Ekaterina Yurieva

Ekaterina YURIEVA

Born on June 11, 1983 in Tchaikovsky (Perm region).

She has competed in the World Cup since 2005, in 2007 she won

the individual race in Pokljuka.

The world champion in the individual race (2008).

In 2009-2010 she served a doping disqualification.

In 2014, she announced her retirement and received a

new disqualification for doping.

Triumph and crime

Ekaterina Yurieva first shone on the world stage in 2007. At the World Cup in Lahti, the athlete became the third in the sprint. And this bronze award marked the beginning of a series of brilliant results that made Yurieva the leader of the Russian national team and one of the best biathletes in the world. Until the end of the season, she climbed the podium twice more, and she began the next sports year for health, having collected a collection of gold and four silver awards at the end of three stages. But this was not the limit. Before the World Championships, Yurieva tried on the yellow jersey of the leader for the first time, and also performed triumphantly in Ostersund: gold in the individual race, silver in the pursuit, bronze in the mass start. And the fourth place in the relay! It was Yurieva who could have snatched an incredible medal when Akhatova's firing pin jammed.

Ekaterina pleased the fans not only on the track, but also outside it – everyone liked her openness, cheerfulness, and smile. More and more fans began to worry about Yurieva, her charm conquered people far beyond the borders of Russia.

But the whole positive image was destroyed overnight when Yurieva became a person involved in a big doping scandal along with Akhatova and Yaroshenko. Traces of erythropoietin were found in the athlete's blood, and therefore a logical disqualification for two years followed. Fans of biathletes built conspiracy theories in which Albina and Ekaterina could not be guilty, but neither the arbitration court nor the Swiss tribunal believed in them.

"Two years is not enough yet? I had more than enough. I admit, there were doubts about returning. But many friends and family wanted me to return to the sport. I'm starting everything from scratch, as an ordinary athlete," said Ekaterina, who resumed her sports career in December 2010, speaking at the IBU Cup and expressing a desire to perform at the 2014 Games.

Comrade Minister, sort it out!

The start of the 2013/14 Olympic season allowed Yurieva's fans to thoroughly hope that she would be able to perform at the home Olympics in Sochi. She looked great at the Ostersund stage: she became fourth in the individual race and seventh in the sprint. In Hochfilzen, the results, however, dropped sharply, and before the Olympics, Yurieva was sent to the IBU Cup altogether, leaving almost no chance. Considering that Ekaterina's competitors for a place in the national team did not shine, everything that was happening looked at least strange.

There was a wave of indignation among biathlon fans. Fans of Ekaterina even addressed an open letter to the Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko, in which they asked to deal with ignoring Yurieva. "We ask you to take control of the current situation and do everything in your power so that the coaching staff of the Russian women's biathlon team will provide E. Yurieva with an opportunity for honest and transparent selection to the Olympic team in a face-to-face fight with other contenders, first of all E. Glazyrina, Ya. Romanova and E. Shumilova."

It is not known for certain whether the Minister of Sports understood the situation and got to the true reason for the withdrawal of the biathlete from the first team. But the main thing is that the coaching staff managed to figure it out and, in a sense, to insure themselves. Long before the Olympics, information appeared that the biathletes of the Russian national team would be convicted of doping. A week before the start of the Sochi Games, their names became known – Ekaterina Yurieva and Irina Starykh.

"This decision was not easy for me,"

And the conspiracy theory reappeared. Fans of Yurieva could not believe what was happening. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the athlete's mother was in intensive care after a stroke from this news. Fortunately, the doctors helped her, and she returned to normal life.

And Ekaterina's sports career was ruined. At the end of February 2014, immediately after the end of the Olympic Games in Sochi, the biathlete, without waiting for the end of the investigation of her doping history, announced her retirement. "On the eve of the Sochi Games, 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, is in intensive care. When I found out about it, everything went by the wayside. Secrets, intrigues, goals and even a childhood dream – everything has become unimportant. This decision was not easy for me, so it took me quite a long time to part with my dream and understand that I need to move on," Yurieva wrote in a blog.

Catherine was lying? Partly yes. Because I couldn't help but know that the B sample would give a positive result for recombinant erythropoietin in a few days. Four months later it became known that Yurieva, as a repeat offender, was disqualified for eight years. But, apparently, this did not seem enough, and in 2015 the decision was revised - the term was extended to 12 years.

Love in spite of

Most recently, Yurieva, forgotten by the fans, came back to the forefront. She gave several interviews in which she not only and not so much talked about her activities after biathlon (Ekaterina makes fashionable clothes and organizes fitness tours), but also talked about modern biathlon: she analyzed the state of the Russian national team, the work of coaches and athletes. How ethical it is to give such interviews to a person who has been disqualified twice for doping is a big question. But there is interest. So, Yurieva, in spite of everything, is loved.