Anatoliy Pavlovych Bondarchuk (Ukrainian, born 31 May 1940) is a retired Soviet hammer thrower, who is regarded as the most accomplished hammer throw coach of all time. He is also a noted as the author of the two-volume book Transfer of Training in Sports, which was translated from Russian to English by Michael Yessis. In total, Dr. Bondarchuk and his research into technique and high performance training methods has written 11 books and 195 articles mainly focused in training to maintain performance and technique.
As an athlete, Bondarchuk accumulated numerous international awards and honors throughout a long career. Beginning the hammer throw at a late age of 24, he won his first international title at the 1969 European Championships. Near the end of the season, Bondarchuk set two world records in the event.
Bondarchuk remained among the world’s elite for several years and won the gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics while setting an Olympic Record of 75.50 meters. Four years later, he earned the bronze medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
For his Olympic achievements Bondarchuk was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour in 1972 and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1976.
Despite his athletic success, Bondarchuk is better known as a coach. He began coaching while competing himself, and has since worked with medal-winning athletes at five Olympic Games. His most famous trainee is two-time Olympic champion and current hammer world record holder Yuri Sedykh. His athletes have broken 12 times world records, while winning all Olympic medalls in hammer throw in 4 consecutive non – boycotted Olympic Games.
Bondarchuk is currently living and coaching in British Columbia, Canada.