Andrei Sergeyevich Krauchanka ( be, Андрэй Сяргеевіч Краўчанка; also transliterated as ''Andrey Kravchenko'') (born 4 January 1986) is a Belarusian

decathlete The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄθ ...

. He was the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

list at the

2008 Beijing 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 Nat ...

. His personal best score of 8617 points is the Belarusian record for the event. He also holds the national indoor record in the

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

with 6282 points. Krauchanka was a talented

combined events Combined track and field events are competitions in which athletes participate in a number of track and field events, earning points for their performance in each event, which adds to a total points score. Outdoors, the most common combined events ...

athlete from a young age: he broke the world youth best for the

octathlon An octathlon is a combined event competition consisting of eight different sports or contests. Track and field An octathlon in athletics is an event which consists of eight track and field events. The word "octathlon" derives from the Greek words o ...

and was runner-up at the

2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics was the third edition of the international athletics competition for youth (under-18) athletes organised by the IAAF. It was held in Sherbrooke, Canada from the 9–13 July at the Université de Sh ...

. He became the

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and World Junior champion in the decathlon before emerging as a senior in 2007, when he won the bronze medal at the

2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Birmingham, England, from Friday, 2 March to Sunday, 4 March 2007. Birmingham also held the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Men's results Track ...

and set his best of 8617 to win the

Hypo-Meeting The Hypo-Meeting is an annual athletics (sport), athletics competition that takes place in the Mösle stadium in Götzis in Vorarlberg (Austria) held in the spring (late May, early June). In its history, a total of three world records have been se ...

. Two silver medals on the global stage came in 2008, first at the

2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7–9, 2008. Bid Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, R ...

and then at the Olympics in Beijing. Injuries affected his performances from 2009 to 2012, although he won bronze at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Cat ...

and gold at the

2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from 4 to 6 March 2011. 577 athletes representing 46 countries competed at the championships. Twenty-six track and field events we ...

during that time.

Career

Early career

Born in Myshanka in the

Gomel Region Gomel Region or Gomel Oblast or Homiel Voblasts ( be, Го́мельская во́бласць, Homielskaja vobłasć, russian: Гомельская область, Gomelskaya oblast) is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center i ...

,Andrey Kravchenko
. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2013-05-12. he grew up in the town of Pyetrykaw. Both his parents were involved in sports: his father Sergey was the military champion in

combined track and field events Combined track and field events are competitions in which athletes participate in a number of track and field events, earning points for their performance in each event, which adds to a total points score. Outdoors, the most common combined events ...

when he was part of the

Soviet Air Defence Forces The Soviet Air Defence Forces (russian: войска ПВО, ''voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony'', ''voyska PVO'', ''V-PVO'', lit. ''Anti-Air Defence Troops''; and formerly ''protivovozdushnaya oborona strany'', ''PVO strany'', lit. ''Anti-Air De ...

, while his mother took part in

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

.Sampaolo, Diego (2013-05-11)
Krauchanka returns as a medal contender
IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-05-12. His parents broke up when he was aged nine and, enduring financial difficulty, his mother encouraged him to take up athletics as a distraction. He performed to a high standard and went to the Olympic sports boarding school in

Gomel Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census). Etymology There are at least six narratives of the ori ...

as a teenager.Andrei Krauchanka dreams about further success
European Athletics (2011-03-26). Retrieved on 2013-05-12. In 2000, he won the Belarusian youth title in the

.Dubitski, Mikhail (2008-07-27)
Focus on Athletes - Andrei Krauchenka
IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-05-12. International competitions followed and he broke the world youth record in the octathlon with a total of 6415 points in 2003. This mark was beaten soon after by

Andrés Silva Andrés Bayron Silva Lemos (born 27 March 1986 in Tacuarembó ) is a Uruguayan track athlete. He competed in the combined events on the youth and junior levels, but has since specialized in the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles. Silva parti ...

, who won at the

, leaving Krauchanka with the silver medal. He also placed fifth in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

at that year's

European Youth Olympic Festival The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth (14 to 18 years old) athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the fir ...

. That year a period of training in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

under Pavel Hamalainen, father of

Eduard Hämäläinen Eduard Hämäläinen (born 21 January 1969 in Karaganda, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) is a retired decathlete from Finland and Belarus. He originally competed for the Soviet Union and then Belarus after the Soviet dissolution, but changed nationali ...

, did not last and he returned to his original coach Ivan Gordienko. Krauchanka moved into

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

competitions in 2004 and, after setting a best of 7963 points to win the national junior title,Andrei Krauchanka
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2013-05-12. he broke the championship record at the

2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Grosseto, Italy on 12–18 July. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1261 athletes from 168 count ...

, collecting 8126 points with a series of personal bests. He broke the national junior record in

at 2005's

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

combined events meeting with 5929 points. He placed 13th at the high-profile 2005 Hypo-Meeting before winning his second major junior title at the

2005 European Athletics Junior Championships The 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships was the 18th edition of the biennial athletics (sport), athletics competition for European under-20 athletes, which was held in Kaunas, Lithuania on 21–24 July. Medal summary Men Women Medal ...

. In 2006, he again broke the 8000-point barrier, coming eleventh at the 2006 Hypo-Meeting, and placed third at the

European Cup Combined Events The European Combined Events Team Championships is an annual track and field competition for European combined track and field events specialists, with contests in men's decathlon event and women's heptathlon. It is organised by European Athletics. ...

First Olympic medal

Krauchanka set a personal heptathlon best at the Tallinn meet (5955) then won his first ever senior medal in the event at the

, earning 6090 points and a bronze medal. The outdoor season saw him make a significant breakthrough as he won the 2007 Hypo-Meeting with a personal best of 8617 points. Among his competitors, he defeated the world record holder Roman Sebrle and reigning world champion

Bryan Clay Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay (born January 3, 1980) is an American decathlete who was the 2008 Summer Olympic champion for the decathlon and was also World champion in 2005. Biography Clay was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Hawaii. He is Afr ...

, both of whom praised the emerging Belarusian. He set personal bests in seven of the disciplines and was the outright winner in four of them. He failed to finish at the TNT – Fortuna Meeting but solidified his progress with a win at the

2007 European Athletics U23 Championships The 6th European Athletics U23 Championships was held between 12 and 15 July 2007 in the Gyulai István Athletic Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary. Results Complete results and medal winners were published. Men Women †: In discus ...

with 8492 points. The pressure of expectation affected him at the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...

as in the first

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

event he obviously

false start In sports, a false start is a disallowed start, usually due to a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can result ...

ed twice, eliminating himself from the competition.Julin, A. Lennart (2008-12-14)
2008 - End of Year Review – COMBINED EVENTS
IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-05-12. He ended the year on a high note with a win at the

Décastar Décastar (stylised ''DECASTAR'') is an annual athletics competition that takes place in Talence, in the department of the Gironde in France. Organised by World Athletics, it is one of the athletics meetings that make up the World Athletics Challe ...

meet. The 2008 season started well for him with a Belarusian record in the heptathlon in Tallinn, winning the competition with a score of points. He bettered this with 6234 points at the

, taking the silver medal behind Bryan Clay. Heading into the outdoor season he was more conservative in entering competitions and won the European Cup decathlon with 8585 points before going on to claim the

in the event at the

(again behind Clay). He retained his Décastar title in his last decathlon of the season and was the series winner of the

IAAF Combined Events Challenge The World Athletics Combined Events Tour (formerly IAAF Combined Events Challenge and World Athletics Challenge – Combined Events) is an annual series of combined track and field events meetings, organised since 1998 by World Athletics, with hep ...

European medals

In spite of his successful 2008 season, he was unable to progress further in 2009 as he caught

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

and suffered throughout the season. He won the European Cup Combined Events title and placed tenth at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

, but his season's best of 8336 points was somewhat lower than the previous two years. Andrei Krauchanka Barcelona 2010

In 2010, he won the national universities title with a score of 6206 points for the heptathlon and went on the place fourth at the

2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010. Bidding and organisation Th ...

. Another major medal came at the

, where his score of 8370 was enough for the decathlon

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

. At that competition, he looked set to be eliminated during the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

as his pole snapped mid-event. However, a Lithuanian rival

Darius Draudvila Darius Draudvila (born 29 March 1983) is a Lithuanian decathlon and heptathlon track and field athlete, who internationally competes for Lithuania, but lives in the United States. During studies in USA, Darius represented Kansas State track ...

allowed Krauchanka to borrow his implement, allowing the Belarusian to continue. The Belarusian team nominated Draudvila for the World Fair Play Award for his sportsmanship.Lithuania’s Draudvila is a World Fair Play Awards nominee
European Athletics. Retrieved on 2013-05-12. Krauchanka won another continental medal at the

, improving his own national record to 6282 points to win the competition. However, he was carrying an ankle injury and was in pain during the events. He failed to finish at that year's TNT – Fortuna Meeting and missed the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. He was fifth at the Decastar in September. He performed well at the 2012 Belarusian indoor championships, becoming champion with 6205 points, but managed only sixth at the

2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of four ...

then failed to complete the decathlon at the Hypo-Meeting in May. This was his first and final outdoor appearance that year. His next competition came almost one year later, at the

Multistars Multistars is an annual international Combined track and field events competition held in Lana, Italy in late April or early May as part of the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge. Established in 1988 the meeting took place in Desenzano del Gard ...

meeting, and he demonstrated a return to fitness with a winning score of 8390 points.

Personal life

He is married to fellow Belarusian athlete

Yana Maksimava Yana Maksimava ( be, Яна Максімава; born 9 January 1989) is a Lithuanians, Lithuanian-Belarusian heptathlete. She was born in Vilnius, the capital of the then Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. She is married to fellow Belarusia ...

. Amid the forced repatriation and subsequent defection of Belarusian sprinter

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya Krystsina Siarheyeuna Tsimanouskaya ( be, Крысціна Сяргееўна Ціманоўская, Łacinka: , ; born 19 November 1996) is a Belarusian-Polish sprinter. She has won numerous medals at various events, including a silver m ...

at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in 2021, Maksimava announced that she and her husband Krauchanka would also not be returning to Belarus and would instead seek asylum in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where the couple trains. Krauchanka had previously been detained in Belarus for taking part in protests against

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука� ...

Competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krauchanka, Andrei 1986 births Living people People from Pietrykaw District Belarusian decathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Belarus Olympic silver medalists for Belarus World Athletics Championships athletes for Belarus European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Belarusian sportsmen Belarusian defectors Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople from Gomel Region