Sergei Valentinovich Zabolotnov (also Sergey, russian: Серге́й Валентинович Заболотнов; born 11 August 1963, is a former

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from 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 ...

Career

In 1983, he set a European record in the 200 m backstroke. The time of 2:00.42 was achieved on 4 July 1983 at Edmonton, Canada, when winning a gold medal whilst competing in the

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

. He set his second European record on 15 February 1984, recording 2:00.39 at the Soviet Winter Nationals. After missing the

1984 Summer Olympic Games The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

in Los Angeles of late July and early August due to the eastern bloc boycott, Zabolotnov competed at the

Friendship Games The Friendship Games, or Friendship-84 (russian: Дружба-84, ''Druzhba-84''), was an international multi-sport event held between 2 July and 16 September 1984 in the Soviet Union and eight other socialist states which boycotted the 1984 Su ...

in Moscow, USSR, winning the gold medal for the 200 m backstroke in a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

time of 1:58.41 on 21 August 1984. This time eclipsed the previous world record of 1:58.86 set by

Rick Carey Richard John Carey (born March 13, 1963) is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events. Carey specialized in the backstroke. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, ...

, USA on 27 June 1984 at the USA Olympic Swimming Trials. Rick Carey won the gold medal for the 200 m backstroke in Los Angeles in a time of 2:00.23, three weeks before Zabolotnov's world record swim. Carey recorded 1:58.99 in the preliminaries in Los Angeles for an Olympic record. Zabolotnov competed at the

1988 Summer Olympic Games The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in Seoul, South Korea, in both the 100 and 200 m backstroke, finishing fourth in each. His time in the

100 m backstroke 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

was 55.37. His time in the 200 m backstroke was 2:00.52. He competed in the preliminaries of the 4 × 100 m medley relay only but earned a bronze medal when the Soviet team finished behind the United States and Canadian teams in the final.

References

Uzbekistani male backstroke swimmers Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Living people Sportspeople from Tashkent World record setters in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade medalists in swimming 1963 births Universiade gold medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1985 Summer Universiade Soviet male backstroke swimmers {{Uzbekistan-swimming-bio-stub