Alexander Ivanovich Tikhonov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ти́хонов) (born January 2, 1947 in the village of Uyskoye, Kolkhozny District, Chelyabinsk Oblast) is a retired Russianbiathlete who represented the USSR. Tikhonov trained at Dynamo in Novosibirsk. He is one of the most winning biathletes of all time, with nine world championship gold medals and four Olympic gold medals. He misses an individual Olympic gold medal in his cupboard, but was taking part to take relay gold medals in 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980.
In 2000, he was accused of participating in planning a murder of Kemerovo Oblast governor Aman Tuleyev. According to the prosecution, a businessman named Mikhail Zhivilo and his company MIKOM had a business conflict with Tuleyev, and Zhivilo decided to organize Tuleyev's murder as revenge. Zhivilo knew Tikhonov and, allegedly, asked him for help. Tikhonov got him in touch with his younger brother, Viktor Tikhonov, who found two potential killers—Vladimir Kharchenko and Sergey Nikanorov. Kharchenko and Nikanorov went to FSB and told them about the murder plans. Viktor Tikhonov was convicted in 2002 to four years of imprisonment. Since Alexander Tikhonov lived in Austria for several years, he was indicted separately from the other accused. On July 23, 2007, he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment. However, he was amnestied immediately and will not spend any time in prison. [1]
