Dmitriy Tarabin

Dmitriy Sergeyevich Tarabin (; born 29 October 1991) is a Russian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His personal best for the event is . He was the winner of the javelin at Summer Universiade and the Russian Championships in 2013. Tarabin previously competed for Moldova and remains the country's national record holder.

He took part in javelin competitions from a relatively early age and progressed through the age categories, taking bronze medals at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics and the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships. He represented Russia at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, coming tenth, but missed the 2012 Summer Olympics as he was affected by an injury. He is married to Mariya Abakumova, who is also a javelin thrower for Russia.

Early life Born in Berlin, Germany, Tarabin's physical education was stressed from a young age by his father, who was a Moldovan military officer. Around 1997 his family moved back to Transnistria in Moldova. He took part in a variety of sports while at school, including boxing and tennis. It was baseball that he first got heavily involved in – his ability to throw the ball far (albeit inaccurately) led to his inclusion in the national squad for the European Youth Baseball Championship. This talent translated well to javelin throwing and he began training in the sport with his local athletics club.

Tarabin's first international appearance in the javelin came at the 2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics, where he competed in the qualifying round. He placed eleventh in the javelin at the 2007 European Cup and improved to 67.39 metres the following year 2008 European Cup, taking fourth in the Second League. He threw a best of 69.63 m to win in the Third League of the 2009 European Team Championships and also competed in the qualifiers of the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships. After graduating from high school he began attending the Moscow sports college, training under Mikhail Mikheyev. The improved training conditions and financial support led him to transfer to compete for Russia internationally from June 2010 onwards (he already held dual-citizenship). His participation in Daegu also marked the development of his relationship with Mariya Abakumova, another Russian javelin specialist who won the gold medal in her event with a championship record. He gained further Diamond League points with a third-place finish at the British Grand Prix in Birmingham and a runner-up finish at the Herculis meeting. He and his wife won the javelin gold medals at the Summer Universiade held in Kazan. The Russian championships was held at the Luzhniki Stadium as a test event for the 2013 World Championships in Athletics to be held there the month after. Tarabin responded to the occasion by winning his first national title with a throw of 88.84 m – the best throw by any athlete in the world in almost two years.

Seasonal bests by year 2009 – 69.63 2010 – 77.65 2011 – 85.10 2012 – 82.75 2013 – 88.84 2014 – 85.92 2015 – 84.70