Yuriy Bakarinov

Bakarinov was born in Moscow on 8 May 1938.[1] During the early 1960s he was one of many top Soviet hammer throwers, together with Vasily Rudenkov, Romuald Klim, Yuriy Nikulin, Gennadiy Kondrashov, Anatoliy Samotsvetov and Aleksey Baltovskiy; he was ranked in the world's top 10 for five consecutive years from 1960 to 1964, but faced strong competition for spots on the national team.[2][3] In 1962 he threw 66.57 m at the European Championships in Belgrade, winning bronze behind Hungary's Gyula Zsivótzky (who set a new European record of 69.64 m) and Baltovskiy.[4]^: 394 Bakarinov's best throw that year, 68.90 m, ranked him third on the world year list and first in the Soviet Union.[5]

Bakarinov won the Soviet championship once, in an upset in 1964; the favorites, Kondrashov and Klim, surprisingly only placed fifth and sixth. Bakarinov's winning throw, 69.55 m, was a new Soviet record and secured him a place on the Soviet team for the Olympics in Tokyo;[2][6][7] his national record was, however, short-lived, as Klim broke it at a secondary tryout meeting two weeks later.[2] Bakarinov placed fifth in the Olympic final, with a best throw of 66.72 m; Klim won with 69.74 m, breaking the Soviet record again.[1] Bakarinov's results dropped slightly after 1964, though he remained in the world's top 20 on season bests for three more years;[8] in 1965 he won bronze behind Zsivótzky and Kondrashov at the Universiade in Budapest.[9]

Bakarinov was short for a thrower, only 169 cm (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in) tall, but had good speed and technique.[10] After his throwing career he remained active in the sport as a coach, and served as the national team's throwing events coach for both the Soviet Union and Russia; he was replaced with Aleksey Malyukov in 2007 after disappointing performances from Russian throwers at the World Championships in Osaka and other major meets.[11] Throwers personally coached by Bakarinov include Aleksey Zagorniy and Igor Astapkovich.[12][13]