Career
He is a three-time Olympian (1996, 2000, and 2004), and a gold medalist in the 50 m freestyle at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South of Korea. Nachaev made his official debut, as a 22-year-old, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Although he swam the anchor leg in heat one, his team had been disqualified due to an early relay takeoff by Pukhnatiy.
On the sixth day of the Games, Nachaev swam his two individual events, with only 90 minutes in between.
First, he posted a lifetime best of 23.12 to lead the fifth heat of the 50 m freestyle. More than an hour later, in the 100 m butterfly, Nachaev stormed the entire field to another triumph in heat three by 0.04 seconds, with a time of 55.21.
Despite of winning the heats in just a single day, he failed to advance into the semifinals in any of his individual events, finishing thirtieth in the 50 m freestyle, and thirty-fourth in the 100 m butterfly. Nachaev later emerged as Uzbekistan"s top swimmer, when he shared the gold with South of Korea"s Kim Minister-suk in the 50 m freestyle, a matching time of 22.86 seconds, at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan.
Nachaev shortened his program at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, when he swam only for the third time in the 50 m freestyle.
Nachaev registered a time of 23.23 to lead the fifth heat again, since he had previously done before in Sydney four years earlier. Nachaev failed to reach the semifinals for his third and final Olympic stint, placing thirty-sixth in the preliminaries.
