Andrey Kirilenko is one of the best basketball players in modern Russian history. He was one of the first to go to play in the NBA. What about his personal life and his biography?
Andrey Kirilenko in Russia became the personification of all basketball for many years. His successes have inspired many ordinary boys and girls to practice this sport. But was everything so good from the very beginning?
Childhood and adolescence of Andrei Kirilenko
Andrey was born on February 18, 1981. This event took place in the not quite hometown of the future athlete. The fact is that his parents lived in Leningrad, but during his mother's pregnancy, dad was taken into the army, and she left to give birth to her hometown of Izhevsk. Exactly, but for this reason, Andrey has this place of birth in his passport.
But soon the family returned to Leningrad, which became the main city of the future star's childhood. Andrei's dad and mom also went in for sports. My father was in charge of the women's soccer team, and my mother was an honored basketball player of many teams, including Burevestnik and Spartak.
As a child, Andrei was fond of swimming and football. But in the first grade in high school I signed up for the basketball section and never parted with this sport. Therefore, at the age of 14, he began to play basketball professionally as part of the youth team of St. Petersburg "Spartak".
Basketball biography of Andrei Kirilenko
After Andrei was transferred to the main team of Spartak at the age of 17? many experts started talking about it. As a result, he became the youngest player ever to compete in a Russian professional championship.
This could not pass by the leaders of the capital CSKA, and after a season, Andrei set off to conquer the capital. And this, by the way, happened already in the first match for the new club. Andrey scored 25 points and won the fans' sympathy. At such a young age, he becomes the champion of Russia, and he is recognized as the best player in the tournament. Even then, it was clear that a new star appeared in Russian basketball.
Two seasons later, in 2000, Andrei was called up under the banner of the Russian national team, and he went with the team to the Olympics in Sydney. But he does not achieve great success there. The Russian national team leaves the tournament already in the ¼ finals.
But that was only the beginning. The next few seasons the player becomes the leader of the team, and the pinnacle of success for him is the 2007 European Championship, in which the team becomes the champion.
By this time Kirilenko is already playing in the NBA for the Utah Jazz team. In the 2005 season, he becomes the best block-shot player of the season (220 times). Andrei played in this team until 2011 and played a total of 680 games. It was not possible to achieve any special achievements, because Utah is an average club by the standards of the NBA.
After that, Kirilenko began to change teams every year. First, he returned to CSKA, then again went overseas to Minnesota. Then there was the Brooklyn Nets and again the army club. It was at CSKA in 2015 that Kirilenko announced the end of his sports career.
But he did not move away from basketball and took the post of President of the Russian Basketball Federation, which he still holds. The former athlete liked this job.
Personal life of a basketball player
In his personal life, everything is as good as in his sports career. Andrey has been married to former singer Maria Lopatova for several years. They have already had three sons. The family lives in Los Angeles. In 2009, Andrei and Maria adopted their daughter Sasha. The basketball player considers his marriage to be very successful and always admires his wife.
In addition to his personal life and career, Andrei Kirilenko constantly participates in various charity events and actively maintains his pages on social networks.
