Nkeirouka Khilarievna "Kira" Ezekh (russian: Нкеирука (Кира) Хилариевна Езех; born October 17, 1983) is a Russian curler. She currently skips her own team out of Saint Petersburg. The team won the 2022

Russian Curling Championships The Russian Curling Championships are annual national curling Bonspiel, tournaments held in Russia between various Russian curling clubs. The national championships were introduced during the 1992–93 season, after the Russian Curling Federation ...

. She has competed at fifteen World Women's Curling Championships and seventeen European Curling Championships. She won a silver medal at the

2017 World Women's Curling Championship The 2017 World Women's Curling Championship (branded as CPT World Women's Curling Championship 2017 for sponsorship reasons) was a curling event held between March 18–26 at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China. The winning Rachel Homan ...

, as well as three bronze medals from 2014 to 2016 as part of the

Anna Sidorova Anna Vladimirovna Sidorova (russian: А́нна Влади́мировна Си́дорова; born 6 February 1991) is a Russian curler. She currently skips her own team on the World Curling Tour. Sidorova was the skip of the Russian team tha ...

rink. She has won the European Championship three times (, , ) as well as a silver and bronze medal in 2014 and 2011 respectively. Ezekh represented Russia four times at the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, with her best finish coming in 2006 where her team finished in sixth with a 5–4 record.

Career

At the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

, in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, she was part of

Ludmila Privivkova Liudmila Andreyevna Privivkova (russian: Людмила Андреевна Прививкова) (born 13 September 1986 in Moscow; also spelled Ludmila or Liudmilla, but she spells it Liudmila) is a Curling, curler (Skip (curling), Skip) from Ru ...

's team. A year later her team won the

2006 European Curling Championships The 2006 European Curling Championships were held December 9–16, 2006 at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland. Men Division A Teams Standings A tournament Final round robin standings Session 1 December 9, 2006 Session 2 December 9, 2 ...

. She also represented Russia in the

2010 Vancouver Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

as second on Privivkova's team. In 2014, Ezekh served as the alternate on the

team at the

2014 World Women's Curling Championship The 2014 World Women's Curling Championship (branded as Ford World Women's Curling Championship 2014 for sponsorship reasons) was held from 15 to 23 March at the Harbour Station in Saint John, New Brunswick. Qualification The following nations a ...

, held from March 15 to 23 in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The team finished the round robin with an 8–3 record, earning the third seed in the playoffs. Russia lost to Team Korea in the 3 vs. 4 playoff game, but in a rematch the following day Ezekh and her teammates defeated the Korean team to win the bronze medal. It was the first medal for Russia in the history of the world women's curling championships. The team then followed up with bronze medals at both the 2015 and 2016 world women's curling championships, and a gold medal at the

2015 European Curling Championships The 2015 European Curling Championships were held from November 20 to 28 in Esbjerg, Denmark. Denmark last hosted the European Curling Championships in 1996 in Copenhagen. The Group C competitions were held during October in Champéry, Switzer ...

in the meantime. They just narrowly missed playing for gold for the first time at the 2016 Worlds, losing to Japan's

Satsuki Fujisawa is a Japanese curler from Kitami, Hokkaido. As a skip, she has won the Japanese national championship six times. Fujisawa skipped the bronze medal-winning Japanese team at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games and the silver medal-winning team at the ...

on the last shot of the semifinal. The team then defeated Canada's

Chelsea Carey Chelsea Danielle Carey (born September 12, 1984 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian curler from Calgary, Alberta. She is the 2016 and 2019 Canadian and Alberta women's champion skip and 2014 Manitoba provincial women's champion skip. Career E ...

for their third straight bronze. Team Sidorova made their first World Championship final at the 2017 Worlds, but settled for silver after losing to Canada's

Rachel Homan Rachel Catherine Homan (born April 5, 1989) is a Canadian international curler. Homan is a former Canadian junior champion, a three-time Canadian national champion, and the 2017 world champion, all as a skip. She was also the skip of the Cana ...

8–3 in the final.

Personal life

Her father is of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

n Igbo descent, and her mother of Chuvash.I support Kenyans by the call of my blood
/ref>

Teammates

2014 Sochi Olympic Games

, ''Skip''

Margarita Fomina Margarita Mikhailovna Fomina (russian: Маргари́та Миха́йловна Фомина́; born 19 August 1988 in Dmitrov) is a curler from Moscow, Russia. She was part of Ludmila Privivkova's team that won the 2006 European Curling Cha ...

, ''Third'' Alexandra Saitova, ''Second''

Ekaterina Galkina Ekaterina Vladimirovna Galkina (russian: Екатери́на Влади́мировна Га́лкина; born 10 August 1988 in Moscow) is a Russian curler. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, in Turin, Italy, she was part of Ludmila Privivkova's te ...

, ''Lead'' 2017 World Championship

, ''Skip''

, ''Third''

Alina Kovaleva Alina Romanovna Kovaleva (russian: Алина Романовна Ковалёва; born 18 February 1993) is a Russian curler from Saint Petersburg. Her major achievement to date was winning the 2015 European Curling Championships as alternate. ...

, ''Second'' Alexandra Raeva, ''Alternate''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ezekh, Nkeirouka 1983 births Living people Moscow Aviation Institute alumni Russian female curlers Curlers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Curlers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Curlers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Curlers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Russian people of Nigerian descent Olympic curlers of Russia Curlers from Moscow Medalists at the 2007 Winter Universiade Russian curling champions European curling champions Universiade medalists in curling Universiade gold medalists for Russia Universiade silver medalists for Russia Universiade bronze medalists for Russia Medalists at the 2003 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 2009 Winter Universiade