IOC decision on Olga Zaitseva. Doping, Rodchenkov, biathlon, Russian team. “That’s how they’ll get to Shipulin”: biathlete Zaitseva is suspected of violating anti-doping rules Biathlon golden breakthrough Zaitseva

The beginning of the season for our biathletes is especially important in their biography, because the Winter Olympics will be held in February. So the preparation took place especially carefully and responsibly. The greatest attention of fans is directed to Olga Zaitseva, the recognized leader of our team. Of the current generation of Russian biathletes, only Zaitseva and Pyleva-Medvedtseva hold the titles of Olympic champions. Following the results of last year, in which she won two golds at the World Championships, our “All-Russian bunny” was recognized as a laureate in a wide variety of nominations.

Her older sister Oksana Rocheva-Zaitseva, who is also her personal trainer, talks about the famous biathlete.

Came into sports after my sisters

— Oksana, you have a large and athletic family. Did your passion for sports begin with skiing?

— Our parents were not athletes. Dad is a pilot, mom is a kindergarten teacher. But a healthy lifestyle has always been welcomed. And we were taught physical education from an early age. I am three years older than Lena and five years older than Olya. But at first I was interested in volleyball and also went to a theater club. Moreover, the second passion was even stronger than the first - in my dreams I saw myself as an actress. In the drama club, I put on wigs and long dresses and learned how to do makeup. But then the coach invited Lena to a sports school - namely the 43rd school in Bitsa, from which we all later graduated. And Lena was still little. And my parents told me: take your sister. On Sunday I had no club classes or volleyball. I took the lead. And Lena’s coach, Svetlana Vyacheslavovna Nesterova, also persuaded me to take up cross-country skiing. (By the way, this excellent teacher still works as both a coach and a physical education teacher at school.) Well, after a year, the youngest, Olya, also began to follow us. The coaches agreed to take her, when she was very young, to training camps as an “add-on” to me and Lena, with prospects for the future. And it was more convenient for our parents that the youngest one was under the supervision of her older sisters. But Olya sometimes caused trouble for Lena and me.

- How?

— For example: during training they will order you to do some work. If Lena and I are not in the mood, we may not finish one lap. Coaches ask us: “How was training?” We answer: “We did everything.” Then the coaches ask Olya, and she, in her simplicity and youth, reports: “Oksana and Lena did not run to the circle, but sat out in the bushes.” But she was 9 years old or even younger then. And when Olya “pawned” not only her sisters, but also other athletes in this way, I also had to quarrel with my teammates because of her. I tried to prove to them: “What’s the demand from a little girl?!” But my arguments didn’t make it any easier for my friends after Olya’s “reports” to the coach.

Family Jewels

— Are you related to the large ski clan of the Rochevs?

— I married Dmitry Rochev, also a skier and biathlete, but a Muscovite. He has people from Komi in his family, but he was not familiar with Vasily Rochev and his parents before. When I first attended a joint training camp with skiers, Vasya was still single and jokingly greeted me: “Great, wife!” Some took it seriously. In fact, Rochev is the most common surname in Komi. It is translated into Russian as “Russian”.

— They say that Olya has accumulated souvenirs in the form of hares. Which one is the most original?

— In fact, there are a lot of souvenirs. And Olya treats everyone very carefully. Just recently, sports journalists asked her for one of the hares as a gift for the editorial museum. But Olya categorically did not want to sacrifice at least one of them. After all, everything was given from the heart and to her. Olya brought some kind of souvenir not related to hares. Original and very touching hares were given to Olya and me as her coach by children from the Khanty-Mansiysk creative center. They sewed them themselves from scraps of fabric.

Wedding with rifles

— Is it true that you organized a shooting competition during Olya’s wedding? (“Express newspaper.” - “Trud-7”)

— In fact, the Slovakian national team, which went to training camps on their buses, gave a surprise to Milan and Olya. They were waiting for the wedding procession, which was heading from the church to the restaurant. The athletes blocked our way and began jokingly demanding ransom and everything that is required in such cases. Then they pulled rifles out of their bus and photographed the newlyweds with them. So it all happened by chance. Nobody planned a photo shoot with rifles, although the photos of the bride and groom ended up being fun. And, of course, there were no shooting competitions at the wedding.

- Does Olin’s son Sasha already understand what his mother is doing?

- Certainly. Already at the age of two he watched biathlon with great interest. As his Slovak grandmother taught him, he keeps his fingers crossed for his mother. And when she shoots prone, he himself lies down in front of the TV on the floor. Unfortunately, his dad, the famous former biathlete Milan Augustin, is also a very busy man. As director of the Winter Universiade, he has to travel all over the world. Therefore, Sashka spends a lot of time with our parents or Milan’s mother.

— What languages ​​can he speak?

— In Russian and Slovak. So he will be a polyglot, like his dad.

— Recently, foreign sports specialists are increasingly coming to work in Moscow. Olin's husband doesn't have any plans?

— Let's start with the fact that there were no invitations to Milan from the Russian team. there are other circumstances. Firstly, his work is related to the preparation of international competitions, so he travels to many countries. Secondly, if he moved to Moscow, he would have to rent housing.

Why doesn’t Olya let her husband into her home?

“Won’t your wife let you in?” After all, with what pomp it was announced that Zaitseva was given an apartment for winning the Olympics!

— “To yourself” is still an abstract concept for Olya. During her rare visits to Moscow, she either lives with her parents or with me. The saga with the apartment, which the CSKA management allocated to my sister after the victory in Turin, continues to this day. Firstly, in the apartment in Mitino for which Olya was given a certificate, there is still only one concrete box, even the rooms are not fenced off from each other. Secondly, if Olya undertakes to carry out finishing and repairs at her own expense, there is still no guarantee that the money will not be wasted. A certificate and a property right are not the same thing. Although Olya has been paying rent for three years. Several other famous athletes, including our champion figure skaters, found themselves in a similar situation. And when Olya brings Sasha to Moscow, he lives with his grandparents in the apartment in the south of Moscow where we, three sisters, grew up. When I got married and gave birth to a daughter (she is already 15 years old, she is a biathlon athlete at the same school), and then my middle sister Lena gave birth to a son, our family was allocated a two-room apartment in Lyublino. Until that time, our mother had been in line for expansion for 20 years, and the solution to the issue was then influenced by Olya’s first major successes at the international level. But in this “kopeck piece”, besides Olya, I live with my husband and two children. Olya, in order not to embarrass me and our parents, whenever possible, tries not to come to Moscow so often. There was a time when I even rented housing with my own money.

— It’s strange to hear all this, knowing about the great reputation of the CSKA club.

— There was also an incident in my own biography: I competed for CSKA as a skier, and when I became pregnant, the club’s management asked me to resign. I was 19 years old then, and I was used to doing what my elders said. True, such a gross violation of rights can be explained by the general situation in Russia in the dashing nineties. At that time, wages were not being paid everywhere in the country and there were massive layoffs. I hope the situation is more stable now. However, Olya’s solution to the housing issue may further delay the uncertainty of the future status of CSKA itself.

Maternal cares brought the team together

— Where did Olya rest from such a successful, then difficult season?

— I went with my family to Egypt. But complete rest, that is, a state of absolute immobility and without dietary restrictions, is unacceptable for her. I continued to do exercises, run cross-country, swim, and exercise. Now Olya and her son have gone to Brussels, where her husband has an apartment.

— With which of the Russian and foreign biathletes did Olya have the best relationship?

“She strives to maintain good, even relationships with everyone, and she succeeds. In the current composition of the national team, there is an extra reason for communication outside the ski slopes and shooting ranges, perhaps with Olya Medvedtseva. She has a child about the same age as my sister, and both often discuss childhood problems. With young unmarried biathletes there are fewer such points of contact. Among foreigners, the best relationship has developed with Olya Nazarova from the Belarusian national team, whom we call a foreigner conditionally, because she is a student of an Omsk school. However, in principle, it is possible to be friends with foreign women from far abroad. For example, one day Olya, Simone Denkinger and I from the German national team were delayed during doping control, and then the three of us went to the canteen. I can’t say that Olya and I speak English very well. But our knowledge was enough to discuss sports matters with Simone and talk about our family affairs. The mentality of athletes from different countries is quite similar. There will be common ground and there will be a common language. And my sister’s best friend among high-class athletes is Anya Bogaliy-Titovets. They became close friends even before the Olympics in Turin, then walked at each other’s wedding. And in general they often call back, even if they are in different parts of the world.

— I was recently surprised to read: Olga Zaitseva’s favorite music is Metallica and Ramstein.

— In fact, our father and mother most loved Russian songs performed by Anna German, as well as Alla Pugacheva. We constantly listened to all the songs they performed on vinyl. Since childhood, we were raised to be omnivorous in musical preferences. They loved classics, pop music, and bards. But they always gave some preference to Russian music. And now Olya constantly plays music in her headphones throughout the day when her son Sasha is not around, and she begins to miss him more and more.

Our laws make life difficult for biathletes

— Recently, our champions have been complaining about the unceremoniousness of WADA officers...

— The work of this organization creates certain everyday difficulties for Ole. You have to constantly keep them informed about what day and what time where you are. Inconsistencies and related troubles can arise during a multi-stop flight, when Olya herself does not always know which flight she will take. But recently, WADA has been recommending that its employees negotiate more carefully with athletes. And the person being checked can choose a more convenient time of day for the check. Olya usually appoints a morning time, as it is more predictable at the place of stay.

— And the long-suffering law on weapons, on which famous shooting athletes also worked, was finally changed?

- As they say, things are still there. Because of this, athletes have to endure great inconvenience. For example, Olya does not have the opportunity to take a rifle to her home to practice with it, but is obliged to take it to the departmental shooting range. During her stay in Moscow, she has to travel extra times to deposit the rifle and then pick it up back in the morning. And for Ole, as a major in the Russian Army, many procedures regarding weapons have been simplified. Moreover, when traveling abroad, there are fewer difficulties with weapons. Imagine how many headaches arise when children's teams go to the All-Russian biathlon competitions. For each sports school or club, one employee has to be fully involved in all these paperwork and bureaucratic procedures. An uninitiated person simply cannot quickly arrange for the export of weapons to competitions. So changes to gun laws are necessary.

— Do you practice arm-in-arm shouts and other interference during training to teach Olya to shoot calmly during competitions?

- There is no such need. After all, many of our team’s training sessions are close to competitive conditions. Often, aiming takes place to the sounds of teammates shooting. But there are tournaments where the conditions cannot be simulated in training, and therefore you can only get used to them through competitive experience. For example, the Christmas race in Germany. The small area there is teeming with events: a nearby crowd of 40,000 is raging in the stands. The circles are small, there are many athletes. The first time all this really puts pressure on the psyche. But starting from the second or third time, the athlete already receives such a portion of adrenaline that he wants similar emotions again and again.

Celebrates 40th anniversary on Wednesday.

Below is a biographical note.

Russian biathlete, Honored Master of Sports of Russia Olga Alekseevna Zaitseva was born on May 16, 1978 in Moscow in the family of a civil aviation pilot.

In 1996 she graduated from the College of Professional Education and Sports, in 2002 - from the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism.

As a child, Zaitseva attended the ski section, and since 1991 she studied at the Moscow Sports School No. 43 under the guidance of Svetlana Nesterova, then with Elena Chukedova.

I became interested in biathlon when the sports school team did not have enough girls to compete in competitions, and Olga was offered to try her hand at this sport. In a short time, she learned the basics of shooting from biathlon coach Viktor Izotov and competed - first in Krasnogorsk, and then at the All-Russian Winter Spartakiad in Perm.

Since 1994, Zaitseva completely switched to biathlon and began training with Alexander Suslov. Since 2000, she has been training under the guidance of her sister Oksana Rocheva.

In 1996, the athlete joined the junior team and won a silver medal at the World Championships in Kontiolahti (Finland).

In 1997, at the World Junior Championships in Forni Avoltri (Italy), Zaitseva won a gold medal.

In 1999, Zaitseva joined the second team of the Russian national team.

In the same year, she entered the service of the internal affairs bodies of the Podolsk Department of Internal Affairs as a policeman in a separate battalion of the police patrol service.

In 2000, she went to work for the Federal Tax Police Service of the Russian Federation, and in 2003 she began working for the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation.

In 2001, Zaitseva won a silver medal at the European Championships in France, collected a full set of awards at the Universiade in Poland and received a place in the main team.

In the 2002/2003 season at the World Cup, Zaitseva won gold medals in the sprint and individual race, a silver medal in the pursuit and a bronze medal in the relay.

In the 2003/2004 season, the athlete became the absolute champion of Russia (sprint, pursuit, mass start), and also won one silver and two bronze medals at the World Cup stages.

At the 2005 World Championships in Hochfilzen (Austria), she won a full set of medals: gold in the relay, silver in the sprint and bronze in the pursuit, as well as a silver medal in the mixed relay.

At the end of the 2004/2005 season, she became fourth in the overall World Cup standings. Won the small Crystal Globe in the mass start.

Since 2005, she took the position of highly qualified sports instructor for CSKA.

In 2006, at the Olympic Games in Turin (Italy), Zaitseva won a gold medal in the relay race, and also became the Russian champion in the mass start and pursuit.

After the Olympic season, Olga decided to take a break from performing. She spent the 2007/2008 season on an individual schedule.

In 2009, at the World Championships in Pyeongchang (South Korea), Zaitseva won four medals (two gold and two bronze).

At the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver (Canada), she won gold in the relay and silver in the mass start.

In the seasons 2009/2010, 2010/2011, 2011/2012 and 2012/2013, the biathlete repeatedly became a medalist and winner of World Cup stages.

In 2014, at the World Cup stages, the biathlete won two bronze (mass start and pursuit) and a silver (sprint) medals.

At the home Olympics in Sochi, Zaitseva won silver in the relay.

In January 2015, Zaitseva retired from acting.

On December 1, 2017, the International Olympic Committee stripped Zaitseva of her Sochi 2014 medal for violating anti-doping rules and banned her from participating in the Olympic Games for life. On December 11, Zaitseva filed an appeal against this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

On December 22, the IOC published the reasoning part of the decision. It follows from it that Zaitseva was included in the so-called “Duchess” list, whose samples were planned to be replaced during the 2014 Olympics. Numerous scratches were found on the tubes with two of Zaitseva’s doping samples, and a physiologically impossible level of salt was found in one sample. Also, in one of Zaitseva’s samples, taken not during the Olympic Games, two DNA samples were found.

Zaitseva herself stated that she never took doping, and all the evidence was fabricated. On February 21, 2018, it became known that Zaitseva, as well as two other Russian biathletes Olga Vilukhina and Yana Romanova, filed a $30 million libel suit in the Manhattan Supreme Court against the former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, now an informant for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Grigory Rodchenkov .

During her sports career, Olga Zaitseva won more than 40 victories and won more than 100 prizes. She has three Olympic medals (two gold and one silver, the athlete was deprived of the Sochi 2014 silver) and three world championship golds. She also has two silver and three bronze medals at the world championship.

She was awarded the Order of Friendship (2010), two medals of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (2003, 2007), and a medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, I degree (2014).

Olga Zaitseva has two sons.

Two-time Olympic biathlon champion Olga Zaitseva was accused of using prohibited substances. According to Sport Express, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspects the Russian woman of manipulating doping tests during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

During the recheck of all doping tests of domestic athletes from that Olympics, IOC experts noticed suspicious scratches on the test tubes with Zaitseva’s tests.

Previously, because of these microcracks, two other members of the Russian relay team, biathletes Olga Vilukhina and Yana Romanova, were included in the list of suspects.

The former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, and now an informant for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who fled to the United States, Grigory Rodchenkov, said that such scratches indicate that the test tubes were opened in order to replace a positive doping test with a negative one.

Based on the words of the chemist, the IOC has already managed to disqualify six Russian skiers for life - Alexander Legkov, Evgeny Belov, Alexey Petukhov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Evgenia Shapovalova and Yulia Ivanova, canceling their achievements in Sochi 2014. This led to the deprivation of the Russian team of four medals.

Now our country risks losing another award - silver for the biathlon relay.

This medal is the only one that Zaitseva won as part of a team at the home Games: the Russian woman won two more Olympic golds for the relay and one silver for the mass start at two other Olympics - in Turin and Vancouver. These awards are unlikely to be taken away from the biathlete, but the Sochi medal was under serious threat.

It is curious that Zaitseva had not previously appeared on any list of suspects and had not received public complaints from Rodchenkov. And now, according to media reports, the biathlete will have to appear before the IOC commission led by Dennis Oswald, which is re-checking doping tests taken by Russian athletes during the Games in Sochi. The meeting is scheduled for the end of November 2017.

However, the President of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU), Alexander Kravtsov, hastened to refute this unpleasant news.

“The information about scratches on Zaitseva’s samples is not true. Her case was not heard in Lausanne; the current proceedings concern only two athletes - Olga Vilukhina and Yana Romanova,” the R-Sport official quotes.

Gazeta.Ru discussed the current situation with the former senior coach of the Russian women's biathlon team, Alexander Selifonov, who previously coached the athlete.

— Information appeared in the media that Zaitseva was accused of doping during the Games in Sochi...

“Olga absolutely did not need any stimulation in order to show the results that she achieved.

She was already in good shape and always performed at a high level. All that was required was to properly lead Zaitseva to the competition - then she would already give results and win medals. True, during Sochi 2014 the management missed something (the athlete was only able to achieve silver in the relay - Gazeta.Ru), but I was no longer at these Games. Everything was then led by the German coach Wolfgang Pichler.

In any case, Olga is one hundred percent a pure athlete. They did not accept anything forbidden.

— What do you think about the disqualification of our athletes due to scratches on test tubes?

“These scratches are kind of absurd.” I believe that this is a purely politically motivated order.

If the suspension occurs only because of scratches, then an appeal must be filed to other authorities. It is unrealistic to disqualify athletes on this basis alone. It is clear that WADA insists that Russia allegedly had a system of state support for doping, although it is clear that there was nothing.

— Will this affect the reputation of Zaitseva, who has already completed her career?

“I don’t think this will change the attitude towards Olga, even if she is somehow found guilty of doping. After all, it is not clear on what basis they do this. I still don’t understand why our skiers were suspended, especially for life. This means that WADA has some solid evidence. Or is it all just based on the testimony of Rodchenkov, who himself invented something there and offered it to the athletes?

Either something is being hushed up here, or they simply want to remove us from the 2018 Olympics by any means necessary. Perhaps, when the Games are already held, the IOC will say: “Oh, we realized that we were mistaken.”

You can find other news and materials on the chronicles, as well as in the sports department groups on social networks

“Championship” continues to consistently push the stone up the mountain - to translate for its readers the most significant documents in the “Russian doping” scandal, which is now three years old. There were translations of the WADA independent commission, two parts of the McLaren report, testimony Grigory Rodchenkov. The final time we did it was with the IOC decision on the skier Alexander Legkov, making a reservation: this paper is a tracing paper, following it, all suspected participants in Sochi 2014 will be disqualified. The IOC's logic is clear, the outcome is inevitable.

The final piece of paper. Factual! Armor!!! Complete decision of the IOC according to Legkov

After reading it, you will understand that there is no hope - medals will be taken away from all Russian heroes of Sochi 2014. More precisely, for everyone they want.

That is why we did not attempt to translate the remaining documents on Russian athletes - why? Everyone who wanted to read it and made conclusions based on the first decision.

But the verdict on Olga Zaitseva surprised even us. The former head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory, who has been in the West for two years, continued to delve into his memory and extract from it more and more new information. To trust it or not is a personal matter for every reasonable person who has access to open sources. However, we will not deprive you of pleasure. For starters, here are a few quotes, and then you can do it yourself.

But in the main thing he is right!

“Professor McLaren and his team carried out significant work under very difficult conditions and with limited time. At the athletes' meeting, attempts were made to undermine this work on the grounds that it contained a number of errors and on the grounds that some figures or references were incorrectly reported and/or changed. However, having carefully considered the matter, the Disciplinary Panel considered that these findings did not affect the overall value and reliability of the evidence presented by Professor McLaren in the reports and in the EDP.”

An honest witness that no one saw

“Professor McLaren conducted three lengthy interviews with Dr. Rodchenkov and was able to cross-check various statements by the former director of the Moscow laboratory and the Sochi laboratory with other elements that he received. Thus, Professor McLaren is the best person to assess the reliability of what Dr. Rodchenkov reported... The Disciplinary Commission would prefer to hear Dr. Rodchenkov personally. However, this does not change the conviction that Dr. Rodchenkov is an honest witness and that his statements reflect reality and can be used as reliable evidence."

What Rodchenkov really said to the IOC commission. If he's still alive, of course.

A complete transcript of how Grigory Rodchenkov killed Russian sports. In black and white.

The Duchess cocktail was used by all biathletes

“Rodchenkov further states that the entire Russian biathlon team, including athlete Zaitseva, used the Duchess cocktail before the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.” He also provided an email sent in April 2013 in which he expressed concern about high hemoglobin levels for the biathlon team that his laboratory had discovered... In the fall of 2013, he took part in a discussion with athlete Zaitseva at the Ministry of Sports in Moscow. During this meeting, abnormal blood pressure findings related to her chronic steroid use were discussed.”

No more urine

“Rodchenkov especially recalls the destruction of numerous samples of the athlete. Due to the intensity of testing, Rodchenkov emphasizes that they have almost exhausted the athlete's clean urine. He remembers that the athlete Zaitseva provided three plastic bottles of clean urine for freezing and storage at the FSB and that additional urine was added.”

Experiment of limited validity

“Regarding the number of clicks made to close the bottles being studied, Professor Champeau explained during the hearing that with a higher number of clicks (more than 11), opening the bottle is more difficult, meaning that it will leave more T-marks and their identification is less difficult. They shouldn't be different."

A reliable witness with despicable deeds

“While considering Dr. Rodchenkov to be a reliable witness, the Disciplinary Commission wishes to be very clear in confirming that it in no way takes into account his past actions and his moral character... (Having said that) his actions as Director of the Moscow Laboratory are despicable and inexcusable.”

Olga Zaitseva brought Russia its first gold at the Biathlon World Cup stages in the new season. The Russian woman excelled in the 15 km individual race

Moscow. January 14. INTERFAX.RU - A month and a half has passed since the start of the season, and our biathletes have never climbed to the highest step of the podium before. On Thursday, at the fifth stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Ruhpolding, Russian Olga Zaitseva broke the chain of failures that was lengthening every day, winning gold in the individual race. Our athlete swept across the track like a snowstorm and hit every single target on four firing lines. “Silver” was won by the German Andrea Henkel, who tried to make up the gap from Zaitseva before the finish line, and the “bronze” went to the Swede Helena Ekholm. Two more Russians, Svetlana Sleptsova (2 misses and 6th place) and Yana Romanova (1 miss and 10th place), made it into the top ten at the end of the race.

The individual men's race, which started the fifth stage of the World Cup, brought Russian fans nothing but disappointment. The upper steps of the podium were traditionally chosen by the Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen, the Frenchman Martin Fourcade and the Austrian Dominik Landertinger. The best of our athletes, Evgeniy Ustyugov, took only seventh place. The ideal visibility on the track left the athletes no reason for excuses - they had only themselves to blame.

Russian girls had to take the rap for the men. Olga Zaitseva and Svetlana Sleptsova went to the track in the first group and set a high pace for the race - it was their time that the rest of the athletes matched. The rain that fell over the track in the morning made its own adjustments. The track became loose every minute, and the slopes turned into real ice slides, so athletes with low starting numbers had practically no chance of success. Zaitseva confidently closed all the targets on the first shooting range and took the lead in the race. Sleptsova temporarily pushed her national team partner into second place, but two errors at subsequent shooting ranges deprived her of her leader status.

Olga seemed to be gaining speed along the course, and her sharp right eye and faithful hand worked in combination with each other flawlessly - not a single cartridge from her rifle was wasted. Zaitseva completed the finishing segment incredibly powerfully and quickly; it was almost impossible to beat her final result (41:46.1). However, German Andrea Henkel kept the intrigue in the race until the last. The German representative was almost as good as Olga, and at the shooting range she looked just as confident as the Russian. A kilometer before the finish, Henkel lost to Olga by only five seconds, but the German lost her strength. Andrea not only did not reduce the gap, but was even further behind the Russian - by only 14.5 seconds. Third place rightfully went to Sweden's Helena Ekholm, who hit all 20 targets.

After her ninth career victory at the World Cup, Olga Zaitseva gave vent to her emotions and promised to please Russian biathlon fans more than once: “Good shooting today played a big role. I’m very glad that I did it! The weather was very difficult, the water is literally pouring off me now dripping, but we are women, we are strong, we have dealt with this. I got ready today, probably it was just my day. I won’t say that after such a performance it will be easier - it will still be difficult, but we will work and we will be very strong try to please the fans,” the official website of the RBU quotes her as saying.

The head coach of the Russian women's team, Anatoly Khovantsev, promised to celebrate by opening a bottle of champagne, which he had saved just for such an occasion: “Today there were very difficult weather conditions, it was pouring rain. Naturally, this could not but affect the movement. The girls had to work very hard, but I'm pleased that everyone went well in terms of speed. Three of the six - Zaitseva, Sleptsova and Romanova - coped well with the shooting. Naturally, we are very happy - the first "gold"! Finally, everything has moved from a dead point. This result will add psychological confidence, now we know for sure that we can run on the same level as the leaders and win. We will definitely celebrate, I had a special bottle of champagne prepared for the first gold podium, and we will open it in the evening."

/Alexey Kozin, Interfax/