| Iurii Zakharov Andreyvich | |
| Fullname: | Iurii Zakharov |
| Strokes: | Backstroke, medley |
| Birth Date: | 1 December 1985 |
| Birth Place: | Andijon, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union |
| Weight: | 690NaN0 |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
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.[1] He represented his Kyrgyzstan 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, 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.[2] [3]
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, 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.[4] He challenged six other swimmers on the first heat, including fellow two-time Olympians Omar Pinzón of Colombia, Andrejs Dūda of Latvia, and Danil Bugakov 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.[5]