An autographed postcard of the Soviet Olympic handball champion Vladimir Maksimov

The postcard was signed in 1995 at the Olympic ball held in the Kremlin. The event was timed to coincide with the end of the XVII Winter Olympic Games, held in Lillehammer (Norway).

Vladimir Maksimov is a Soviet handball player, Soviet and Russian coach. Olympic champion. As a member of the USSR national handball team, he set a national record by scoring 690 goals.

Vladimir Maksimov is famous not only as an excellent player, but also as an excellent coach. Maximov made a great contribution to the development of Russian handball. In 1993, he took over the post of General Director of the Russian Handball Union. There have been both wins and losses in his coaching career. In 1996, at the Olympics in the United States, the Russian national team took only fifth place, despite the fact that they were contenders to win. This may be due to the fact that the players were too calm and confident in the first place. Nevertheless, already in 1997, at the Championship in Japan, Russian rivals won triumphantly: the national team did not lose a single match, and the then Olympic champions from Croatia were beaten by 11 goals. Vladimir Maksimov's interesting and sometimes controversial coaching career makes him one of the greatest Russian coaches.