Oleg Velikiy Ukrainian and German handball player Date of Birth: 14.10.1977 Country: Ukraine

Biography of Oleg Velikiy

Oleg Velikiy was a Ukrainian and German handball player who was born on January 17, 1978, in Kyiv, Ukraine. He started playing handball in the second grade of secondary school, with his first coach being Lyudmila Mikhailovna Shkotareva. Velikiy played for various clubs in Ukraine, including SKIF Kyiv, Svetotekhnik-Kolos Brovary, and ZTR Zaporizhia. He became a four-time champion of Ukraine with ZTR Zaporizhia and played 59 matches for the Ukrainian national team.

In 2000, Velikiy represented Ukraine in the final stage of the European Handball Championship for the first time. Although the team finished in 12th place, Velikiy emerged as the tournament's top scorer with 46 goals. In 2001, he received an invitation from renowned former Soviet and Belarusian handball player, and later coach, Yuri Shevtsov, to join the German club TUSEM. In April 2004, Velikiy obtained German citizenship and made his debut for the German national team on January 8, 2005.

During the same season, Velikiy won the EHF Cup with TUSEM. However, the team failed to meet licensing requirements and lost its place in the Bundesliga. From the fall of 2005 until 2008, Velikiy and Shevtsov were associated with the club "Kronau" (now known as "Rhein-Neckar Löwen"), and from the fall of 2008, Velikiy became a player for "Hamburg". He played 38 matches for the German national team, scoring 123 goals.

In 2006, Velikiy had to miss the European Handball Championship due to an injury. In 2007, he was selected for the German national team for the World Championship, but suffered a serious hand injury. The team, led by Heiner Brand, won the championship title, and Velikiy, despite not playing a single match, was also awarded a gold medal. In 2008, he narrowly missed a medal at the European Championship, finishing in 4th place.

Velikiy was known as a handball player capable of single-handedly deciding the fate of a match. He was equally effective as a left back and a playmaker. In March 2008, he was diagnosed with a recurrence of skin cancer. Velikiy had initially been diagnosed with this disease in September 2003 but managed to return to the court after prolonged treatment. In March 2009, feeling better after a new course of chemotherapy, he played one match in the Bundesliga. However, he was unable to overcome the illness completely.

Oleg Velikiy passed away in Kyiv on January 23, 2010, at the age of 32. He is survived by his wife Ekaterina and their six-year-old son Nikita. On January 24, 2010, before the Euro 2010 match between the German and French national teams, a minute of silence was observed in honor of Oleg Velikiy. He was a World Champion in 2007, the top scorer of the European Championship in 2000, a four-time Ukrainian champion, a finalist in the German Cup in 2003, 2006, and 2007, and the winner of the EHF Cup in 2005.