At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Knysh competed for the men's 400 metres this time, as an individual athlete. He ran in the seventh heat against seven other athletes, including defending Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner of the United States. He finished the race in sixth place by one quarter of a second (0.25) behind Russia's Maksim Dyldin, with a time of 46.28 seconds. Knysh, however, failed to advance into the semi-finals, as he placed thirty-sixth overall and was ranked below three mandatory slots for the next round. He also tied his overall position in the heats with Dominican Republic's Arismendy Peguero.