Kosanov Gusman Sytykuly (1935-1990) – track and field athlete, Olympic champion (1960)
Gusman Sytykuly Kosanov was born on May 25, 1935 in Izatulla village of Beskaragai district East Kazakhstan region in a large family. It comes from the subgenus of the Zhalykpas genus Karakesek of the Argyn tribe.
In 1951 he entered the railway school Semipalatinsk (now the city of Families). Besides studying, he was involved in sports: football, cross-country skiing, athletics, hockey.
In 1955, at the championship of the Ukrainian SSR, Kosanov ran in the 100 meters with a score of 10.7 seconds. He rose to the second step of the podium. In 1957, the famous coach Alexander Alexandrovich Maslovsky invited Kosanov to the city of Chisinau. Guzman enters the College of physical education and continues to practice athletics. At the very first competition, he became the champion of Moldova in the 200 and 400 meters and in the 4×100 relay. In the spring of 1960, the 4×100 m relay was won by the national team of the Armed Forces with a score of 40.7 seconds. In the status of the USSR champion, Kosanov, as part of the national team of the country, is preparing for the 1960 Games in Rome. At these competitions, the USSR team with a score of 40.1 seconds. (manual stopwatch) He becomes a silver medalist after the German national team. Gusman Kosanov has forever entered the annals of national sports as the first Kazakh to bring home the first Olympic silver medal. In 1962, Kosanov returned to Kazakhstan and began playing for the SKA team (Almaty).
In 1965, at the USSR-USA match in Kiev, the Soviet relay four took revenge on the Americans, winning the 4×100 m relay with a new USSR record of 39.3. The whole quartet – Edwin Ozolin, Gusman Kosanov, Amin Tuyakov and Nikolai Politiko – received the title of Honored Masters of Sports of the USSR. In 1965 he graduated from the Kazakh State University of Physical Culture. Multiple champion of the USSR, silver medalist of the Olympic Games in Rome (1960, in the 4×100 relay), 5th place at the Olympic Games in Tokyo (1964). He was the champion of Moldova, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan in the 100 meters.
Since 1967, he has been working as a coach. Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1964). Honored Coach of Kazakhstan (1968). G. Kosanov was awarded the Order of the “Red Banner of Labor”, the medal “For Labor Distinction”
An international athletics tournament named in his honor is held annually in Almaty.
Semey annually hosts the personal and team championship of the Republic of Kazakhstan in cross-country among universities and colleges, dedicated to the memory of G. Kosanov.
