Born on June 11, 1983 in Tchaikovsky (Perm region).
She has competed in the World Cup since 2005, winning in 2007
individual race in Pokljuka.
World champion in individual race (2008).
In 2009 - 2010, she served a doping ban.
In 2014, she announced her retirement and received a
further disqualification for doping.
- What are your impressions of the next season, which ended in Tyumen with the World Cup final?
I liked the performance of the French, Italians, and Austrians. I expected more from the Germans and Norwegians, with the exception of . We also wanted to expect results from our Russian team, but initially we understood that there were absolutely no prerequisites for this. I can't even rate their performance. They performed as they were ready.
- Why didn’t you see the prerequisites for better results from Russians? After all, a year, two, or three ago, our athletes performed much better than they do now?
- I will take the liberty of saying that there was no single team - neither male nor female. There were only scattered athletes who tried to somehow prepare themselves. When you don’t feel part of the team, don’t feel support from the coaches, then the energy in training is not at all the same.
- You've probably read statements about the atmosphere in the team?
Certainly. I understand perfectly what she meant. Even without taking into account the material and technical base or training plan, the first thing a team should have is the right emotional climate. Figuratively speaking, if I know that everything is fine in my family, I work completely differently. And if there is no understanding and support, you get the feeling that you are alone. And it’s extremely difficult to go alone and compete with the best biathletes in the world.
- You are very familiar with both coaches of the women’s team - and. Why were they so indifferent to their athletes?
- I have been preparing personally with Korolkevich since 2009. Then I purposefully looked for a coach who would profess a completely different approach to training than in Russia. At that time, Vladimir Borisovich was aware of absolutely all trends. To the point where you could ask him which store is best to buy training socks from a particular company. I can’t say much about Konovalov; I know him only as an athlete and fellow countryman. In terms of the vision of shooting training, I do not completely agree with him; a different approach is closer to me. I have always been a risk-taker when it comes to shooting, Seryozha is more restrained.
- Korolkevich did not become a senior coach because of his doping history and ended up playing the role of a consultant. Although there is reason to think that in fact, he was mainly in charge of the process, and Konovalov did not have clear powers. Don’t you think that this is what ultimately led to the embodiment of the saying “seven nannies have a child without an eye”?
- I absolutely agree with you. Tugging at the blanket and unclear distribution of responsibilities has never led anyone to anything good.
WAITING IS THE FATE OF LOSERS
- Who is your candidate for the position of president of the Russian Biathlon Union: , or someone else?
- Someone third. I find it difficult to name a specific name, but this person must have a cool head, a sensitive heart and the ability not to be fooled by provocations. First of all, it is necessary to define and create a clear vertical: a junior team, an adult team, perhaps an experimental one. Then at least it will be clear who is responsible for what.
- This person should be a famous athlete or a businessman like?
- Complex issue. An athlete is, after all, a person who has worked under someone else’s guidance for a significant part of his life. Accordingly, he has no experience in making decisions and organizing the work of a large team. I’m not saying that he must be a businessman, but the future president of the federation must definitely have entrepreneurial skills.
- The German coach also said that there are no biathlon talents in Russia, and we need to wait for the next generation to come. Do you disagree with him?
- In general, waiting is the fate of losers. Just like saying that unique talents are needed to achieve results. You either work with the people who are on the team at the moment, or don’t bother. I believe that in absolutely any generation there are always one, two or three people who are capable of a lot. Another thing is that often coaches cannot see them or some circumstances interfere.
- There is an opinion that some of our athletes in childhood and junior age were hooked on doping, then were forced to give it up, but can no longer show “clean” results that they achieved while taking prohibited drugs. What do you think of it?
- I don’t have reliable information, so it’s difficult to talk about this topic. I can only say that the system of rewarding a coach based on the specific result of his personal student is vicious. She forces the mentor to squeeze every juice out of the athlete, without thinking about the future. That’s why people often join the national team who are no longer able to handle the workload or improve. The point is not even in prohibited pharmaceuticals, but in the fact that people approach their most productive age - 24-25 years old - physically and mentally exhausted.
- Your former friend on the Russian national team is now at a crossroads - should she stay in biathlon for another season or two, or is it better to end her career? What would you tell her?
- If we are talking about just “lingering”, of course, it’s not worth it. But if Katya really feels the strength and desire to run further, it’s better to realize them. Even if something doesn’t suit her in the future team, she can always go to self-preparation.
KUZMINA DID THE RIGHT THING TO LEAVE
- From our interview, one gets the feeling that there is complete hopelessness in Russian biathlon. Do you not admit that next year the president of the federation will change, other coaches will come, and we will already be talking about triumph, and not about disaster?
- To be honest, I don’t see any prerequisites for triumph next season. One or two athletes may jump out, because after all, a lot of work has been done for the Olympics. But for the whole team to run... It must come from a coach of some cosmic level. I don't see such a person yet.
- You started your career at the World Cup together with the future three-time Olympic champion as part of the Slovakian national team. Do you think it was a mistake that she was released from the Russian team at one time? Could she achieve the same results as part of our team?
- Nastya would definitely achieve high results no matter who she competes for. She definitely has talent and motivation. Another thing is that I’m not sure that if she had remained in the Russian team, she would have been able to perform at the level for so many years. After all, we have quite high competition, and she would have to win her place on the team every time. As for her departure to Slovakia, in my opinion, she did the right thing regarding the situation that had developed at that time. And we see the result.
- You ended your career due to disqualification four years ago. What are you doing now?
For three years now I have been actively involved in the development of a women's clothing brand. We started out very difficult, there were all these cataclysms with the dollar exchange rate, a downed plane... At times it was so damn hard. But I’m the kind of person that if I do something, I throw myself into it. Now we have reached a level where we have our own circle of clients and sufficient fame. The main thing is that our customers like things. Now I’m thinking about implementing the next project related to travel and active recreation.
- What conclusions did you draw from your repeated doping disqualification, which actually turned out to be lifelong?
- This became one of the most important life lessons for me. Never work with people who lie to you.
The fan favorite and smiling girl became a participant in two of the most notorious doping scandals in the history of biathlon and ingloriously ended her career without ever competing at the Olympic Games.
As a stepdaughter
About fate Ekaterina Yurieva you could shoot a series, and you wouldn’t even have to invent much. In the early 2000s, under the guidance of the famous coach Innokenty Karintsev, two young athletes trained at Tchaikovsky Natalya Burdyga and. The first one was considered more promising by the mentor himself, because it stood out for its speed. A natural sniper, Yuryeva was inimitable at the turn even then, but she had serious problems with movement on the track. That’s why she can only boast of relay medals in juniors.
However, she got her chance immediately after the Olympics in Turin, when the heroines of the victorious relay went on maternity leave in a friendly formation, and their places went to untested debutantes. Katya quickly found a common language with the then national team coach Valery Polkhovsky and was able to contrast psychological stability and discipline with her unstable rival friends. The only problem remained was speed, which did not allow Yuryeva to compete for prizes. During the mass start at the World Championships in Antholz, she entered the finishing lap third and finished only fifth.
First appearance of the good fairy
I watched Yuryeva’s first podium race live at the stadium in Lahti and, together with hundreds of Russian fans, was shocked by the transformation of the young biathlete. Yurieva was not only accurate on the lines, but also showed incredible speed. Soon there followed a continuation of the “banquet” in Holmenkollen, where Ekaterina made it onto the podium twice already. What contributed to her such a sudden transformation, no one could have guessed then, but in the new season Katya was already one of the leaders of the Russian national team and a popular favorite.
She was a completely atypical Russian biathlete. Smiles for the camera, sincere communication with fans and revelations with journalists - Yuryeva was immediately surrounded by a sea of adoration. She felt comfortable in it, like a dolphin, and swam on the crest of a wave to new successes. Catherine’s finest hour was the World Championships in Östersund. In a strong wind, she showed a master class in shooting and deservedly won the individual race, and then almost became the heroine of the relay. For those who don’t remember, the Russian team was forced to make up almost two minutes of the gap due to a broken rifle Albina Akhatova, and only in the last meters of the distance in the fight for bronze Katya lost to the Frenchwoman Sandrine Bailly.
When the carriage turned into a pumpkin
The wonderful transformation continued in the new season. Young Russian women Yuryeva and Svetlana Sleptsova To the envy of the German women, they waged a desperate struggle for possession of the yellow jersey of the leader. Ekaterina made a decisive breakthrough before the World Championships and came to Korea as a world leader. But this was the end of the magic, and, as in the famous fairy tale, at midnight the carriage turned into a pumpkin, and three Russian biathletes - Yuryeva, Dmitry Yaroshenko and Albina Akhatova- charges of doping were brought.
The outrage of the biathlon community knew no bounds. Wolfgang Pichler began collecting signatures for the removal of the entire Russian team, the opponents did not hide their indignation, and Michael Roesch, who recently flirted with Yuryeva, even went so far as to insult her. However, despite the decision of the Supreme Sports Arbitration Court on disqualification, there are still coaches in the Russian biathlon community who consider what happened to be a conspiracy and part of big politics. What can we say about the fans? They did not turn away from Yuryeva, but counted the days until her return to the ski track, like a soldier until demobilization, and they waited.
Second appearance of the good fairy
In December 2010, Yuryeva and Yaroshenko’s first return to the big track took place at the Izhevsk Rifle. Both took second place in the individual race, but while Yaroshenko showed good speed and, albeit briefly, qualified for the team, Katya lost to her namesake Yurlova for more than two minutes on the track. In comparison with world leaders, this gap could easily be multiplied by two. Hopes for a quick increase in condition were not justified in the next season. Speed and endurance in the last lap again became a problem for our sniper, not allowing Yurieva to rise above the IBU Cup.
But then 2013 came, and again, like six years ago, the biathlete experienced a sudden transformation. In the second league, where until recently she looked like an average player at best, Katya again became one of the fastest and scored four victories in a row in Otepää and Ostrov. However, the return to the World Cup did not turn out to be so enchanting. At the altitude, Katya hit the peak of acclimatization and ended up 92nd, but she remained in the national team for the next Olympic season.
Instead of an epilogue
After fourth place in Östersund, Yuryeva looked like a strong candidate for the national team and ended December as one of the team’s leaders. However, even then, rumors began to spread that the team was back to their old ways and several biathletes were having problems, and soon it turned out that two athletes were caught using the good old recombinant erythropoietin. One of them is the opening of the season and Olympic hope Irina Starykh, the other was Yuryeva, who by that time was no longer considered as a candidate for the national team.
The old ones are still waiting for a verdict, which, in the most favorable scenario, will allow them to return to business next season. , which she officially announced after the season. History always repeats itself twice, first as a tragedy, then as a farce. Yurieva’s sporting fate best demonstrates how slippery a slope it is to try to achieve success with the help of illegal drugs. Humanly speaking, I still feel sorry for Katya, and therefore I want to believe that life after sports will be successful for her.
Ekaterina Yuryeva was born on June 11, 1983 in the city of Tchaikovsky, Perm Territory. She made her debut in the World Cup on January 20, 2005 - in the individual race in Anterselva, Italy, showing 43 results. For the first time she entered the top 30 in a World Cup race on February 19, 2005 - in the pursuit race in Pokljuka, Slovenia, showing 18th result.
For the first time she made it to the podium in a World Cup race on March 2, 2007 - in the sprint race in Lahti, Finland, showing 3rd result. She won her first victory in a World Cup race on December 13, 2007 - in the Individual race in Pokljuka, Slovenia. At the 2008 World Championships in Ostersund, Ekaterina won a full set of awards - she became the world champion in the individual race, a silver medalist in the pursuit, and took bronze in the mass start. At the end of the 2007/2008 season, Yuryeva took 6th place in the overall World Cup standings. Winner of the 2007 Christmas Star Race together with Dmitry Yaroshenko.
Ekaterina had a very successful start to the 2008/2009 season. In only 3 races she did not “stop by” the flower ceremony. For the first time in her career, she won the sprint and mass start. Yurieva also finished on the podium four more times: twice in the pursuit, once in the sprint and the individual race. Going to the World Championships in Korea, Ekaterina Yuryeva was the leader of the KM. However, a doping test taken in December turned out to be positive.
In 2008, on December 2, at the World Cup stage, the athlete took an “A” doping test, which turned out to be positive. On February 13, 2009, the International Biathlon Union officially confirmed the positive results of doping tests taken from Ekaterina Yuryeva, Albina Akhatova and Dmitry Yaroshenko in December 2008 at the first stage of the 2008/2009 World Cup in Ostersund, Sweden. On August 11, 2009, the biathletes were found guilty of using illegal drugs and were disqualified for two years each, without the right to participate not only in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, but also in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
In response, Ekaterina Yuryeva and Albina Akhatova filed an appeal against the decision of the Anti-Doping Commission of the International Biathlon Union regarding their disqualification. But on November 13, 2009, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne rejected the appeal of two Russian biathletes. According to the published statement of the court, the sanctions of the International Biathlon Union against the athletes were recognized as lawful. In particular, CAS experts emphasized that “the presence of a prohibited drug - recombinant erythropoietin - in doping samples of female athletes can be considered a scientifically proven fact.”
Despite this, the athletes decided to continue fighting for their reputation. On their initiative, the law firm Libra Law, whose partners are Jorge Ibarollo and Claude Ramoni, lawyers of Ekaterina Yuryeva and Albina Akhatova, arranged a meeting with the media on December 10, 2009, at which it was stated that they were appealing the decision of the Arbitration Court for Sports in Lausanne filed with the Swiss Supreme Court.
In 2010, on May 11, it became known that the Swiss Federal Tribunal upheld the decision of the International Biathlon Union and the Court of Arbitration for Sport on a two-year disqualification of Russian athletes Ekaterina Yuryeva and Albina Akhatova for doping. Yuryeva's disqualification period expired in December 2010. On December 11-12, Ekaterina Yurieva began the 2010 season with a race at the second stage of the IBU Cup in Martell, Italy.
After the cancellation on October 6, 2011 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport of one of the IOC anti-doping rules, which states that athletes caught using prohibited substances and disqualified for a period of 6 months or more cannot compete at the next Winter or Summer Olympic Games, Ekaterina Yuryeva received the opportunity take part in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
In the 2012/2013 season, at the IBU Cup stages in the Estonian Otepää and the Russian Ostrov, she won 4 victories in a row. After that, she was called up to the main team for the World Cup in Anterselva. Yuryeva performed unsuccessfully in Anterselva. Taking 92nd place in the sprint with only 1 penalty, she showed one of the worst results in terms of speed, and did not get into the pursuit. Yuryeva did not participate in the 2013 World Championships.
The RBU coaching staff decided to field a reserve squad of both the women's and men's teams, which included Ekaterina Yurieva, at the next stage of the World Cup in Holmenkollen. In the Sprint race she started number 68 and was in the group of leaders until the second shooting line, but having missed the standing line twice, Yuryeva was thrown back. Ekaterina reached the finish line with 35 times. In the pursuit race, Ekaterina gained 22 positions, rising from 35th to 13th place. As a result, Yuryeva became the best of the Russians at this stage of the World Cup. Based on the results of her performances in Holmenkollen, Ekaterina Yuryeva was included in the main team for the pre-Olympic week in Sochi.
The 2013/2014 World Cup started with a stage in Ostersund, Sweden, where Yuryeva took fourth place in the individual race on November 28, 2013. The next day she finished seventh in the sprint. At the next stage in Hochfilzen, Yuryeva was not among the top 40 in either the sprint or the pursuit, and for stage 3 in Annecy, France, she was not included in the Russian team.
In January 2014, Ekaterina Yuryeva was not included in the national team for the World Cup in Anterselva. Fans associate this with the current situation in the Russian women's team of competition between two training groups and on January 16, 2014 they sent an open letter to the Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko in support of the biathlete.
Ekaterina Yuryeva is a Russian athlete who has won many national and international awards in biathlon. She competed as a member of the Russian national team from 2005 to 2008 and was included in the list of the 10 best biathletes in the world several times.
Childhood
Ekaterina Yuryeva was born on June 11, 1983 in Tchaikovsky, a small town located in the Perm region. At the age of 12, she began participating in athletics, but she quickly became bored with the sport. A few months later, the future champion transferred to the rowing section. This hobby also did not last long - Catherine abandoned it after she capsized in the boat.
But the girl did not lose heart. Through trial and error, she found a sport that suited her (skiing) and devoted 2 years of her life to it. Then she made a fateful decision - to switch to biathlon.
Carier start
Catherine's first competitions were unsuccessful - she made only three accurate shots (out of 15) and showed a terrible result. But the girl’s cheerfulness did not allow her to give up. On the contrary, the young athlete turned to an experienced coach (Innokenty Karintsev) for help and began training under his guidance.
The result was not long in coming - Ekaterina began to take prizes at summer biathlon competitions. Well, in 2004, the girl showed herself in classical biathlon - she won bronze in the pursuit race. And although Ekaterina did not manage to take gold or silver (two members of the national team received it), after the competition she was offered to move to the CSKA club, to which the athlete agreed.
The blossoming and development of an athlete
At first, Ekaterina was listed in the club’s reserve team. But already in 2005 she won the individual race at the World Universiade and received a place in the base. Well, in 2007 she managed to win bronze at one of the stages of the world cup. At the next stage of the cup, she managed to win two silver medals at once
Peak and twilight of career
Throughout 2008, the athlete was actively preparing for the World Championships. There she showed her best result, winning gold, silver and bronze awards. But that same year she was disqualified due to doping and deprived of the right to take part in competitions.
Because of this, she was excluded from the national team and was unable to compete at the Olympic Games. Nevertheless, Ekaterina made a significant contribution to the development of domestic biathlon and won the status of one of the best athletes in modern Russia.
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“The last few years have been one continuous obstacle course. Illnesses, injuries, operations, rehabilitation, recovery,” Yuryeva began her confession on her personal blog on the website Sports.ru. “And every time I continued to move towards the goal. Over the final two seasons, I began to feel confidence, which gave me strength on the path to my dream. Even the shoulder injury I received in September did not stop me, despite the fact that I understood that there was very little chance for a full recovery. But I got up and moved forward."
Ekaterina Yuryeva was born in the city of Tchaikovsky, Perm Territory, in 1983. As a 12-year-old girl, she decided to enroll in the athletics section, but this sport did not interest her at all, and Katya began rowing. But when she capsized for the first time in a boat, she decided to quit and, on the advice of friends, took up ski racing.
Yuryeva switched to biathlon in 1997, after two years of training in “smooth” skis. The athlete's first serious success came in 2004, when she became the bronze medalist of the Russian Championship in the pursuit race.
A significant event for Ekaterina on the international stage was her victory in the 15 km individual race at the Universiade, held in Innsbruck in 2005. After this, the head coach of the Russian women's team, Valery Polkhovsky, included the biathlete in the main team.
Yuryeva spent the 2005/06 season unsuccessfully, which deprived her of her chances of going to the Olympic Games in Turin. But the very next year, Ekaterina, in the absence of the main leaders of the national teams, Albina Akhatova and Svetlana Ishmuratova, who temporarily stopped their careers due to pregnancy, and Olga Pyleva, who was serving a suspension for doping, began to gain momentum, ending the season in 13th position overall World Cup standings.
Slowly but surely, the biathlete’s career took off. At the 2008 World Championships, Yuryeva became the winner of the individual race, managing to hit 20 targets out of 20. She took silver in the pursuit, and bronze in the mass start. And in December 2008, after the sprint race in Hochfilzen, Yuryeva put on the leader’s yellow jersey for the first time.
“The goal of any athlete’s sports career is to successfully represent their country at the home Games. “I’m no exception,” Ekaterina continued. “But, to my great regret, not all dreams are destined to come true.”
For this reason, I decided to end my sports career in biathlon.”
For the first time, Yuryeva lost her dream a year before the start of the Olympics in Vancouver. In February 2009, information appeared in the media that several doping tests of Russian biathletes gave positive results. Later, the IBU announced the names of those convicted of doping, which happened after the opening of the B sample. Dmitry Yaroshenko, Albina Akhatova and Ekaterina Yuryeva were blacklisted.
Biathletes of the Russian national team were disqualified for two years. This meant only one thing: athletes would not qualify for the Games in Vancouver. Despite all the obstacles that Ekaterina Yuryeva faced, she still returned to the sport, continuing to cherish her lifelong dream.
In the 2013/14 season, the biathlete started in Östersund in the individual event, where she finished fourth. And after a couple of unsuccessful races, the coaching staff removed Yuryeva from the main team. According to some rumors, due to the fact that the athlete was late for the training camp, according to others, she did not qualify for the Olympic team.
Sent into exile for the IBU Cups, Ekaterina Yuryeva objectively understood that, apparently, this time the Games would pass her by. The apogee of what happened was another doping scandal that broke out two weeks before the Olympics in Sochi. The unpleasant situation was again associated with the name of Yuryeva, whose A test turned out to be positive. Repeated conviction of using prohibited substances could result in lifelong disqualification.
Naturally, after such information was made public, there could be no question of the biathlete’s participation at the Games in Sochi. On February 21, Yuryeva submitted an application to the IBU to retire from her career. The autopsy of sample B took place on February 25 without the participation of the athlete and her representatives, but the results have not yet been made public.
“On the eve of the Games in Sochi, a number of tragic events happened in my personal and sports life, in particular, they hid from me that the main person in my life and my destiny, my mother, was in intensive care.
When I found out about this, everything went by the wayside. Secrets, intrigues, goals and even childhood dreams - everything became unimportant.
This decision was not easy for me, so it took me quite a long time to give up my dream and understand that I needed to move on,” Yuryeva noted. “I want to say a big thank you to everyone who shared my journey with me.”
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