Gusman Kosanov
Gusman Sittykovich Kosanov was a Kazakh sprinter. He completed for the Soviet Union at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics, in the individual 100 m and 4×100 m relay. He failed to reach the individual finals, but won a silver medal in the relay in 1960, becoming the first ethnic Kazakh athlete to win an Olympic medal.
Kosanov took up athletics in 1951. He won the Soviet title in the 4×100 m relay in 1960 and placed second in 1964; in the individual 100 m he finished second in 1966 and third in 1963. He retired in 1967 to work as an athletics coach in Kazakhstan. Kosanov hanged himself in July 1990 after he was diagnosed with diabetes and fired from his job as a director of a sports school in Almaty. After his death, an annual athletic meet has been held in Almaty in his honor.
