Her name forever entered the history of national sports. She won the Olympic Games three times, and many can envy the regalia and awards of this strong-willed and purposeful woman. Who is she? The famous skier Elena Vyalbe, who is considered the best of the best in her profession. She was able to achieve dizzying success in her career, and her name was forever inscribed in the pages of the Guinness Book of Records. Thanks to her perseverance, diligence, determination and will to win, Elena Vyalbe was able to win many awards in skiing sports. Was the path of the future Olympic champion to the top of Olympus easy? Of course not.
Biography Facts
Vyalbe Elena Valerievna is a native of the city of Magadan. The athlete was born on April 20, 1968. From a young age, the girl began to show an increased interest in cross-country skiing.
She watched with undisguised admiration as the adult uncles and aunts make their way along the snow-covered road that ran next to the house where the girl lived. When she was eight years old, she enrolled in the youth school section to learn the basicsthis popular sport. The mentors of the future Olympic champion were Gennady Popkov and Viktor Tkachenko. It was they who did everything possible to ensure that Elena Vyalbe, whose biography says that her life worked out in the best way, became a great athlete. They turned her into a "Magadan nugget" - that's what the whole country later called the three-time Olympic champion.
What is the taste of victory?
Already at the age of eleven, Elena Vyalbe became a member of the sports team of the Magadan region in cross-country skiing. Three years later, the girl will be awarded the title of master of sports, and the path to the main team of the adult USSR national team is guaranteed for her.
But Elena Vyalbe, whose biography is full of sporting achievements, won her first victory in cross-country skiing at an early age, when she took part in the championship of the Central Council of the DSO Trud. And despite the fact that the girl's rivals were older than her, she was able to win second place. Even then, it became clear what components would help Elena achieve high results in sports: she gave herself to her future profession one hundred percent and worked on herself 24 hours a day.
First place
A real triumph was the participation of a girl from Magadan in the junior championship in 1987, which was held in Italy. On it, Vyalbe Elena Valerievna receives her first gold medal. After some time, the young athlete arranges her personal life, becoming the wife of a skier from Estonia - Urmas Vyalbe.
Soon she gives birth to a son and after a break returns to the profession.
New Heights
In 1989, the world championship was held in Lahti, and our country was represented by the highest level of athletes: Tikhonova and Smetanina. Finns - Kirvesniemi and Matikainen - seriously competed with Soviet girls. However, no one could become a worthy opponent of Elena Vyalbe, who demonstrated "aerobatics" at distances of 10 and 30 kilometers freestyle. After that, some experts predicted that the peak of the Magadan nugget's sports career would decline. And the girl proved the fallacy of this point of view, brilliantly performing at the next Italian championship: she not only became the best in freestyle, but also took first place in the race at a distance of 15 kilometers in the classic style. So Elena Vyalbe, whose photo often began to decorate the pages of sports newspapers, became the property and pride of our country.
Instead of gold bronze
The 1992 Olympics started in Albertville, France.
Our fans were full of hopes that the skier from Magadan would win the first place. But fate made its own adjustments … Instead of first place, she won third place four times. However, the fact that the girl managed to demonstrate good results in the team competition could “sweeten the bitterness of the pill”, and the “golden” Russian relay race nevertheless took place. One way or another, but not entirely successful performance did not upset the skier. “I still have a lot of victories ahead of me. I am full of strength and energy,” said Vyalbe.
However, the subsequent Olympics in Lillehammer were also not very successful for the athlete. A few weeks before the start of the competition, she felt a serious malaise, so she could not fight on equal terms. Then only participation in the relay brought gold to our team.
Triumph again
Yes, unsuccessful performances at international championships did not undermine the morale of the Magadan athlete, but she understood that it was necessary to analyze the situation and, possibly, make adjustments to her work. Elena decided to change her mentor, choosing Alexander Grushin as her mentor.
And this innovation gave positive results. The 1997 championship turned out to be simply enchanting in Elena Valerievna's sports career. She won as many as five gold medals, leaving no chance for her rivals. Again, journalists began to say that the best skier is Elena Vyalbe. The photo of the winner began to appear on the front pages of sports newspapers and magazines.
"Which stage was the most difficult and most forgiving?" - asked the "sharks of the pen." The skier replied: “The most difficult was the finish in the pursuit race. Only with the help of special photographic equipment it was possible to determine the winner between me and the Italian Stefania Belmondo, with whom we went "one on one". And yet I managed to win. If we talk about the easiest distance in the race, then it is a segment of the path at the finish stage of the relay. Final 150 meters to the finishtraits turned out to be victorious for our team.”
The Norwegian king, congratulating Vyalba on the fifth gold medal, noted that Elena is very similar to the ancient Greek goddess of victory. To a certain extent, his words proved to be prophetic.
Nogano Olympics
In 1998, Elena Vyalbe took part in the Olympics, which started in Nogano, Japan. Then the Russians managed to take first place in the 4x5 relay race in a bitter struggle. On the first and second stretches of the path, our skiers competed with Norwegian athletes.
At the third stage, Elena Vyalbe picked up the baton, and later passed it to Larisa Lazutkina, breaking away from her rivals by 23 seconds. With this performance, the athlete from Magadan ended her career.
Regalia and awards
During the years of hard work, Elena Valerievna Vyalbe received the highest awards and regalia. She is not only the Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, but also of Russia. She was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples, the Order for Services to the State and Outstanding Sports Achievements, the Order for Services to the Fatherland, III degree, the Order for High Sports Achievements at the 17th Winter Olympic Games in 1994. In addition, the Magadan skier was awarded the badge of honor “For the development of physical culture and sports.”
Since 2010, she has been the president of the Cross Country Ski Federation.
Out of profession
Elena Vyalbe, whose personal life was one hundred percent successful, today lives in the Moscow region (Istra district). She is surrounded by the closest and mostpeople dear to her: husband Maxim, son Franz, daughter Polina and mother. Elena is very interested in how the fate of her children will turn out, and in raising them she adheres to strict rules.
