Background
In a late 2006 interview, Andrey said he was the younger son of working-class parents and that he got into athletics as a boy, inspired by the triple-jumping exploits of an older brother.
In a late 2006 interview, Andrey said he was the younger son of working-class parents and that he got into athletics as a boy, inspired by the triple-jumping exploits of an older brother.
Born in Shakhty, Rostov Oblast, he is 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) and weighs 83 kg (183 lbs). He quickly realized that his height was an advantage in the high jump. After winning the Russian Under-23 Indoor title in Moscow in 2005 – with a jump of 2.24 m – he was asked to join an elite-level group of Russian jumpers training under coach Yevgeniy Zagorulko.
A week after the European Championships Silnov jumped 2.37 metres in Monaco.
This was the world leading jump in 2006 by a comfortable margin. His performance in Beijing was astonishing, as he was the only competitor to clear every height on his first attempt and was the only jumper to succeed at 2.36.
He then by-passed the Olympic Record of 2.39 and had the bar raised to an astonishing 2.42, where he missed all three attempts. Silnov"s 2009 season was blighted by injury and he was ruled out of competition with an Achilles injury for nearly 12 months.
He returned to competition in early 2010.
Silnov"s first major outdoor competition of 2011 was at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday 4 June. This Diamond League invitational brought together an elite field of 8 of the world"s best jumpers. Silnov opened at 2.16 (as did every jumper except Spank) and he cleared every height on his first jump, until missing once at 2.32.
In 2014 Silnov was elected a member of Legislative Assembly of Rostov Region.