Andrus Värnik

Who is Andrus Värnik?

Andrus Värnik is an Estonian javelin thrower. His personal best set in 2003, 87.83 metres, is also the Estonian record.

Värnik won his first international medal, a silver medal, in the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, throwing 85.17 m. The next year he finished 6th in the javelin contest at the Olympic Games with the result 83.25 m.

With 87.17 m he won a surprise gold medal at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics ahead of Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen, defending World Champion Sergey Makarov and home favorite Tero Pitkämäki.

In 2007, Värnik participated as a celebrity contestant on the second season of Tantsud tähtedega, an Estonian version of Dancing with the Stars. His professional dancing parner was Kaisa Oja.

On 16 January 2010 Värnik was caught drunk driving in Tallinn. He was banned from driving for 4 months and fined 12,000 kroons.