Dilshod Jamoliddinovich Nazarov ( tg, Dilşod Çamoliddinovic Nazarov, fa, دلشاد نظروف‌; russian: Дильшод Джамолиддинович Назаров, ''Dilshod Dzhamoliddinovich Nazarov'') (born 6 May 1982) is a Tajik

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who specializes in the

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 throw, javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that na ...

. He has represented his country at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

on four occasions (in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016), winning the gold medal in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, the first gold medal for

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

in the history of the

. He has competed seven times at the World Championships in Athletics (2005 to 2017), but has been most successful at regional competitions: he won medals at four consecutive Asian Athletics Championships and was the hammer champion at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

. He won his first global medal (a silver) in 2010 at the

IAAF Continental Cup The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The event was proposed by IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo and was first held in 1977 as ...

. His personal best for the event is 80.71 metres, set in 2013.

Career

Early career

Born in

Dushanbe Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (ru ...

Dilshod Nazarov
. London2012. Retrieved on 2013-06-01. the capital of Tajikistan, his first noteworthy international result was a

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 receiv ...

at the 1997 West Asian Games. He made his debut on the global stage at the

1998 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 1998 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 1998 edition of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Annecy, France from July 28 to August 2. Results Men 1 Ahmed Baday of Morocco originally won the bronze medal ...

, but he did not reach the final. His first continental gold medal came at the 1999 Asian Junior Athletics Championships. He took fifth place at the 2000 World Junior Championships, an event won by 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Eşref Apak, and repeated as the continental junior champion at the

2001 Asian Junior Athletics Championships The 2001 Asian Junior Athletics Championships was the ninth edition of the international athletics competition for Asian under-20 athletes, organised by the Asian Athletics Association. It took place from 19–22 July in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brune ...

. Nazarov then finished fourth at the 2002 Asian Championships in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

, and won a bronze medal the next year in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

in a contest won by Ali Mohamed Al-Zinkawi of Kuwait. He took part in the inaugural

Afro-Asian Games The Afro-Asian Games were the series of inter-continental multi-sport competitions, held between athletes from Asia and Africa. These Games are one-of-a-kind, since no other sporting competition brings athletes from these two continents together ...

and managed to win the silver medal behind South African thrower Chris Harmse. Another medal came at the 2003 Central Asian Games in Dushanbe, where he took the hammer gold for the hosts.

Olympic debut and Asian medals

Participating in the

2004 Summer 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), ...

, he got no mark in the qualifying round and thus failed to make it through to the second round. He started the next year with an appearance at the

2005 Islamic Solidarity Games The 1st Islamic Solidarity Games held in the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia from 8–20 April 2005 with an Olympic-style tournament aimed at showing Muslim sports prowess and featuring 6,000 athletes. Only men's events were included on ...

, where he took his country's sole gold medal of the tournament. In June 2005 he threw a new personal best of 77.63 metres in

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of ...

. At the 2005 World Championships he was again knocked out in the qualifying round, but at the 2005 Asian Championships in

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

Nazarov won a

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, et ...

, again behind Al-Zinkawi. At the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

Nazarov finally won a gold medal, overcoming Ali Mohamed Al-Zinkawi who had held the lead until the fifth and penultimate round. Al-Zinkawi was the pre-event favourite, having a season (and career) best of 76.97 metres while Nazarov only had a season best of 70.03 metres from

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

in June. The absence of 2004 Olympic champion

Koji Murofushi is a former Japanese-Romanian hammer thrower and sports scientist. He has been among the world elite since the 2001 World Championships, where he won the silver medal. He was the 2004 Olympic champion. In 2011, he was crowned world champion. ...

was noted; nonetheless, Nazarov's gold medal was celebrated as the first gold medal of Tajikistan at the

in any sport. In addition it was their first Asian Games medal of any kind in athletics. Another famous hammer thrower, Andrey Abduvaliyev, did compete for Tajikistan from 1991 to 1997, winning gold medals 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 1993 and 1995. When he won his first and only Asian Games medal, a silver at the 1998 edition, he did so as an

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

i citizen. Commenting on the victory, Nazarov stated that "This is a big victory for my country". The next year Nazarov participated in his second

, but did not make it to the final round. At the 2007 Asian Championships, he won the silver medal, again behind Al-Zinkawi, this time by only one centimetre. He also improved his personal best throw to 78.89 metres, in June in Dushanbe. In 2008 he improved further, to 79.05 at a June meet in Almaty. At the 2008 Olympic Games he finished eleventh in the final. He set a new national hammer throw record of 79.28 m in

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest municipality in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the fou ...

, Brazil. The record, set in May 2009, was enough to bring him victory over Olympic champion

Primož Kozmus Primož Kozmus (born 30 September 1979 in Novo Mesto) is a Slovenian hammer thrower. His gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2009 World Championships in Berlin made him the first ever Slovenian athlete to win both titles. ...

. He finished eleventh again at the global level 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 ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. He improved to fifth place at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final however. He won his first continental title at the end of the year, finally beating Al-Zinkawi at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships after a series of second-place finishes. The following year, he improved his hammer best to 80.11 m at the Tajikistan national championships in June. Representing Asia-Pacific, he came second at the

2010 IAAF Continental Cup The 1st IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally scheduled as the 11th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, it was renamed in 200 ...

, finishing just behind newly crowned European Champion Libor Charfreitag. He was also runner-up in the inaugural

IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge The IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge was an annual hammer throw series, organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from 2010 until the end of 2019 season. The series of hammer throw competitions for men and women were pri ...

series having a combined score of 236.02 to finish behind Koji Murofushi. He repeated that placing for the second IAAF Hammer Challenge in 2011, this time finishing behind Hungary's

Krisztián Pars Krisztián Pars (; born 18 February 1982) is a Hungarian hammer thrower. He competed at the Summer Olympics in 2004, 2008, and 2012, winning the gold medal in 2012. He also won the 2012 and 2014 European championships. Career His personal be ...

. Nazarov placed tenth in the final at 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 ...

and ended the year with his first throw over eighty metres, recording 80.30 m to win at the Hanzekovic Memorial. Nazarov performed less well in the 2012 season and his best throw that year was 77.70 m. He still managed to place tenth at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, but he was down in fifth on the IAAF Challenge circuit. He rebounded at the start of 2013 by setting a personal best of 80.71 m to win at the Hallesche Werfertage meet. On 18 March 2021, Nazarov was banned for two years by the AIU after testing positive for the banned steroid

turinabol Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone (CDMT; brand name Oral Turinabol), also known as 4-chloro-17β-hydroxy17α-methylandrosta-1,4-dien-3-one, is an anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS). It is the 4-chloro-substituted derivative of metandienone (dehyd ...

during re-analysis of samples taken from the 2011 World Championships. All of Nazarov's results from 29 August 2011 to 29 August 2013 were disqualified.

International competitions

Personal life

He currently resides in

. He is also the president of the Athletics Federation of the Republic of Tajikistan. His father Jamoliddin Nazarov was a soldier in the

Tajik National Army tg, Қувваҳои Мусаллаҳи Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, italics=off , image=File:Tajik Armed Forces Shoulder Patch.jpg , image_size= , image2 = , alt2 = Roundel , caption=The shoulder patch o ...

who died in Tavildar during the

Tajikistani Civil War The Tajikistani Civil War ( tg, Ҷанги шаҳрвандии Тоҷикистон, translit=Jangi shahrvandiyi Tojikiston / Çangi shahrvandiji Toçikiston; russian: Гражданская война в Таджикистане), also known ...

. Dilshod's mother is a physical education teacher and coach.

State awards

Order of Glory Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

, 2nd class (2015) * Order of Glory, 2nd class (2016) * Medal "For strengthening the military commonwealth" (2016)

References

External links