As a boy, he went into football, and became the 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, who was born on Cosmonautics Day, was named after Gagarin. Yuri was the eldest in the family and was an example for younger children.
At the age of ten, he began to train in the athletics section. Training was a pleasure for an energetic and lively child. Already by the age of twelve, he had achieved some positive results in this sport and was nicknamed the Kenyan.
Yuri from childhood admired the runners from this country and claimed that they have a different muscle structure, ideal for running.
However, the athlete himself has all the data for victories in various competitions. He is naturally endowed with tremendous 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 of success in middle distance running depends, these qualities allow Yuri to win various competitions.
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The highest achievements of Yuri Borzakovsky
Achievements:
Champion of the XXVIII Olympic Games (2004, Athens) in the 800m
World Indoor Champion 2001,
European Indoor Champion 2000 (Gent),
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 meters
Interview with Yuri
Yura, at the age of 19, in infancy for a middle schooler, you already fled to Olympic final. When did you get into running?
- Everything happened by chance. Started playing football at the age of 10 sports school his hometown Zhukovsky. Two weeks later was the first competition. I thought - in football, it turned out - on the run. Came second to the finish line. Was very happy and decided to stay.
Do you regret football?
- In training, we often play football. In the game you move and do not notice a huge number of accelerations, you get less psychologically tired. 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 parted, the parents changed their place of residence. True, we learned about this only at the age of 16, when we met again and remembered our childhood. After this meeting, we never parted. I started taking care of her. And three years later they got married. 
Do you remember when you proposed?
- Walked together, as usual, around the city. Then they 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 got to the final. On positive emotions after the wedding, I won the 2001 winter world championship. And in May last year, a boy was born, named Yaroslav.
Svetlana Masterkova about Yuri Borzakovsky
Yuri Borzakovsky is an ideal sportsman. He is very strong mentally. His tactics - a small gap and a breakthrough at the finish line - a win-win tactic. But only on one condition. If the athlete is in perfect physical shape.
That's how Yuri won on Olympic Games ah in Athens. However, if something went wrong during the season in preparation, 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 rivals.
Video
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Yury Borzakovsky: “Victories at the Olympics are not so easily forgotten”
Russian runner Yuri Borzakovsky spoke about the upcoming Beijing Olympics and shared his memories of winning the 2004 Games.
“The start at the national championship is preparatory. A kind of training for the Olympic run: the race, the next day the semi-final and the day after the final. Here I had a race, the next day I had a semi-final 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 the Olympic run is practiced from week to week, from month to month. But in general, this Olympics will be psychologically easier for me, 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 go through a kind of acclimatization and three days before the start I'll fly to Beijing. I have not planned the Olympic run yet, because as such there are no races yet. Then I will see how the lot looks like, I will find out my race and, based on this information, I will dance, how to run, what tactics to use. I calm myself psychologically. If you start thinking about the Olympics, the dream immediately disappears. You get tired, the body is exhausted and wants to sleep, but the thought of starting does not let you sleep. As soon as you forget, you immediately turn off. Therefore, I try not to think about the race or count the elephants, but to remember my friends - how we went fishing with them. Or I’d better think about my family: my wife, sons Yaroslav and Leo, who are now resting at their mother-in-law’s dacha. They have already grown up, and they have their own friends there, their own business. With these thoughts, I immediately fall asleep.
Yura, at the age of 19, in infancy for an average athlete, you already ran in the Olympic final. When did you get into running?
Everything happened by chance. At the age of 10, he went to play football at the sports school of his hometown of Zhukovsky. Two weeks later was the first competition. I thought - in football, it turned out - on the run. Came second to the finish line. Was very happy and decided to stay.
Do you regret football?
In training, we often play football. In the game you move and do not notice a huge number of accelerations, you get less psychologically tired. 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 parted, the parents changed their place of residence. True, we learned about this only at the age of 16, when we met again and remembered our childhood. After this meeting, we never parted. I started taking care of her. And three years later they got married.
Best of the day
Do you remember when you proposed?
We walked together, as usual, around the city. Then they 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 fulfilled my task in Sydney - I got to the final. On positive emotions after the wedding, I won the 2001 winter world championship. And in May last year, a boy was born, named Yaroslav.
And who is the head of your family?
The wife says I am. But sometimes it shows the opposite. It happens that Ira is wrong about something, she is aware of this, but she tries not to show it to me. He says: I'm older than you, so I'm right. She is indeed a year older. But, when you need to answer for something, she says: you are the eldest in the family, you sort it out. (Ira later deciphered: “Married means a husband, he is the most important!” - V.R.)
As a child, he fed the whole family
What does a young wife do besides raising a child?
She is a needlewoman, a seamstress by profession. Maybe for the sake of pleasure, sew a dress or a suit for himself. Before the birth of her son, she managed to work as a secretary. Now a housewife. And even earlier she was engaged in athletics, she ran. Now, too, in order to keep fit, he sometimes goes out into the forest for a run.
A small child probably does not let you sleep at night, do you often have to get up?
To be honest, they let me sleep. I don't get up. Everyone understands that tomorrow I have a hard workout and I have to be in shape.
Do you live separately from your parents?
We live with my mother-in-law. After victories at the World and European Championships, they promised me to improve my living conditions. But for some reason this process was delayed. And my coach, Vyacheslav Makarovich, arranged a meeting with the governor of the Moscow region. We came 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 athletes will be built in Zhukovsky. We went to work on housing, and got a whole stadium in addition - great! There is already a project, a place has been cleared, by the summer, perhaps, they will have time to lay a path.
Who cooks at home with your wife?
In the kitchen now either the wife or the mother-in-law is in charge. I do not want to brag, but I can also make a lot of different dishes. I like to cook cabbage soup, for example. When I was not married and lived with my parents, I often had to cook. 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 into cars, are you an exception?
Yes, I love driving. But unlike my brother, I don't like to dig into them. Thank God my car doesn't break down.
And what model?
Learned to ride on the "eight". After the European Championship, money appeared, the old car was changed to the “nine”.
What kind sports plans do you have for this year?
We decided to skip all the winter starts with the coach. We want to better prepare 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. No desire to become a millionaire?
To be the first, you need to win all the summer starts of the Golden League. To do this, you need to give everything to the fullest. Keep peak shape for three months. I'm still young for such loads. At some stages, of course, I will participate. But we must remember that ahead of the championship in Paris. And next year, the Olympics. I think it's a little golden Olympic medal more expensive than a pile of gold bars of the highest standard.
Yuri is not an alien
They say that Borzakovsky recovers faster than other athletes after physical activity and his heart does not work like others. And the reason for this is his naturally slow pulse. For a comment, we turned to the president of the Sports Medicine Federation, Lev Markov.
Yuri's heart is very good from birth, besides it is very trained. It pumps oxygen better than rivals, and helps the runner to use his strength more efficiently on the distance. As for the pulse - it's rumors. He is not an alien, as some people think. And the fact that on the eve of the starts Yuri had a cold, but went out and defeated everyone, should not be surprised. The reason is simple. When a person is sick, all the reserves of his body are mobilized. And they help to quickly adapt to new loads. The body, as it were, turns on additional power and works to the maximum! But only if a person has a very healthy heart.
The highest positions in middle-distance running are firmly occupied by runners from Kenya, Ethiopia, and North Africa. Rarely is a European able to break even into the top ten runners in the world. The more significant are the achievements of the athlete Yuri Borzakovsky, European champion, Olympic Games triumphant and multiple winner of world championships. However, the fans appreciated the athlete not only for awards: each race with his participation became a real thriller, in which the final denouement was always postponed to the last seconds.
Master of the Finish Sprint
Inexperienced fans believe that in running disciplines everything depends solely on the physical condition of the athlete, and that any race is just a speed contest. However, it is the tactical struggle between athletes that occupies an important place in middle-distance running competitions. In this regard, Yuri Borzakovsky was an unsurpassed master and a real athletics grandmaster.
The athlete, once a successful long-distance sprinter, had a magnificent explosive speed.
Not wanting to get involved in a tense struggle in the main group of rivals at a distance, a native of the Moscow region preferred to calmly run 500 meters behind everyone, and then, having overcome the last turn, turned on his excellent speed and pulled ahead from behind the backs of discouraged competitors.
Thus, Yuri Borzakovsky achieved a bright victory at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and won all his awards in the same way. Together with a mentor, he carefully studied the capabilities of his future rivals and very accurately determined the pace of his run at a distance and the decisive moment for the last spurt.
From football to athletics
Yuri Borzakovsky was born in the Moscow region in 1981 in small town Kratovo. His parents are ordinary people. Mom worked as a janitor, and my father turned the steering wheel on a garbage truck. Yura was named after Gagarin, since he was born on the day of cosmonautics.
An active energetic boy could not sit still, he loved to play football and constantly disappeared in the yard. AT athletics Yuri Borzakovsky, whose biography could have turned out differently, came almost by accident. Arriving at the stadium, he saw a company of boys who played football, and, having joined them, signed up for their company in the section. Yuri attended training with pleasure, progressed at an incredible speed and at the age of twelve he even earned the nickname "Kenyan".
By the way, it was the Kenyan runners who were the boy's childhood idols, he admired their incredible physical characteristics and knew the achievements of the best athletes by heart.
Finding yourself
Fantastic physical data allowed Yuri to try his hand at a fairly wide range of running disciplines. By nature, a good heart perfectly supplied oxygen to the body, providing endurance. The runner was also well developed physically: almost 50% of the mass of his legs were pure muscles.
Thanks to his excellent speed, he ran excellently over long sprint distances and even competed in the 200 m. various options, Yuri Borzakovsky stopped at medium distances. Speed endurance, coupled with an excellent finishing spurt, allowed him to prove himself in the best way in the 800, 1000, 1500 meters.
Junior exploits
It was at a distance of 800 m that Yuri Borzakovsky won his first serious international award. The native walls helped him in this. At the World Youth Games held in Moscow in 1998, he won the gold medal in the 800m and added a silver medal in the 1500m.
In the domestic arena, Yuri Borzakovsky was also unstoppable. He became the national champion among youths at a distance of 1500 m and won the junior tournament, taking part in the 400 m race.
Nevertheless, even then it was clear that the most promising prospects for him open up precisely at the eight-hundred-meter race.
The Rise of an Athletics Star
The heyday of stayers, that is, specialists in middle-distance running, comes with age, as these grandmasters from athletics gain skill along with experience. However, Yuri Borzakovsky, an athlete with outstanding physical data and outstanding intelligence, began to win quite early. At the age of 18, he became the winner in the adult championship of Russia, then in the same year he won the European championship among juniors.
A year later, Yuri Borzakovsky reached a serious international level, having won gold at the European Indoor Championships. Having updated his personal record in the summer, he confidently won a ticket to his first Olympics, which was held in Sydney in 2000.
In those years, it seemed that the hegemony of African athletes in the middle distance was established forever. Since the days of the legendary Bolotnikov and Kuts, European stayers have practically not had any achievements at a serious level. However, Yuri Borzakovsky gradually became the real star of the continent in athletics. After yesterday's junior at the age of 19 managed to reach the final of the Sydney Olympics, competing on equal terms with the best, they started talking about him as a possible winner next Games in Athens.
Major career win
Pre-Olympic seasons, Yuriy Borzakovsky gained momentum and consistently won major tournaments. In 2003, he made his debut at the World Championships, where he stopped one step away from gold. It is noteworthy that many experts did not say that the African runner won, but that Borzakovsky lost the well-deserved gold.
At the Athens Olympics, he was already considered one of the main contenders for victory, despite the presence of such giants as Wilson Kipketer, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.
The final of the 800m race became one of the most spectacular television broadcasts of the Athens Games. Yury Borzakovsky chose his favorite tactics and kept behind the backs of the main competitors for most of the distance. However, at some point it seemed that the athlete took the last spurt too late. With 50 meters to go, he was hopelessly behind his competitors, but Yuri rushed like the wind, and was literally half a meter ahead of eminent rivals at the finish line.
Life after the Olympic victory
Having won the Games in Athens, Yuri Borzakovsky firmly entered the elite of athletics and gained a truly stellar status. However, the hardworking athlete did not slow down and still worked hard in training to achieve new victories. In 2005, he became the second in the World Championship, two years later he took the bronze medal, losing to his rivals in a slow tactical final.
A few months before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Yuri Borzakovsky (running, 800 m) showed his second result in one of the commercial tournaments. He was in great shape and was considered one of the contenders for victory, but in the capital of China he was in for a failure. With difficulty overcoming the qualification, in the semi-final race, Yuriy showed only the third result and did not even go to the final.
He himself explained his defeat by unsuccessful acclimatization and miscalculations in preparation for the Olympic Games.
After the fiasco in China, Yuri Borzakovsky performed at the very high level. In 2011, he managed to take the bronze medal at the World Championships, despite the fact that by that time a generation of talented and hungry athletes had grown up.
The outstanding athlete completed his active career in 2014, but did not say goodbye to the sport, switching to coaching a year later.
The Olympic champion of Athens met his wife Irina back in kindergarten. Having met after fifteen years, they decided not to be separated anymore and got married at a fairly young age. By the way, his chosen one was also previously involved in athletics.
Since then, they have had two sons, the eldest of whom is also involved in athletics and has already won youth tournaments.
Head coach of the Russian national athletics team since 2015.
Former Vice-President of the All-Russian Federation of Athletics.
Yuri Borzakovsky was born on April 12, 1981 in the city of Kratovo, Moscow Region. After school he graduated from the Moscow State Academy physical culture. Started doing athletics early age. During this period he was able to achieve impressive results.
Borzakovsky is the holder of titles: Champion of Russia among youth in the 800 m race, winner of the World Youth Games, multiple champion of Russia in the 800 m, Russian record holder in the 400 and 800 m among juniors, European and Russian record holder in the 800 m among youth, world, European and Russian record holder among youth in the indoor 800 m, Russian record holder in the 600 m indoor, 800 m, 800 m indoor and 1000 m indoor, European champion among juniors, two-time winner European Winter Championships in the 800m, European Youth Champion in the 400m.
Borzakovsky's main distance, at which he has been performing at the world elite level since 2000, is 800 m. The athlete's distinctive tactic is the ability to stay the first 500 m behind the group, and then pull ahead thanks to his extremely strong sprinting qualities.
At the age of nineteen, Yuri Mikhailovich competed at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where he entered the final race, but was seventh. In 2001, he became the world champion in the hall, and at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, the athlete won silver medals, losing only 0.03 seconds to Algerian Jabir Said-Guerni.
His biggest success in sports career Yuri reached the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, becoming the Olympic champion, beating South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and world record holder Wilson Kipketer from Denmark in the final.
At the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, Borzakovsky again won a silver medal, losing to Rashid Ramzi from Bahrain. Two years later, at the World Championships in Osaka, Yuri took third place. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he finished third in the semi-finals and thus did not qualify for the final heat.
In 2009, for the second time in his career, he won the gold of the European Indoor Championships, and in 2011, at the World Championships in Daegu, he became the third in the 800-meter race, losing to world record holder Kenyan David Rudisha and Abubaker Kaki from Sudan. In 2012, for the first time in his career, he won summer championship Europe, having won in Helsinki.
The athlete played for the Dynamo sports society. On July 23, 2014, Borzakovsky announced his retirement, but assured that he would remain in athletics as a coach and leader. On February 6, 2015, Yuri Mikhailovich was appointed acting head coach of the Russian national track and field athletics team, and two months later he was approved in this position. He is also Vice-President of the All-Russian Federation of Athletics.
On December 6, 2019, Yury Borzakovsky filed an application addressed to the first vice-president, acting president of the ARAF, Yulia Tarasenko, about his desire to leave the presidium of the organization and resign as vice-president.
Presidium All-Russian Federation athletics December 11, 2019 accepted the resignation of Yuri Borzakovsky from the post of vice-president of the organization. At the same time, Borzakovsky will retain the position of head coach of the Russian national athletics teams.
Athlete height: 182 cm; weight: 72 kg.
Sports Achievements of Yuri Borzakovsky
Olympic champion(2004). Participant of the Olympic Games (2000, 2008, 2012).
Silver medalist (2003, 2005) and bronze medalist (2007, 2011) of the world championships.
World Indoor Champion (2001).
Bronze medalist at the World Indoor Championships (2006).
European champion (2010 - team, 2012 - 800 m).
Silver medalist of the European Championship (2002 - 4x400 m relay).
European Indoor Champion (2000, 2009).
Champion of Russia (2004, 2007-2011, 2013 - 800 m; 2005 - 1500 m).
Silver medalist of the championships of Russia (2000, 2002 - 400 m).
Russian indoor champion (1999, 2001, 2004 - 800 m, 2006 - 1500 m, 2008 - 4x800 m relay).
European Cup winner (1999, 2002).
Winner of the European Indoor Cup (2008 - relay race 800x600x400x200 m).
Four-time Russian record holder.
Records:
Personal records: 200 m - 22.56 (1999), 400 m - 45.84 (2000), 800 m - 1:42.47 (2001) NR, 1000 m - 2:15.50 (2008) NR, 1500 m - 3:40.28 (2005).
Indoor personal bests: 400m - 47.06 (2008), 600m - 1:16.02 (2010) NR, 800m - 1:44.15 (2001) NR, 1000m - 2:17.10 ( 2009) NR 1500m - 3:41.53 (2006).
Borzakovsky Yuri (born in 1981) - Russian athlete athlete. 2001 World Indoor Track and Field Champion in the 800m.
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, who was born on Cosmonautics Day, was named after Gagarin. Yuri was the eldest in the family and was an example for younger children.
At the age of ten, he began to train in the athletics section. Training was a pleasure for an energetic and lively child. Already by the age of twelve, he had achieved some positive results in this sport and was nicknamed the Kenyan.
Yuri from childhood admired the runners from this country and claimed that they have a different muscle structure, ideal for running.
However, the athlete himself has all the data for victories in various competitions. He is naturally endowed with tremendous muscular 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 of success in middle distance running depends, these qualities allow Yuri to win various competitions.
At the 2001 World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Lisbon, nineteen-year-old Borzakovsky beat all rivals in the final 800m race, coming to the finish line first and winning gold. He beat the silver medalist by almost 2 seconds and showed the second result in the history of indoor track and field athletics games.
Yury Borzakovsky's tactical trick is a slow start and a fast finish. After 500 m from the start, the runner catches up and easily bypasses the rivals, leaving them no chance. Its advantage increases with almost every step, reaching tens of meters.
However, this style of running is not liked by athletes from other teams. So on one of international tournaments Kenyan Noah Ngeni, at that time the world record holder in the 1000 m, hit Yuri, who was trying to get around his rivals, in the liver, and on the second attempt 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 athlete himself studies in 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, no high-profile titles turned his head. Yuri Borzakovsky continues daily training, hoping to become the winner of the next competition.
Brief Biographical Dictionary
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