Iurii Zakharov (also ''Yuriy Zaharov'', russian: Юрий Захаров; born December 1, 1985) is a Kyrgyzstani former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke and individual medley events. He represented his

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

in two editions of the Olympic Games (2004 and 2008). Zakharov made his first Kyrgyz team, as a 19-year-old, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

, where he competed in the men's 200 m backstroke. Swimming in heat one, he recorded the slowest prelims time of the event in 2:10.45 to close out the field of thirty-six swimmers to last place. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, Zakharov qualified this time for the men's 200 m individual medley, by clearing a FINA B-cut of 2:05.43 from the Russian Swimming Championships in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. He challenged six other swimmers on the first heat, including fellow two-time Olympians Omar Pinzón of Colombia,

Andrejs Dūda Andrejs Dūda (born 30 October 1981) is a Latvian swimmer, is a two-time Olympian and nine-time NCAA DIII national individual champion in swimming. Duda represented Latvia at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and has qualified to comp ...

of Latvia, and

Danil Bugakov Danil Bugakov ( uz, Данил Бугаков; born January 29, 1988) is an Uzbek former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke, freestyle and individual medley events. He won two medals for the 50 m backstroke at the Asian Swimming Championships ...

of Uzbekistan. Zakharov edged out Bugakov to take a sixth spot by three seconds in 2:07.01. Zakharov failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed forty-fifth overall in the preliminary heats.

References

External links

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NBC Olympics Profile
1985 births Living people People from Andijan Kyrgyzstani people of Russian descent Kyrgyzstani male backstroke swimmers Olympic swimmers of Kyrgyzstan Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2006 Asian Games Swimmers at the 2010 Asian Games Kyrgyzstani male medley swimmers Asian Games competitors for Kyrgyzstan {{Kyrgyzstan-swimming-bio-stub