of hops, skips and jumps at the same time.

Firsov first came to the Central Red Army and coach Tarasov as a scrawny kid-his bones protruded from under the thin layer of muscle. But at training sessions, he strengthened his body by choosing the roughest, toughest defense men as his opponents, Alexander Ragulin and Viktor Kozkin. He eventually would become one of the best forwards in Soviet hockey. Despite this he would not participate in the 1972 Summit Series against Canada. Many believe this was a result of Tarasov's exclusion from the coaching staff.

Only a person who had a tough time making it in hockey could be so intensely dedicated to the game. I really had it pretty hard, Firsov wrote in his autobiography. There were three kids in the family. My father was killed in the war when I was just a month old. My mother worked as a stoker at the kindergarten, and we didn't have any extra money. I learned how to make my own hockey stick, but with skates it was a much more difficult problem. That's why the leaders of our backyard team put me on the defense line. At that time, defensemen were considered to be second rate players. So kids without skates or a stick, and smaller kids, were put in the position.

In 1989, Firsov was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies, running on a policy of improving health conditions and sporting facilities.

Awards

• Soviet MVP: 1968, 1969, and 1971
• Soviet scoring champion: 1966
• Soviet goal-scoring leader: 1966
• IIHF World Championships scoring leader: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971
• IIHF World Championships goal-scoring leader: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971
• IIHF World Championships best forward: 1967, 1968, 1971
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1972)
• two Orders of the Badge of Honor (1965 and 1968)

Bibliography

• A. V. Firsov (1973). To Switch on the Light of Victory (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 

External links

• Anatoli Firsov at CCCP International
• video of Firsov in action (video) 

Awards
Preceded by none	Soviet MVP 1968, 1969	Succeeded by Viktor Konovalenko
Preceded by Viktor Konovalenko	Soviet MVP 1971	Succeeded by Valeri Kharlamov, Alexander Maltsev
Preceded by none	Soviet Scoring Champion 1966	Succeeded by Victor Polulanov