Anatoli BONDARCHUK

Anatoliy Bondarchuk took up athletics and hammer throwing quite late, in 1964, when he was already 24-years-old. But he soon rose to be one of the world’s top hammer throwers. Bondarchuk came to prominence in 1969, winning his first Soviet title, followed by the European title. His winning mark of 74.68 at the European Championships was also a world record, which he bettered a month later with 75.48 in his hometown of Rivne. At the 1971 European Championships Bondarchuk finished only third, but was still considered as the favorite for the 1972 Olympic gold. In the Olympic final, Bondarchuk showed top form by throwing the gold medal mark of 75.50 in the first round. After the 1972 Olympics, Bondarchuk competed at the 1974 European Championships, but was eliminated in qualifying.

After the 1974 Europeans Bondarchuk decided to quit athletics and started to guide young Soviet hammer throwers Yuriy Siedykh and Jüri Tamm, but made a brief comeback in 1976 to compete at the Olympics, where he won a bronze medal. He was Soviet Champion in 1969-70 and 1972-73 and won silver in 1976. Bondarchuk later became one of the world’s most renowned hammer throwing coaches. He coached the 1980 and 1988 Soviet Olympic teams and from 1991-2004 was head coach of the Qatar national team. In 2004, Bondarchuk moved to Kamloops, British Columbia, where he coached North American hammer throwers. Bondarchuk wrote 11 textbooks about training methodology and nearly 200 articles. His two-volume work Transfer of Training in Sports is considered the classic text on that subject.

Personal Best: HT – 77.42 (1976).