Alexandre Zinoviev, 1961-2005

Former top Soviet cyclist Alexandre "Sasha" Zinoviev died on Monday at University Hospital Cincinnati from gastric cancer. He had been fighting the disease since June 2004.

Zinoviev was born in Velikie Luki, Russia, May 3, 1961. A world champion as part of the Soviet team time trial squads in 1983 and 1985, Zinoviev was a world class cyclist between 1975 and 1992 and was awarded a Medal for Outstanding Achievement from the Soviet government after the Soviet team won the teams contest in the Peace Race. His individual victories included a stage of the Giro d'Italia, stages of the 1984 Milk Race in the UK, the 1985 Tour of Cuba and stages of the 1985 Tour de l'Avenir.

Zinoviev came to the US in 1990 as part of a Cycling Sister City exchange between Cincinnati and Kharkiv, Ukraine and became a US citizen in 2001. For the last several years of his life he worked as a Senior Systems Analyst at United Medical Resources.

Zinoviev leaves a wife, Lora and ten-year old child, Polena.

The visitation will be Wednesday February 23 from 12:00-2:00 with the funeral and burial at 2:00. The location is the Nurre-Mihovak-Rosenaker Funeral Home, 10211 Plainfield Road, Blue Ash. The Rest Haven Cemetery and the funeral home are just north of the Blue Ash Golf Course on Plainfield.