Andrey Lavrov



Andrey Ivanovich Lavrov (Андрей Иванович Лавров; born March 26, 1962, in Krasnodar) is a Russian former handball goalkeeper and a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

Lavrov is also one of only a few athletes to have won Olympic gold medals for three different team, clinching gold for the Soviet Union in 1988, the Unified Team in 1992, and for Russia in 2000. Four years later, at the age of 42, he won his fourth Olympic medal, another unique feat for a handball player, when his Russian team earned third place and the bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Lavrov was a long-time captain for the Russian handball team, and served as the flagbearer for the Russian athletes at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Summer Olympics.

Lavrov has also won two World Championships for Russia, in 1993 and in 1997, as well as the European Championship in 1996.

In 2001, Andrey Lavrov was voted "Russian handball player of the century" in his home country.