Olga Alekseyevna Zaitseva (russian: Ольга Алексеевна Зайцева; born 16 May 1978) is a former Russian
biathlete
The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...
. She began her career in 1994. After not competing in the
2014–15 season, Zaitseva announced her retirement on 24 January 2015. Shortly afterwards she announced that she had been appointed as caretaker head coach of the Russian biathlon team.
Record
Olympic Games
Zaitseva has won two gold medals and one silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games.
On 1 December 2017, she was disqualified from the 2014 Winter Olympics for doping offences. She appealed this decision to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...
in 2018. After a postponement that lasted until 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld her disqualification; however, it lifted her lifetime ban from all Olympic Games.
World Championships
Zaitseva has won eight medals — three gold, two silver and three bronze. All her World Championship medals Zaitseva won in two Championships:
2005 Hochfilzen, Austria and
2009 Pyeongchang, South Korea.
World Cup
During her first 1999—2000 World Cup season, Zaitseva only appeared in one race, didn't scoring for the overall standings. Starting from the second half
2001—02 season, she became a regular in the Russian World Cup team. The best result is the 4th place in the
2004—05 season and winning the mass start discipline cup of the same season. All her results from the
2013-14 season after Sochi were voided due to doping offences.
:''*Key:Races—number of entered races/all races; Points—won World Cup points; Position—World Cup season ranking.''
:''**2011–12 season in progress. Statistics as of 15 January 2012.''
[Olga Zaitseva](_blank)
IBU Profile
World Cup wins
Over the course of her career, Zaitseva has reached twelve personal World Cup wins. In the history of the
International Biathlon Union
The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the ...
she is ranked twelfth for all-time career victories. In addition, she has won twelve relay races and two mixed relay events as part of the Russian World Cup team.
*''Key:WCH—World Championships; OG—Olympic Games.''
**''2011–12 season in progress. Statistics as of 15 January 2012.''
Overall record
As of January 2012, Zaitseva has competed in a total of 208 races at senior level, winning 26 of them (a 12.5 win percentage), including 174 races with 12 wins (a 6.9 win percentage) in individual events. She has claimed at least two wins in each discipline of biathlon. Zaitseva has reached a total of 60 World Cup podiums (28.8%): 37 in individual races (21.3%) and 23 in team events (67.6%). In addition, she has achieved 120 top ten finishes — 57.7% of all the races she has entered (including 88 top ten results (50.6%) in individual races).
:''*Results in all IBU World Cup races. Statistics as of 15 January 2012.''
Achievements and honours
Sport titles
*
Winter Olympics
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 h ...
**
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 ...
– Gold medal in the Relay, silver medal in the 12.5 km Mass Start
**
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 ...
– Gold medal in the Relay
*
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
**
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
– Gold medal in the 12.5 km Mass Start and Relay, bronze in the 7.5 km Sprint and 10 km Pursuit
**
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
– Gold medal in the Relay, silver in the 7.5 km Sprint and Mixed Relay and bronze in the 10 km Pursuit.
* Mass Start World Cup winner — 2004–05
State Decorations and Awards
*
The Order of Friendship (5 March 2010).
*
Medal of the Order "For Merits to the Fatherland" 2nd Class (22 February 2007).
* Medal of the Order "For Merits to the Fatherland" 2nd Class (17 January 2003).
*
Honoured Master of Sports (2005).
Other Awards
* The Best Russian Athlete of the Year according to the vote at Sportbox.ru — 2011.
Personal life
Zaitseva has two sisters: Elena (b. 1976) and Oksana (b. 1973), who was her coach.
On 30 September 2006, Zaitseva married Milan Augustin, a Slovakian biathlon coach; they had a son Aleksandr in 2007, but divorced in 2013. In October 2015, Zaitseva gave birth to her second son Stepan. Around that time, she stopped coaching and was employed as a consultant for the Russian biathlon team. She was expected to return to coaching in 2016.
Двукратная олимпийская чемпионка по биатлону Зайцева во второй раз стала матерью
tass.ru. 17 October 2015
Notes
:a. The mixed relay, contested for the first time in the World Championships, was held in 2005.
:b. The mixed relay was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
:c. Until 2010—11 season it was required to leave out the result of the worst discipline race for the final result of discipline world cup (if there were four discipline races or more during the season), so the points in respective columnes «Points» is represented after deduction of the result of the worst discipline race.
:d. Since 2008—09 season it was applied another points system in World Cup. Earlier biathlete got 50 points for win and top-30 was awarded. Now World Cup give 60 points and top-40 awarded.
:e. Until 2010—11 season it was required to leave out the results of the three worst races for the final result of overall world cup, so the points in respective column «Points» is represented after deduction of the results of the three worst discipline races.
:f. Did not finish (DNF).
:g. Disqualified (DSQ).
References
External links
Official website
*
Profile on RBU website
Statistics at biathlon.com.ua
Profile on CSKA website
Olga Zaitseva: Lynchpin of the Russian biathlon squad
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaitseva, Olga
1978 births
Living people
Skiers from Moscow
Russian female biathletes
Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Biathletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Biathletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Olympic biathletes of Russia
Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Competitors stripped of Winter Olympics medals
Olympic medalists in biathlon
Olympic silver medalists for Russia
Olympic gold medalists for Russia
Biathlon World Championships medalists
Universiade medalists in biathlon
Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners
Cross-country skiing coaches
Russian sports coaches
Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" I class
Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II class
Doping cases in biathlon
Russian sportspeople in doping cases
Universiade bronze medalists for Russia
Competitors at the 2001 Winter Universiade
Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism alumni