Career
Born in his native Kazakhstan, Makarov also holds a dual citizenship to compete internationally for Ukraine in shooting. Makarov"s Olympic debut came at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he wound up a twelfth spot in the 10 m air pistol with 579 points, and then shared a twentieth-place tie with four other shooters, all hailed from Eastern Europe, in the free pistol, shooting a dismal prelim score of 557. After missing out his 2000 Olympic bid, Makarov returned from an eight-year absence to qualify for his second Ukrainian team, as a 39-year-old, in pistol shooting at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
A year before the Games, he set a minimum qualifying score of 557 and then picked up a silver medal in free pistol with a total of 650.9 to grab one of the available Olympic slots for his nation at the initial meet of the ISSF World Cup series in Fort Benning, Georgia, United States.
In the men"s 10 m air pistol, held on the first day of the Games, Makarov shot a score of 578 to finish in a three-way tie for seventeenth place with Portugal"s João Costa and Italy"s Francesco Bruno. Three days later, Makarov improved from his disappointing feat in the air pistol to fire 557 points for a remarkable tenth-place finish in the men"s 50 m pistol, but his shots were not highly enough to put him through the final round, missing out by a two-point shortfall.
