Aleksandr Viktorovich Kostoglod (russian: Александр Викторович Костоглод, born 31 May 1974) is a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-born,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n sprint canoeist who has competed since the early 1990s. Competing in four

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, he won three medals with two silvers (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

: C-2 1000 m,

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: C-2 500 m) and one bronze (2004: C-2 500 m). Kostoglod is a six-time world champion gold medallist in the Canadian canoe (C) events. Kostoglod did not take up canoeing until the age of fourteen, at the suggestion of family friend and double world champion Vladimir Ladosha. Within a year he was champion of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in his age group. By 18 he was senior national champion and competing at the

Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, He was disappointed to finish tenth in the C-1 1000 m but has since admitted that as a youngster he was relying on his natural strength to make up for his lack of technique. It did not help that his coach

Alexander Abramiants Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

was excluded from the Unified Team delegation to Barcelona. He won the first of his six World Championship gold medals in

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at the age of 20 in

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. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, with Maxim Opalev now representing Russia in the C-1 events, Kostoglod teamed up with Aleksandr Kovalyov for the C-2. The pairing was an immediate success, winning two consecutive world 1000 m titles in 1998 and 1999. His other three medals have all come in the C-4 events. Three medals he won at the 2003 championships in Gainesville were stripped from Kostoglod when his teammate

Sergey Ulegin Sergey Ulegin (born October 8, 1977 in Engels) is a Russian canoeist who has been competing since 2001 He won a silver in the men's C-2 500 m event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. At the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, Ulegin has w ...

tested positive for doping. However, with no C-4 event on the schedule, Olympic medals were to prove more elusive. At the 2000 Sydney games, he and Kovalyov finished only fourth in the C-2 1000m final, missing out on a medal by just 0.14 sec. At the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

they were finally rewarded with two medals, silver in the C-2 1000 m and bronze in the C-2 500 m. In 2006, Kostoglod and Kovalyov came fifth at the European Championships and sixth at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in the C-2 1000 m. For the C-2 500 m events however Kostoglod was partnered instead by Ulegin. Together they became both European and world champions, finishing over a second ahead of their nearest challengers, the German pairing of Nuck and

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, in both finals. Kostoglod won a silver in the C-2 500 m event with Ulegin at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

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. Kostoglod is 185 cm (6'1") tall and weighs 93 kg (204 lbs).

References

Canoe09.ca profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kostoglod, Aleksandr 1974 births Canoeists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Living people Olympic canoeists of Russia Olympic canoeists of the Unified Team Olympic silver medalists for Russia Olympic bronze medalists for Russia Russian male canoeists Soviet male canoeists Sportspeople from Rostov-on-Don Olympic medalists in canoeing ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in Canadian Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics