Rio silver medallists 2016 stamp of Belarus

Ivan Ryhoravich Tsikhan (born 24 July 1976) is a Belarusian

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consist ...

er. He is a two-time world champion and an Olympic medalist.

Personal life

Tsikhan was born in the village of Hloŭsievičy, Slonim district,

Grodno Region Grodno Region ( pl, Grodzieńszczyzna) or Grodno Oblast or Hrodna Voblasts ( be, Гродзенская вобласць, ''Hrodzienskaja vobłasć'', , ''Haradzienščyna''; russian: Гродненская область, ''Grodnenskaya oblast' ...

, Belarusian SSR. He now lives in Grodno. His wife Volha is also an athlete, a discus thrower. Ivan and Volha have one son, Ivan. Tsikhan was coached by the former Olympic champion Sergey Litvinov.

Sport career

Tsikhan competed at his first World Championships in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, he reached the final but failed to record a mark. He also failed to do so at the 1998 European Championships, but finished tied for third in the final at the 2000 Olympic Games. He was ranked fourth because he did not have a superior second best. He then finished sixth at the

2001 Summer Universiade The 2001 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXI Summer Universiade, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, between 22 August and 1 September. A total of 6,757 athletes from 165 nations took part in 12 spor ...

and ninth at the 2002 European Championships, and competed at the 2001 World Championships without reaching the final. The year 2003 was Tsikhan's break out season. He surpassed the 80-metre barrier for the first time. He became world champion for the first time in 2003 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, with a throw of 83.03 meters. He won the

2003 Summer Universiade The 2003 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXII Summer Universiade, took place in Daegu, South Korea. Emblem * The alphabet letter "U" and five stars, which is FISU's emblem, make up the basis of the emblem for the Daegu Universiade. * It sym ...

, and finished third at the inaugural

World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...

. He had a best of 84.32 metres, achieved in August in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

. In 2004, At the

2004 Olympic Games 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), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Tsikhan won the silver medal with a throw of 79.81 metres, however, after retesting his doping sample in 2012 IOC disqualified him. At the

he took the silver. He had a best of 84.46 metres, achieved in August in

. In 2005, he came in first 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, ...

and

, but was later stripped of his gold medals from both events because doping violations. In the Belarusian national championship in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

in July, he came within one centimeter of the world record of 86.74 held by

Youri Sedykh ukr, Юрій Георгійович Сєдих , native_name_lang = , years active = 1976–1995European Championships. He also finished second at the 2006 World Athletics Final and the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. His season's best throw was 81.12 metres. In 2007 Tsikhan won his third

with a throw of 83.64 metres. This was his season's best. He again won the 2007 World Athletics Final. In 2008, Tsikhan had a season's best of 84.51 metres, achieved in July in Grodno. He finished third at the 2008 Olympic Games with a throw of 81.51 metres.Ivan Tsikhan
iaaf.org In 2016, Tsikhan competed for Belarus at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He won silver with a throw of 77.79 metres. He was the flag bearer for Belarus during the closing ceremony.

Doping offenses

Both Tsikhan and silver medalist and fellow Belarusian

Vadim Devyatovskiy Vadim Anatolyevich Devyatovskiy ( be, Вадзі́м Анато́левіч Дзевято́ўскі, , Łacinka: ''Vadzim Anatolevič Dzieviatoŭski'', russian: Вади́м Анато́льевич Девято́вский; born 20 March 1977 i ...

tested positive for abnormal levels of

testosterone Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristi ...

after the hammer throw finals on 12 August 2008 at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Both men were stripped of their medals by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

and appealed to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...

(CAS). If the Court had rejected their appeal, Tsikhan would have served a two-year suspension and been banned from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. However, In June 2010 the CAS ruled in his favor and due to discrepancies in drug testing he was reawarded his bronze medal. The CAS stated that he was not cleared of suspicion, insisting the verdict "should not be interpreted as an exoneration". In May 2012, banned substances were found in Tsikhan's samples from the 2004 Summer Olympics after being retested, he was subsequently withdrawn from the 2012 Summer Games, and he was later disqualified by IOC. In April 2014, Following the doping sanctions of Ivan Tsikhan which was announced in the IAAF Newsletter in March 2014, the IAAF confirmed the period of annulment for all his results from 22 August 2004 to 21 August 2006.

Personal best

* 84.51 m (Grodno 9 July 2008)

Distance progression

* 2018 75.79 m

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

7 August 2018 * 2016 80.04 m Grodno 24 June 2016 * 2015 77.46 m Yerino 24 July 2015 * 2012 82.81 m

25 May 2012 * 2008 84.51 m Grodno 9 July 2008 * 2007 83.63 m

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

27 August 2007 * 2006 81.12 m Stuttgart 10 September 2006 * 2004 84.46 m

7 May 2004 * 2003 84.32 m Minsk 8 August 2003 * 2002 79.04 m Minsk 29 June 2002 * 2001 78.73 m Brest 8 June 2001 * 2000 79.85 m Minsk 27 June 2000 * 1999 70.37 m 4 September 1999 * 1998 78.03 m Saint-Denis 4 June 1998 * 1997 77.46 m Turku 11 July 1997 * 1996 75.32 m Minsk 13 July 1996 * 1995 66.84 m 1 January 1995 * 1994 62.66 m 1 January 1994 * 1993 61.32 m 13 July 1993 * 1992 55.91 m 6 May 1992

References

External links

*
Interview with Tsikhan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsikhan, Ivan 1976 births Living people People from Slonim District Belarusian male hammer throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics 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 Olympic bronze medalists for Belarus Doping cases in athletics Belarusian sportspeople in doping cases Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Belarus Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes stripped of World Athletics Championships medals Olympic male hammer throwers Universiade gold medalists for Belarus World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 2003 Summer Universiade Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Grodno Region