Andrey Abduvaliyev

URSMen

Andrey Abduvaliyev is a former hammer thrower born on June 30, 1966, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Standing 190 cm and weighing 125 kg, he won Olympic gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games while representing the Unified Team.

Abduvaliyev became one of the very few athletes to compete for three different nations. After representing the USSR, he chose Tajikistan when the Soviet Union dissolved, then changed his nationality to Uzbekistan in 1997. His second Olympic appearance came in 2000 while representing Uzbekistan.

His personal best of 83.46 metres was achieved in 1990 during his Soviet era. The Olympic gold medal at Barcelona remains the highlight of a career that uniquely spanned three national federations across the geopolitical transformation of Central Asia.