Interview with Yuri Borzakovsky: amateur and professional running. Yuri Borzakovsky. Sports biography From football to athletics

Probably, even if a person completely ignorant of the intricacies of athletics running saw the performance of this athlete on a treadmill or on TV, he would remember this for a long time. We are talking about one of the most talented Russian athletes, Olympic champion Yurie Borzakovsky. Indeed, having first appeared in the arenas of the world's largest competitions, this athlete never ceases to amaze both specialists and fans with his completely unique running tactics, which some call adventurism, while others call it the pinnacle of sportsmanship and self-confidence. Yuri trains with L. Miroshnichenko and V. Evstratov, honored trainers of Russia.

Yuri was born in April 1981 in the town of Kratovo near Moscow. He started playing football as a boy, but then came to athletics, where the talented young man’s sports career quickly took off. Already at the age of 19, he competed at his first Olympic Games in Sydney, where he took 6th place in the final race of 1500 meters. Since then, the name of Yuri Borzakovsky has practically never left the pages of the world sports press as a completely unique athlete, a contender for the highest places in his favorite type of athletics competition. Today, the athlete’s track record includes victories at the most prestigious world-class competitions. Yuri, at the age of 16, won the national championship in the 800-meter run, and the following year, 1998, the World Youth Games. In 1999, the athlete won the Russian Championship among adults and at the same time set a national record among juniors, after which he was included in the team to participate in the 2000 Olympics.

It was from this year that Yuri primarily competes at a distance of 800 meters, where he amazes everyone with his unique running tactics. Possessing fantastic sprinting abilities and the functional endurance of an average person, Yuri always starts running last along the distance, and this continues until approximately the 450-500 meter mark. Then, as a rule, something incredible happens - he jumps out from behind his opponents like lightning and “walks away” from them to his victory as if they were standing still. At such moments the stadiums exploded with a storm of delight, which is why Yuri is loved as an athlete in many countries around the world. This tactic brought Borzakovsky many wonderful victories. In 2001, he won the world indoor championship, received silver in Paris at the world championship, and in 2004 he achieved his highest sporting achievement - at the Olympic Games in Athens he became an Olympic champion. By the way, as Yuri himself says, his wife Ira helped him win the first gold medal of the world championship, and for this he taught her culinary wisdom, and now she masters it perfectly. Already in the rank of Olympic champion, Borzakovsky won silver at the World Championships in Helsinki. He also has bronze medals at the world championships in 2007 and 2011, and medals at all merits of the continental championships in 2006, 2008 and 2009. By the way, many experts and the athlete himself equate his performance in Daegu and winning a bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships with a gold medal. According to Yuri, this successful start gives the 30-year-old athlete optimism for success at the Olympic Games in London, as Yuri said, his sports form in Daegu was the best of his entire career.

Yuri Borzakovsky is an Honored Master of Sports of Russia, lives and trains in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow, where, as they say, Governor B. Gromov built a new comfortable stadium “for him.” According to Gromov himself, this is not surprising, because Yuri is an honorary citizen of his hometown.

Yuri stands for the Dynamo sports society, he is a major, but he considers his main place of service to be the Olympic Committee, where there is also a lot of work and trouble. For his sporting achievements, Yuri Borzakovsky was awarded the Order of Friendship.

Yuri Borzakovsky’s wife, Irina, is also involved in sports; she is a sports instructor; the Borzakovskys have two sons, Yaroslav and Lev.

The Olympic champion also has a hobby with which he can surprise no less than with his running tactics. Borzakovsky is popular in his hometown as DJ Borzakovsky, whose favorite styles are minimal-tech, deep-house, electro, garage. According to Yuri, he has loved music since childhood, hence his passion. Although it’s quite difficult to call such a hobby a hobby, in his city Yuri is invited to perform in clubs as a professional DJ. But, Yuri believes that music can wait, but sport, unfortunately, never waits for anyone, and therefore all the champion’s thoughts are now focused on preparing for the Olympics in London.

Yuri Danilov

Yuri Borzakovsky is a Russian track and field athlete who specializes in running at distances of 800 and 1500 meters. European and world champion (2000, 2001). Winner of the 2004 Olympic Games (800 meters). In February 2015, he completed his professional career.

Start

Yuri Borzakovsky (photo below) got into athletics by accident. According to the athlete, he was sure that at first he only played football. The young man saw how his peers were kicking the ball around in the sports section and also decided to sign up. The training itself consisted of warm-up, jogging and football itself. A couple of months later, Yuri decided to take part in local athletics competitions. Surprisingly, Borzakovsky won them and realized that he was more of a runner than a football player. Therefore, it was decided to develop in this direction.

First success

Yuri Borzakovsky, whose biography is described in this article, trained a lot and soon it gave significant results. In 1998, the athlete won the World Youth Games held in Luzhniki. With this success, Borzakovsky declared himself on the international stage. Although at that time he already had the title of Russian champion among juniors at distances of 800 and 1500 meters.

At the youth games, Yuri demonstrated his own style, which allowed him to competently distribute his forces over the entire distance. When asked about these competitions in an interview, the athlete said that he did not run slowly at the beginning, as many thought. The ideal style, according to Borzakovsky, is smooth running in all parts of the distance.

This strategy allowed Yuri not to become sour and to finish first, while his rivals quickly ran the initial part of the distance and ran out of steam at the end.

European Cup

In 1999, Yuri Borzakovsky had just reached adulthood, and the European Cup became his first international competition at the adult level. I must say, he performed excellently. The athlete stayed in the shadow of strong and famous rivals throughout the distance. Only at the end did Yuri accelerate and snatch victory in the last meters. Such self-control and cold calculation are rare for anyone at such a young age.

Sydney 2000

In the finals of the Olympics, Yuri Borzakovsky met with record holder Wilson Kiptecker, who was his idol. Later in an interview, the hero of this article admitted that he lost even before the start of the competition. Moreover, Borzakovsky was ready physically, but psychologically he was not. As a result, Yuri finished only in 7th place.

Brussels and Lisbon

Yuri's main rival in Brussels in 2001 was Andre Bucher. The first half of the distance was led by the Kenyan Keptur, who defeated it in 49.06. Borzakovsky added on the third turn and snatched the victory. In addition, the athlete set a Russian record (1.42.47), which has not been broken to this day. In Lisbon, Yuri also had an advantage (1.44.15). He became the world and Russian record holder among juniors.

Athens 2004

The Olympics in Greece became the peak of the runner's career. Yuri's lifelong dream came true. He won a gold medal, becoming our country's only Olympic champion in running, and one of six Olympic champions in athletics.

Beijing 2008

As Borzakovsky himself stated, he approached these competitions in the best shape of his entire career. Just like four years ago, the athlete was determined to win gold. But Yuri made a strategic mistake. Fans of Borzakovsky know that the most difficult acclimatization day for an athlete is the fifth. Just before Beijing, Borzakovsky was with his coach at a training camp in Irkutsk. They decided to do without acclimatization. And this became a fatal mistake. On the day of the semi-final, the athlete felt weak and was unable to realize his own form.

World record

In his interviews, Yuri has repeatedly stated that he never had a desire to break the planet's record. The athlete is confident that such goals are harmful, since they will quickly deplete the body’s reserves and put an end to athletic longevity. Borzakovsky believes that it is possible to show results close to the planet’s records within a couple of years. Then there simply won’t be enough strength for this and the athlete will not only “fall out” of the athletics elite, but will also lose his health. Despite this, Yuri set many records. Moreover, both indoors (600, 800 and 1000 meters) and at the stadium (800 and 1000 meters).

What's next?

In February 2015, Yuri Borzakovsky completed his career. Now he works as the senior coach of the Russian junior endurance team. It is more likely that he will soon be made the main coach of the track and field team. Let's hope he performs as well in this position as he does on the track.

Personal life and hobbies

Irina is the name of the girl whom Yuri Borzakovsky chose as his life partner. His wife bore him two sons - Lev and Yaroslav.

The athlete also has a hobby in which he is as good as running tactics. In his native Zhukovsky he is known under the name DJ Borzakovsky. Yuri's favorite styles are garage, electro, deep house and minimal tech. Sometimes an athlete is invited to play in clubs.

As a boy, he became a football player and became a world and European champion in athletics. We wish Yuri good luck at the upcoming Olympics!

Biography

Yuri Borzakovsky was born on April 12, 1981 in a simple family. His mother worked as a janitor, and his father worked as a garbage collector. The boy, born on Cosmonautics Day, was named after Gagarin. Yuri was the eldest in the family and was an example for the younger children.

At the age of ten, he began training in the athletics section. The energetic and lively child enjoyed the training sessions. By the age of twelve, he achieved some positive results in this sport and received the nickname Kenyan.

Since childhood, Yuri has admired runners from this country and claimed that they have a different muscle structure, ideal for running.

However, the athlete himself has all the data to win various competitions. He is naturally endowed with enormous muscle strength: muscles make up 50% of the mass of his legs.

The amazing endurance and speed developed by an athlete on a treadmill is the result of constant training. Combined with tactical knowledge, on which half the success in middle-distance running depends, these qualities allow Yuri to win various competitions.
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On wikipedia

The highest achievements of Yuri Borzakovsky

Achievements:
Champion of the XXVIII Olympic Games (2004, Athens) in the 800m race
World Indoor Champion 2001,
European Indoor Champion 2000 (Ghent),
Silver medalist of the World Championships 2003 (Paris) and 2005 (Helsinki),
Bronze medalist of the World Championships 2007 (Osaka) and indoors 2006 (Moscow),
World record holder among juniors indoors, European record holder, Russian record holder in the 800 meter race

Interview with Yuri

Yura, at the age of 19, in infancy for a middle athlete, you already ran in the Olympic final. When did you become interested in running?
- It all happened by chance. At the age of 10, he went to play football at the sports school in his hometown of Zhukovsky. Two weeks later there were the first competitions. I thought it was football, but it turned out that it was running. I came to the finish line second. I was very happy and decided to stay.

Do you regret football?
- We often play football during training. In the game you move and don’t notice a huge amount of acceleration, you get less tired psychologically. Football helps running.

How did your parents react to your sports activities?
- Fine. They are simple people. Father is a driver, mother is a janitor.

By today's standards, you got married very early. Where did you meet your wife?
- Irina and I went to the same kindergarten. Then they separated, the parents changed their place of residence. True, we only found out about this at the age of 16, when we met again and remembered our childhood. After this meeting we never parted. I began to look after her. And three years later they got married.

Do you remember when you proposed?
- We walked together, as usual, around the city. Then we came home. And something inside pushed me. I decided to tell Ira: be my wife. She immediately agreed. It was after the Australian Olympics. I then completed my task in Sydney - I made it to the finals. Using positive emotions after the wedding, I won the 2001 Winter World Championships. And in May last year a boy was born, they named him Yaroslav.

Svetlana Masterkova about Yuri Borzakovsky

Yuri Borzakovsky is an ideal athlete. He is very strong mentally. His tactics - a slight lag and a dash at the finish - are a win-win tactic. But only on one condition. If the athlete is in ideal physical shape.

This is how Yuri won the Olympic Games in Athens. However, if there was something wrong in the preparation during the season, it is very difficult to win with such tactics. Borzakovsky knows how to use it perfectly and due to this he has an advantage over his opponents.

Video

3 videos

Yuri Borzakovsky: “Victories at the Olympics are not so easily forgotten”

Russian runner Yuri Borzakovsky spoke about the upcoming Olympics in Beijing and shared his memories of his victory at the 2004 Games.

“The start at the national championship is preparatory. A kind of training for Olympic running: a race, the next day a semi-final and the next day a final. I had a race here, the semi-final the next day, and three days later, on the 22nd, I also had a race in Stockholm. There I want to work out the final. And, of course, I also train: training, training, rest, training. This is how Olympic running is practiced week after week, month after month. But in general, this Olympics will be easier for me psychologically, because I already have the title of Olympic champion.

I have never been to Beijing. Irkutsk has the same time zone, so I will go there on August 4th. I’ll undergo some kind of acclimatization and fly to Beijing three days before the start. I haven’t planned the Olympic running yet, because there are no race lineups as such yet. Then I’ll see what the draw looks like, find out my race and, based on this information, I’ll dance, how to run, what tactics to use. I calm myself down psychologically. If you start thinking about the Olympics, sleep immediately disappears. You get tired, your body is exhausted and wants to sleep, but thoughts about the start don’t let you sleep. As soon as you forget, you immediately switch off. Therefore, I try not to think about the race or counting elephants, but to remember my friends - how we went fishing with them. Or better yet, I’ll think about my family: my wife, sons Yaroslav and Lev, who are now relaxing with their mother-in-law at the dacha. They have already grown up, and they have their own friends and their own affairs there. With such thoughts I immediately fall asleep.

Borzakovsky Yuri (born in 1981) is a Russian track and field athlete. 2001 World Indoor Athletics Champion in the 800m race.

Yuri Borzakovsky was born on April 12, 1981 in a simple family. His mother worked as a janitor, and his father worked as a garbage collector. The boy, born on Cosmonautics Day, was named after Gagarin. Yuri was the eldest in the family and was an example for the younger children.

At the age of ten, he began training in the athletics section. The energetic and lively child enjoyed the training sessions. By the age of twelve, he achieved some positive results in this sport and received the nickname Kenyan.

Since childhood, Yuri has admired runners from this country and claimed that they have a different muscle structure, ideal for running.

However, the athlete himself has all the data to win various competitions. He is naturally endowed with enormous muscle strength: muscles make up 50% of the mass of his legs.

At the World Indoor Athletics Championships held in Lisbon in the spring of 2001, nineteen-year-old Borzakovsky beat all competitors in the 800 m final, finishing first and winning gold. He beat the silver medalist by almost 2 seconds and showed the second fastest time in the history of indoor track and field games.

Yuri Borzakovsky's tactical trick is a slow start and a fast finish. 500 m from the start, the runner catches up and easily passes his opponents, leaving them no chance. His advantage increases with almost every step, reaching tens of meters.

However, athletes from other teams do not like this style of running. So at one of the international tournaments, Kenyan Noah Ngeni, at that time the world record holder in the 1000 m race, hit Yuri, who was trying to get around his opponents, in the liver, and when he tried again, he received another sharp poke in the back.

In the fall of 2000, Yuri Borzakovsky married his beloved girl Irina, a student at the regional academy of physical education. The famous track and field athlete himself studies at this institution. The young family lives in the city of Zhukovsky, Moscow region, and the main source of income is the prize money that Yuri receives at competitions.

However, neither big earnings nor high-profile titles turned his head. Yuri Borzakovsky continues his daily training, hoping to become a prize-winner at the next competition.

Brief biographical dictionary

"Yuri Borzakovsky" and other articles from the section

As a boy, he became a football player and became a world and European champion in athletics. The most talented Russian runner Yuri BORZAKOVSKY is missing this winter season - he will not go to the World Championships in Birmingham in March. But he dreams of becoming the best in Paris in August.

His wife Ira helped him win his first gold medal at the world championship. For this, he taught his young wife culinary wisdom, which he masters perfectly. Now the governor of the Moscow region, Boris GROMOV, is building an entire stadium in Zhukovsky “for Borzakovsky,” and Yura will not have to travel to Moscow every day in his “nine” for training.

Yura, at the age of 19, in infancy for a middle athlete, you already ran in the Olympic final. When did you become interested in running?

Everything happened by chance. At the age of 10, he went to play football at the sports school in his hometown of Zhukovsky. Two weeks later there were the first competitions. I thought it was football, but it turned out that it was running. I came to the finish line second. I was very happy and decided to stay.

Do you regret football?

During training we often play football. In the game you move and don’t notice a huge amount of acceleration, you get less tired psychologically. Football helps running.

How did your parents react to your sports activities?

Fine. They are simple people. Father is a driver, mother is a janitor.

By today's standards, you got married very early. Where did you meet your wife?

Irina and I went to the same kindergarten. Then they separated, the parents changed their place of residence. True, we only found out about this at the age of 16, when we met again and remembered our childhood. After this meeting we never parted. I began to look after her. And three years later they got married.

Do you remember when you proposed?

We walked together, as usual, around the city. Then we came home. And something inside pushed me. I decided to tell Ira: be my wife. She immediately agreed. It was after the Australian Olympics. I then completed my task in Sydney - I made it to the finals. Using positive emotions after the wedding, I won the 2001 Winter World Championships. And in May last year a boy was born, they named him Yaroslav.

And who is the boss in your family?

My wife says I am. But sometimes it shows the opposite. It happens that Ira is wrong about something, she is aware of it, but she tries not to show it to me. He says: I’m older than you, which means I’m right. She really is a year older. But when she needs to answer for something, she says: you are the eldest in the family, you sort it out. (Ira later deciphered: “Married means to her husband, he is the most important!” - V.R.)

As a child I fed the whole family

What does a young wife do besides raising a child?

She is a needlewoman, a seamstress by profession. Maybe for fun, sew yourself a dress or suit. Before the birth of her son, she managed to work as a secretary. Now a housewife. And even before that I was involved in athletics and ran. Nowadays, too, to keep fit, he sometimes goes for a run in the forest.

A small child probably doesn’t let you sleep at night, do you have to get up often?

To be honest, they let me get enough sleep. I don't get up. Everyone understands that I have a hard workout tomorrow and I need to be in shape.

Do you live separately from your parents?

We are currently living with our mother-in-law. After victories at the World and European Championships, they promised me better living conditions. But for some reason this process took a long time. And my coach, Vyacheslav Makarovich, arranged a meeting with the governor of the Moscow region. We arrived and talked about our problems. Boris Gromov gave me a three-room apartment. Now the construction of the house is nearing completion. By the way, a modern stadium for track and field athletes will be built in Zhukovsky. We went to look for housing and got a whole stadium in addition - great! There is already a project, the place has been cleared, and by the summer they will probably have time to lay the path.

Who cooks for you and your wife at home?

In the kitchen now either the wife or the mother-in-law is in charge. I don’t want to brag, but I can also make a lot of different dishes. I like to cook cabbage soup, for example. When I was unmarried and living with my parents, I had to cook often. My mother and father are at work, and I also have a younger brother and sister. As the eldest, he cooked dinners and fed the whole family.

Athletes are usually interested in cars, are you an exception?

Yes, I really like driving a car. But unlike my brother, I don’t like to dig into them. Thank God my car doesn't break down.

And what model?

I learned to drive a V8. After the European Championship, I got some money and changed my old car to a “nine”.

What sports plans do you have for this year?

My coach and I decided to skip all the winter competitions. We want to be better prepared for the main start of the season - the summer World Championships in Paris.

But what about the “Golden League”, where the winner receives several tens of kilograms of gold. Don't want to become a millionaire?

To be first, you need to win all the summer starts of the Golden League. To do this you will need to give it your all. Maintain peak form for three months. I'm still young for such loads. At some stages, of course, I will participate. But we must remember that the championship in Paris is ahead. And next year - the Olympics. In my opinion, a small Olympic gold medal is worth more than a pile of gold bars of the highest standard.

Yuri is not an alien

They say that Borzakovsky recovers faster than other athletes from physical activity and his heart works differently than others. And the reason for this is his naturally slow pulse. For comment, we turned to the President of the Sports Medicine Federation, Lev MARKOV.

Yuri has a very good heart from birth, and also a very trained one. It pumps oxygen better than competitors and helps the runner use his strength more effectively over the course. As for the pulse, these are rumors. He is not an alien, as some people think. And the fact that even on the eve of the competition Yuri had a cold, but went out and defeated everyone, should not be surprising. The reason is simple. When a person is sick, all the reserves of his body are mobilized. And they help you quickly adapt to new loads. The body seems to turn on additional power and work to the maximum! But only if the person has a very healthy heart.