Andrei Mikhnevich

Who is Andrei Mikhnevich?

Andrei Anatolyevich Mikhnevich is a Belarusian shot putter with a personal best of 22.00 metres, set in 2008. He holds the Belarusian record indoors with a throw of 21.81 m at the national indoor championships.

He started competed at global championships in 1999 and attended the 2000 Summer Olympics, but he was banned for a doping offence in 2001. He returned after a two year suspension and promptly became the shot put world champion at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. He took part in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2005 World Championships but failed to reach the global podium over this period.

He had a resurgence of form in 2006, taking silver at the IAAF World Indoor Championships as well as silver at the 2006 European Athletics Championships. He won the bronze at the 2007 World Championships and took his first Olympic honour, another bronze medal, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He won indoor world silver for a second time at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the gold medal at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona.

He was given a lifetime ban for doping by the Belarus Athletics Federation in 2013, retroactive to 2005.