Vic Wild is an American-born Russian snowboarder who rose to prominence after his resounding victory at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. He was prompted to change his American citizenship to Russian by a meeting with a Russian athlete, whom he later married. The love story of Vic Wilde and Alena Zavarzina has become a favorite topic for romantic sports fans.
Start
A simple American guy Victor was born in 1986 in White Salmon, in the state of Washington. He began to snowboard from the age of seven, he seemed to be a promising athlete. Already at the age of 14, he entered the US junior team, and then became a member of the adult team, for which he played until 2011.
Snowboarder Vic Wilde achieved the greatest success in parallel slalom, concentrating on this type of program. At the stages of the World Cup, he began to perform since 2005. In his first season, the White-Salmon native entered the top 100 overall with a sixty-second position.
The coaches expected the young athlete to progress, and at first the guy lived up to their expectations. The following season, he began to get into the top twenty of the strongest at the World Cup stages more often and climbed twenty positions up compared to last year.
Dead end
The mentors of the American team made allowances for the inexperience of the athlete and expected a breakthrough from him in his third season, because by that time Vic Wild had gained sufficient competitive experience, matured and even managed to win silver at the US Championship. However, in the 2009/2010 season, the American still could not wedge himself into the fight for the highest places.
Only twice in a season did Vic Wild manage to break into the top ten, which could not but cause disappointment among his fans. Despite the fact that the final result was much higher than last year, twenty-first place in the overall standings could not be considered a satisfactory result.
The 2010/2011 season was a mirror image of the previous one for Vic. He was only twice among the top ten strongest, and according to the results of the World Cup, he was in nineteenth place in the overall standings.
Vic Wild's poor results have caused him to be coolly treated by the National Snowboard Federation. He had to look for sponsors on his own, do the maintenance of his sports equipment with his own hands.
Meeting
Alena Zavarzina and Vic Wild met each other in 2009 at one of the World Cup stages. Russian beauty instantlywon the heart of a smiling American, and he began to look for reasons to meet Alena more often.
At that time, the girl was more successful than her future fiancé, from time to time she won victories at the Grand Prix stages, became the world champion. In the shadow of Zavarzina, the American did not feel too confident and dreamed of breaking into the elite of the world snowboarding in order to capture the girl's imagination.
However, no one could take a decisive step, for two years the guys just talked to each other, looking at each other.
Double fracture
The story of how Vic Wild got to Russia begins in 2011. Then Alena Zavarzina received a serious knee injury, was recovering from injuries and did not participate in the competition. Nevertheless, she found the opportunity to watch the Moscow stage of the World Cup from the stands, supporting her American friend. Things didn’t go well for him, he didn’t even have his own coach and prepared for the starts on his own.
Being a kind girl, Alena undertook to provide methodological support to her friend and became his personal trainer for the duration of the Moscow tournament. As the girl herself recalls, it was incredibly difficult for her to keep her balance without crutches, she could barely stand on her feet, but passionately sought to help her friend.
Nothing brings you closer than working together, so progress in Alena and Vik's relationship has become a matter of time. They started dating, becoming a very spectacular couple in the world.snowboard. According to Vic, he tried to spend as much time as possible with Alena and could hardly endure constant separation.
Wedding
Looking at the tender relationship between the two snowboarders, the leaders (coaches) of the Russian team began to think about how to pull the American into their ranks. Moreover, in his native team they finally gave up on him, writing off his account as unpromising.
Vic Wild was directly approached with the tempting offer to compete under the Russian flag, promising him financial support, logistical support and ideal training conditions. All that was required was to take Russian citizenship.
However, according to the law, an athlete has the right to accelerated acquisition of Russian citizenship only if he has awards from the World Championships or the Olympic Games. The unlucky Vic was not spoiled by medals, so this path was closed for him.
There was only one option left - a wedding with a citizen of the country. It cannot be said that this was a difficult test for the American, since he himself sought to tie Alena to himself as much as possible.
The wedding of Alena Zavarzina and Vic Wild took place in Novosibirsk. Ready for anything for the sake of love, Vik courageously endured all the circles of a traditional Russian wedding, performing the ceremony of redeeming the bride for chocolate "Alenka" and other feats. After the wedding, the guys left for the USA, where they lived for some time, but shortly before the Sochi Olympics they returned to Russia and settled in Moscow.
NewVic
Becoming the husband of a Russian woman, Vic Wild soon received the coveted red passport, becoming Victor. Due to the quarantine for changing sports citizenship, the athlete was forced to miss the 2011/2012 season.
Dedicating a whole year to training and self-improvement, Vic Wild triumphantly began his first performances under the Russian flag. At the very first stage of the World Cup, the former American entered the top three, giving the highest achievement in his career.
Apparently, a powerful influx of endorphins after the wedding with Alena did its job, and Vic literally soared on his board, famously overtaking rivals.
At the World Cup stage in Austria, Wilde took first place, after which he made experts talk about himself, who called him one of the favorites for the upcoming Olympics.
Sochi
The peak of the career of a naturalized Russian, of course, was the 2014 Winter Olympics. He approached the competition in great shape and already at the qualifying stages marked his advantage over his competitors.
Vic Wild competed in both disciplines in parallel slalom. The first in line was the giant parallel slalom final, where he was opposed by Nevin Galmarini. Vic lost the first race, but already in the middle of the second attempt he took the lead and confidently finished first. Thus, he became the first Olympic champion in snowboarding from Russia. A couple of minutes before, Alena took bronze in a similar discipline, supporting the family's medal initiative.
Taking one gold, Vicaimed at the second. In the parallel slalom, however, he reached the final with great adventures. At the semi-final stage, he had to win back a lead of 1.5 seconds, which is a big number for parallel slalom. However, he was unstoppable and managed to reach the decisive stage, where the Slovenian Koshir was waiting for him.
The Russian was faster in the first run and allowed the opponent to beat him by one hundredth of a second in the second, thus becoming a two-time Olympic champion.
Vic Wild's story has become a real sensation, because it is not often that an average athlete turns into a real leader in one moment.
