Pankov made his Olympic debut, as a 15-year-old, in Athens 2004, where he competed in the men's 200 m butterfly.

Swimming in heat one as a newcomer to the international scene, Pankov posted his own personal best of 2:13.06 to round out the field of 39 swimmers to last place in the prelims.

[2][3] At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Pankov qualified for his second Uzbek team in the 200 m backstroke.

He cleared a FINA B-cut of 2:03.79 (200 m backstroke) from the Kazakhstan Open Championships in Almaty.

[4] Pankov rounded out the first heat to last place, almost two seconds behind Oleg Rabota of Kazakhstan and Brett Fraser of the Cayman Islands, recording his lifetime best at 2:03.51.