2000-2004 Competitions
Bondarenko won a silver in the all-around in the 2000 American Cup and the 2000 World Stars in Moscow. He was seventh in the all-around in the 2001 Brisbane Goodwill Games, and won a bronze medal on floor exercise, and was a finalist on pommel horse, still rings, vault and parallel bars. During the World Championships in 2001, however, Bondarenko was 18th in the all-around and did not medal in the other event finals where he qualified, on floor exercise and on the vault. Bondarenko won the all-around in the 2004 Russian Cup in Moscow leading into the Olympics.
Bondarenko entered the 2004 Olympics with a fledgling Russian men's team that did not have the depth of the 1996 gold-medal-winning team. However, Bondarenko was one of the anchors of the team together with Alexei Nemov. The Russian men's team ranked sixth on the team competition and Bondarenko qualified for the vault finals.
Read more about this topic: Alexei Bondarenko