Andrej Minevski

Sport: handball

Born: July 16, 1969; Grodno

Career highlights:

The champion of the XXV Olympic Games 1992 in Barcelona.

Awards and titles:

Merited Master of Sports.

Biography:

Andrej Minevsky began to play handball at the age of 15, followed in the footsteps of his elder brother Alexander. However, owing to his impressive skill growth and hard work, soon he was noticed by the local professions.

He was the 3rd in the Grodno national team at his first major tournament - the school Spartakiad of the BSSR. Later, the young handball sportsmen of the Grodno region became the strongest athletes in the republic.

When the future Olympic champion was invited to train at a sport boarding school, his parents were against it, arguing that their elder son after moving to Minsk, payed less attention to his studies.

Andrej had no choice but to be little tricky. His friend wrote a statement addressed to the principal, and Andrej signed it. A naive principle, without even realizing, handed him the documents.

While already in Tiraspol, at the training sessions, Andrej sent his parents a letter in which he promised to be a diligent student. The head of the family thought that the choice of his children should be respected, and gave him a month of probation.

His parents often came to Minsk when he participated in important matches.

In the EHF Cup final with the Wallau team, he was provoked by the rivals and instead of ignoring, he hit one of the opponents with all his force, hence he received a red card and left his team outnumbered. Andrej still feels sorry about this accident.

Andrej was a student at the Institute of Physical Culture for only two years, then Minevsky was drafted to an athletic company, where he mostly marched than trained.

About a year before the Olympics in Barcelona, the USSR team was trying to involve him in their side. As a part of this team he held several international tournaments, and was an experienced athlete. However, neither Andrej Minevsky, nor Vyacheslav Gorpishin, nor Dmitry Filippov have never participated in the competitions held in Spain. Mironovich could let the Belarusian to play in an unimportant game against Romania, but he didn’t let him participate - Valery Gopin was beyond comparison.

“Of course, it was a shame,” Andrej recalls, “that I had nothing to do with the command gold.” However, firstly, I was young for the team. And, secondly, I violated the rules. It’s my fault .

Andrej calls his transition to “Lautzenhausen” one of the main mistakes he has ever made in life. The level of the team didn’t stand any criticism, but the desire to work abroad outweighed the sporting prospects.

“Olympic gold gave me a great chance, but I used it incorrectly,” he said a few years later.

After spending one season in this club, Minevsky transitioned to “Solingen”.

Two years later, Andrej signed a contract with the third league club “Mülheim-Karlich- Bissingen ", the decision helped him to make a progress. Then he spent four years in the “Trier” club, there he also tried himself as a coach for the first time. The children's team under his leadership won the regional championship, and his senior team promoted to the third division.

Together with his brother, Andrej played for “Dresden”. However, a serious problem with his knee made him quit his high level sports career.

Later he received a coaching license and coached the goalkeepers of the women club “Rostock”, after which he became a coach of male and female amateur handball teams in Germany.


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