Former captain of Russia National Team Vadim Khamuttskikh dies at age of 52

The last day of 2021 brought very sad news for all volleyball world: the legendary Russian player, a 3-time Olympian and a former National Team captain Vadim Khamuttskikh, died in Belgorod only a month after turning 52 of (unofficially) heart problems, leaving a wife and two daughters behind.
Nicknamed ‘Beard’, he has been the soul of the Russia National Team for 10 years (1996-2004; 2007-2009), collecting 237 matches for it. The ingenious setter played actively until the age of 45.
With National Team, he won the FIVB World Cup in 1999 and the FIVB World League in 2002 and, in total, he took 18 medals on an international level.
At the CEV European Championship in 2007, he was recognized as the Best Setter, although at that time he was 38 years old.

On a club level, he was a 7-time Russian champion, 6-time winner of the national Cup, 2-time winner of the CEV Champions League, and one-time winner of the CEV Cup, taking all of these titles (except one Russian Championship) with Belogorie Belgorod, whose jersey he has worn for 13 years.
His coaching career consisted of working at Gazprom-Yugra, as playing coach, and Belgorod, as assistant coach.
Recently, he worked as the head coach of Belogorie-2, which competes in the Youth League.