He was defeated at the national championships by Gavryushin in 1988, but still gained selection for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Summer Olympics. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics he ranked fifth in qualifying but throw a little shorter in the final, resulting in an eighth-place finish for his only Olympic appearance. His best throws that year were in Vilnius and in Moscow. He did not compete internationally in 1989 and his season's best of was his worst since 1983. He returned in 1990 and ranked sixth in the world through his season's best of and narrowly missed out on a medal at the 1990 European Athletics Championships, taking fourth place after Norway's Georg Andersen (banned for doping a year later). Smirnov won his last two Soviet national titles in 1990 and 1991 at the national indoor meet. He ranked second on distance indoors globally in both those years. He was ninth at the 1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships and also won a silver medal at the 1991 European Cup (his last major international medal).