Countries Belarus | History by KabAstro

Events in Belarusian History

1918-03-25 Belarusian People's Republic is established

French Open Women's Tennis

1988-06-04 French Open Women's Tennis: Steffi Graf dominates Natalia Zvereva of Belarus 6-0, 6-0; shortest women's singles Grand Slam final in Open Era; 32 minutes

1992-08-02 Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus becomes the first gymnast to win 6 gold medals at one Olympics in Barcelona, also first to win 4 gold in one day's competition (pommel, vault, rings & parallel bars)

Event of Interest

1994-07-20 Alexander Lukashenko is inaugurated as the first president of Belarus

Dictator and 1st President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko

1995-09-12 Belarus military shoots down a hydrogen balloon, killing its two American pilots.
2004-08-21 Belarusian sprinter Yulia Nestsiarenka runs 10.93 to beat American Lauryn Williams and win the 100m gold medal at the Athens Olympics
2004-08-29 Future undisputed world light heavyweight boxing champion Andre Ward of the US wins the light heavyweight gold medal at the Athens Olympics beating Magomed Aripgadjiev of Belarus on points
2006-03-24 Long-term protests in Belarus are broken by police.
2006-03-25 Protesters demanding a re-election in Belarus following the rigged Belarusian presidential election, 2006 clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin is among several protesters arrested.
2008-08-18 Belarus weightlifter Andrei Aramnau breaks 3 world records, for the snatch, clean & jerk, and total, on the way to winning the men's 105kg gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
2011-04-11 Minsk Metro bombing in Belarus kills at least 15 and injures over 200

Sports History

2011-10-30 Czech tennis star Petra Kvitová beats Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7–5, 4–6, 6–3 in the WTA Championship decider in Istanbul, Turkey

Azarenka Defeats Sharapova

2012-01-28 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Victoria Azarenka becomes first Belarusian player to win Grand Slam singles title; beats Maria Sharapova of Russia 6-3, 6-0

2012-08-13 Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus is stripped of her shot-put gold medal after failing a drugs test

US Open Women's Tennis

2012-09-09 US Open Women's Tennis: Serena Williams wins her 4th US title; beats Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-2, 2-6, 7-5

2013-01-26 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus wins her 2nd straight Australian title; beats Li Na of China 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
2013-09-08 US Open Women's Tennis: Serena Williams successfully defends her title; beats Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-5, 6-7, 6-1
2014-02-17 Belarus takes the aerials double at the Sochi Winter Olympics when Anton Kushnir wins the men's event; Alla Tsuper claims the women's section
2014-02-17 Belarusian biathlete Darya Domracheva wins her 3rd gold medal of the Sochi Winter Olympics in the mass start; also wins individual and pursuit gold
2015-01-01 Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
2015-10-08 Nobel prize for Literature awarded to Belarusian journalist and author Svetlana Alexievich
2017-11-12 Federation Cup Women's Tennis, Minsk, Belarus: American pair Shelby Rogers & Coco Vandeweghe beats Aryna Sabalenka & Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-3, 7-6 to wrap up 3-2 win and record extending 18th title for the US

Election of Interest

2020-08-09 Disputed Belarusian presidential election sees long time dictator Alexander Lukashenko officially win 80% of the votes but unofficially lose 60-70% of the votes to main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Sparks widespread protests in Belarus and international condemnation.

Human Rights Activist and Politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

2020-08-11 Belarus's opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya flees the country amid large-scale protests over the country's disputed election results that returned Dictator Alexander Lukashenko to power
2020-08-16 Largest-ever demonstration in Belarus as 100,000 people gather in Minsk to protest against controversial election results and regime of Alexander Lukashenko
2020-09-06 100,000 people demonstrate in Minsk against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, amid month-long protests against his re-election
2020-09-12 US Open Women's Tennis: Naomi Osaka of Japan wins her second US title; beats Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
2020-09-23 Alexander Lukashenko sworn in for sixth term as President of Belarus in a secret ceremony, amid continued widespread protests against his re-election
2021-05-23 Belarus accused of “state-sponsored hijacking" after diverting commercial Ryanair flight to Minsk to arrest dissident journalist Roman Protasevich
2021-11-09 EU accuses Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko of "inhuman, gangster-style approach" to thousands of migrants massing on their border with Poland in freezing conditions
2022-10-07 Nobel Peace Prize awarded jointly to Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski, Russian human rights organisation Memorial and Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties [1]
2023-01-28 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka beats Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 for her first major title

Event of Interest

2023-06-24 Wagner Group mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin rebel against Vladimir Putin’s government, march towards Moscow, only a last minute deal by Aleksander Lukashenko gets them to stand down and move to Belarus [1]

Oligarch and Mercenary Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin

2023-09-09 US Open Women's Tennis: American Coco Gauff (19) wins her first major title with a comeback 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Aryna Sabalenka (25) of Belarus