Name Aleksandr Kovalyov | Role Olympic athlete | |
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kovalyov (Russian: Александр Владимирович Ковалёв, born March 2, 1975 in Belaya Kalitva, Rostov) is a Russian sprint canoeist who has competed from 1997 to 2005.
Having just missed out on a medal at the Sydney Olympics, he and partner Aleksandr Kostoglod won two medals at Athens in 2004 with a silver in the C-2 1000 m and bronze C-2 500 m events.
Kovalev also won six medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with three golds (C-2 1000 m: 1998, 1999; C-4 200 m: 2005), one silver (C-2 1000 m: 2003), and two bronzes (C-2 500 m: 1999, C-4 200 m: 2001).
A member of the Russian national team since 1997, he is small for a world-class canoeist at 170 centimetres (5.6 ft) tall and 70 kilograms (150 lb) but makes up for this with excellent technique.