Alena Zavarzina is widely known to sports fans after her excellent performance at the Sochi Olympics, where she won the bronze medal in snowboarding. However, not only sports results brought fame to the girl. The love story of the American Vic Wilde and Alena Zavarzina may well serve as a plot for a movie. After all, it was after marrying a Russian beauty that the former “middle peasant” seemed to have gained wings and won two disciplines at once at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The start of the journey
Alena Zavarzina was born in Novosibirsk in 1989. The girl's path to snowboarding was long and winding. At first, the parents sent their daughter to rhythmic gymnastics, but due to problems with the equipment, they were forced to take her away from there. The second Alina Kabaeva from Alena did not work out, and she began to visit the pool.
However, during the winter, she was fond of a newfangled sport - snowboarding. Gradually, Alena's hobby became her main sports discipline, she quit swimming and concentrated on her favorite pastime. Zavarzina started with the spectacular discipline of big air, a kind of acrobatics on the board. A year later, the coach advised her to switch to high-speed snowboarding, and the girl began to compete in parallel slalom and snowboard cross.
At the age of seventeen, Alena Zavarzina began her performances at major competitions. The first international tournament for her was the World Cup stage in Holland. The young athlete did not achieve any special laurels here, but she did not lose heart and continued to work on herself.
Gradually, Alena's affairs improved, she was in the top three at the junior world championship and the European Cup. In 2009, Zavarzina took the silver of the junior world championship, and also became the second in the European Cup.
Adult wins
Before the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the native of Novosibirsk steadily increased her sportsmanship, winning World Cups in the USA, Canada and Europe. Alena Zavarzina was considered the hope of Russian snowboarding and many counted on the girl's medal.
However, things didn't go according to plan in Vancouver. It began with the fact that the athlete was almost late for the start of the qualification and completely lost concentration from experiences. Alena finished only seventeenth and was not selected for the 1/8 finals.
Youngthe first failures did not break the snowboarder, she forgot about the Vancouver failure and began to prepare for the next Olympic cycle. A year later, she, sensationally for many specialists, wins the World Championship, winning the parallel giant slalom competition.
From Sochi to Pyeongchang
Preparation for the 2014 Olympics was blurred in the final period. Before the start of the season, Alena discovered a hernia of the spine, because of which she had to endure a long course of treatment. The girl barely had time to get in shape for the winter, when in training she absurdly broke her arm 2 months before the start of the biggest starts of the four years.
By some miracle, Alena Zavarzina manages to undergo surgery and restore her form again, firmly intending to perform at home Games. This decision turned out to be the right one, she rushed through the course during the competition and earned a bronze medal in the parallel giant slalom discipline.
After Sochi, the girl did not slow down, winning several awards at the world championships in the next Olympic cycle. Her most successful season was 2016/2017, where she won the overall World Cup title in parallel giant slalom for the first time in her career.
To the great regret of all her many fans, Alena Zavarzina failed to shine at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Being one of the favorites of the Games, she stopped a step away from the podium, taking a disappointing fourth place.
Private life
Vic Wilde and Alena Zavarzina met in 2009 at one of the stages of the CupPeace. Three years later, a simple friendship grew into a tender relationship, and the guys decided to consolidate their union with a wedding.
American Victor even changed his citizenship and began to represent Russia at international tournaments. In brilliant style, he competed at the 2014 Olympics, where he won two gold medals in snowboarding.
