Dmitri's Story
Dmitri Markov was born in Vitebsk, Belarus, living there until he was 22. In April 1997 he arrived in Australia along with his wife Valentina, Viktor Christiakov, Tatiana Grigorieva and their coach Alex Parnov. Markov stood down from competing in the 1997 World Championships in order to gain Australian citizenship which he was granted in May 1999. In 2000, Markov made his Olympic debut, competing in pole vault at the Sydney Games, finishing just outside the medals in fifth position. A year later, he became Australian third athletics world championship gold medallist winning the pole vault event in Edmonton 2001 despite injuring his foot in the qualifying round. Markov made his second Olympic appearance in 2004 at the Athens games, finishing 23rd with a jump of 5.50m.
