Name Aleksandr Kharlov | Role Olympic athlete | |
Born March 18, 1958 (age 66) ( 1958-03-18 ) Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union | ||
Aleksandr Kharlov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ха́рлов; born March 18, 1958) is a retired hurdler from the Soviet Union, best known for winning the bronze medal at the inaugural 1983 World Championships in the men's 400 m hurdles.
Kharlov competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics, where he was eliminated in the semifinals of the men's 400 m hurdles. He set his personal best (48.78 seconds) on June 20, 1983 at the Soviet Spartakiad, winning his only Soviet championship title; as of 2015, this time remains the Uzbekistani national record. Later that summer, he won gold at the Universiade in Edmonton, running 49.41 and defeating Senegal's Amadou Dia Ba by half a second. At the inaugural World Championships in Helsinki in August 1983 Kharlov won the bronze medal in 49.03; running in lane one, Kharlov was among the tail-enders for much of the race but finished fast, edging out Sweden's Sven Nylander (who also started slow) by 0.03 seconds.