MOSCOW, November 24 (Sputnik) — Revered ice hockey coach and three-time Olympic ice hockey champion Viktor Tikhonov has died in Moscow on November 24, 2014 after a protracted illness. He was 84 years old.
Soviet ice hockey player, highly respected coach and a Merited Coach of the USSR, Viktor Tikhonov was born on June 4, 1930 in Moscow.
At the age of 12, he began work as a mechanic at a bus maintenance facility. Tikhonov resumed studies in 1943, eventually graduating from a trade apprentice school.
In 1945, he began training at the junior league team of the Central House of the Red Army (CDKA, now CSKA). He played as captain of the first junior league team and later joined the first-line players" list of the Burevestnik Moscow men's football team. He played for this team until it was disbanded. Tikhonov was a member of Moscow's junior league football team, which won the 1948 USSR Cup. At the same time, he played bandy and later took up ice hockey.
In 1949, Tikhonov was drafted into the Soviet Armed Forces and immediately invited to the football /ice hockey team of the Moscow Military District's Air Force.
In 1949-1953, he played as a defender with this team. In 1953-1963, he played for Dynamo Moscow. Tikhonov took part in 296 USSR championship hockey matches, scoring 35 goals.
In the late 1960s, Tikhonov coached players of the Dynamo Riga team, after working as an assistant coach in Moscow Dynamo team for several years. He showed impressive results in Riga, and his team finished in fourth place in the 1977 USSR championships.
In 1977, Tikhonov began to coach the CSKA team. Between that year and 1992, the team won several consecutive national championships. CSKA also won the European Champions Cup 14 times and the USSR Cup twice.
In 1977, Tikhonov came to head the Soviet national team, which won the world championships in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989 and 1990. Coached by Tikhonov, the Soviet team won the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games, with the CIS team winning the 1992 Olympic Games. Under his supervision, the Soviet team also won the 1981 Canada Cup.
In 1993-1994, Tikhonov was head coach of the Russian national team. In 1994, the Russian team failed to win Olympic medals for the first time in the history of national hockey. Following that, Tikhonov resigned from his national team's head coach position, but continued to coach CSKA players.
In summer 2003, after several coaches tried unsuccessfully to help the national team regain their leadership position, Tikhonov became head coach once again. After the team's unsuccessful performance at the 2004 world championship, Tikhonov stepped down, and on March 31, 2004, he retired from CSKA.
Tikhonov was a member of the Supervisory Council of the CSKA Hockey Club and an Honorary President of the CSKA Professional Hockey Club.
Tikhonov's personal sporting achievements include: 1951-1954 USSR champion (three times with the Air Force team and one time with Dynamo); 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1963 silver medalist; 1955-1958 bronze medalist; Winner of the 1952 USSR Cup.
Tikhonov's coaching achievements include:1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympic champion;1980 silver Olympic medalist;1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989 and 1990 world champion; USSR champion (1977-1989);14-time winner of the European Champions Cup; Winner of the 1979 Challenge Cup; Winner of the 1981 Canada Cup.
In 1998, Tikhonov was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation's Hall of Fame. His name was also listed in the Olympic Museum of Lausanne.
Tikhonov was a Merited Coach of the USSR and the RSFSR, a Merited Coach of the Latvian SSR and a Merited Physical Fitness Instructor of Russia. He received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1978); the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1981); the Order of Lenin (1983); the Order of the October Revolution (1988); the Order For Services to the Fatherland, Third Class (1996); the Order of Merit (2000); the Order of Friendship (2010) and others.
His wife, Tatiana Tikhonova, born 1933, is a lawyer. His son, Vasily Tkihonov (1958-2013) was an ice hockey coach. His grandson Viktor plays for the St. Petersburg SKA Hockey Club. Following in his grandfather's stride, Viktor won the 2014 IIHF World Championship together with the Russian national team and was named the best-scoring player of the tournament.
