Sergei Mikhailovich Makarov is a Russian former ice hockey right wing. Makarov played on the gold-winning Soviet Union men's national ice hockey team at eight World Championships, and in the 1981 Canada Cup. At the Winter Olympics, he won the gold medal in 1984 and 1988 and a silver in 1980. In the Soviet Union, Makarov played 11 championship seasons with CSKA Moscow, winning the Soviet Player of the Year award three times. Together with Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov, they formed the KLM Line, one of the most talented and feared lines ever to play hockey. He was awarded Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1984). He later played in the National Hockey League with the Calgary Flames, and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year at the age of 31. In 2001, Makarov was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was voted one of six players to the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) Centennial All-Star Team in a poll conducted by a group of 56 experts from 16 countries.

The 1979 Ice Hockey World Championships took place at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union from 14 to 27 April. Eight teams took part, with the first round split into two groups of four, and the best two from each group advancing to the final group. The four best teams then played each other twice in the final round. This was the 46th World Championship and at the same time, the 57th European Championship. In the May 1978 congress many rules were aligned with NHL practices and archaic rules were finally officially abandoned. The games were very well attended, setting a record by averaging over eleven thousand spectators per game.