Former Olympian Sergey Makarov Aleksandrovich named India’s javelin coach

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI), on Monday, January 27, named double Olympic medalist Sergey Makarov Aleksandrovich as the head coach of the Indian javelin team. The Russian is set to work with prominent javelin throwers, including the likes of Neeraj Chopra, Shivpal Singh, and Annu Rani among others.

After parting ways with Klaus Bartonietz, Neeraj honed his skills with Jan Zelezny in November 2024 during a camp in Potchefstroom, South Africa. Radhakrishnan Nair, India’s chief athletics coach, welcomed him with open arms and talked about having someone as experienced as him in the setup and has reached Punjab.

"Aleksandrovich’s vast experience as an athlete and coach will surely give fillip to development of javelin throw in the country,” Nair said a statement released by the AFI.

---

Who is Sergey Makarov Aleksandrovich? All you need to know about his career

Aleksandrovich won the bronze medal in the Sydney Olympics. Czech Republic’s Zelezny and Great Britain’s Steve Backley bagged the gold and silver medals respectively. In Athens 2024, Aleksandrovich again bagged bronze with Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen and Latvia’s Vadims Vasilevskis winning the gold and silver medals respectively.

In 2003, Aleksandrovich won the gold medal at the World Championships in Paris. The 51-year-old finished on top with a best attempt of 85.44 meters above Estonia’s Andrus Vamik (85.17 meters) and Germany’s Boris Henry (84.74 meters).

Aleksandrovich also clinched silver in the 2022 European Championships in Munich where he had a best throw of 88.05 metres. Only Great Britain’s Backley was ahead of him with a best attempt of 88.54 meters.

Aleksandrovich has breached the 90-metre mark four times in his career and also worked as the head coach of the Russian team from 2012 to 2018. Aleksandrovich hails from a family of athletes as his father Aleksandr Makarov Fyodorovich won the silver medal in the 1980 Summer Olympics.