Ilya Zakharov

Ilya Leonidovich Zakharov is a Russian diver and politician born on 2 May 1991 who won the 3 metre springboard at the 2012 London Olympics, defeating the Chinese divers Qin Kai and He Chong. He also took silver in the 3 metre synchro at those Games with Evgeny Kuznetsov and was named FINA Male Diver of the Year for 2012. Earlier he had won junior European titles in 2008, and he took silver medals at the 2011 World Championships in both the individual and synchro springboard, followed by European gold in 2013 and a world synchro title in 2017 with Kuznetsov. In 2022 he was elected to the Saratov Oblast Duma for the New People party.