Vita Semerenko ( uk, Віта Олександрівна Семеренко; born 18 January 1986) is a Ukrainian

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 is

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

in women's relay, Olympic medalist and multiple

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, ...

medalist. She is one of the most successful Ukrainian winter athletes. Biathlete Valentyna is her twin sister.

Career

When she was in the fourth grade of elementary school, she took up cross-country skiing together with her twin sister Valentyna. But later they decided to switch to biathlon. In 2005 she won two medals at Junior World Championships and one at Junior European Championships. Since the competition in Ukrainian national team was quite rigorous, only Valja managed to qualify for

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 ...

. In 2005–06 World Cup season she debuted in German Oberhof in women's relay which was her only World Cup race in that season. Next season she had her first World Cup race – individual race in Swedish

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

where she with three misses finished 23rd as the best among Ukrainians. Her first World Cup podium came on 20 December 2008, in Austrian

Hochfilzen Hochfilzen is a town and municipality in the Kitzbühel district of the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is located in the Pillersee valley 5 km east of Fieberbrunn. Population was 1,147 in 2016. It is a popular winter sports resort, especially f ...

, where she was second in sprint. She also competes sometimes in summer biathlon competitions, including World and European championships. But Vita's greatest achievement in this modification of biathlon was in 2012 when she won City-Biathlon in

Püttlingen Püttlingen () is a town in Saarland, Germany, 10 km northwest of Saarbrücken. Geography The town lies in the Köller Valley, approximately 20 km to the northwest of Saarbrücken and 5 km north of Völklingen. Going in a clockwi ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, which was very popular among leading biathletes. She won the silver medal in 4×6 km relay event at the Biathlon World Championships 2008. In the Olympic cycle between

2010 Winter 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 Gret ...

and 2014 Winter Olympics she always was on the World Championships podiums winning bronze in individual in 2011, bronze in sprint in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and bronze once again in sprint in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

(her teammate Olena Pidhrushna became then World Champion). Apart from her individual medals she also was second in women's relay in

. She represented Ukraine at the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. In Vancouver she was one of national hopes for a medal but she didn't achieve high results. Stamp of Ukraine s1368

On 9 February 2014, she got her bronze medal in women's sprint competition thus winning the first medal for Ukraine at the 2014 Winter Olympics. On 21 February, together with Juliya Dzhyma, Valj Semerenko and Olena Pidhrushna she won the gold medal in the Women's relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia. This is still the greatest achievement for Ukraine in biathlon. Due to illness, surgery and then pregnancy she missed almost three seasons, returning to competitions only in March 2016. She qualified to represent

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

. She competed in all personal races at the Games with 14th place in sprint being her personal best. She received the Best Athlete of a Month award from

National Olympic Committee of Ukraine The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine ( uk, Нацiональний олiмпiйський комiтет України) is a non-profit all-Ukrainian public organization responsible for development, reinforcement, and protection of the Olym ...

for four times – in March 2009, March 2010, March 2011, March 2012.

Personal life

Vita is married to a footballer of a regional league Andriy Patsiuk. On 19 September 2016, she gave a birth to the son whose name is Mark. She graduated from

Sumy Sumy ( uk, Суми ) is a city of regional significance in Ukraine, and the capital of Sumy Oblast. The city is situated on the banks of the Psel River in northeastern Ukraine with a population of according to the 2021 census, making it the 23 ...

State Pedagogical Makarenko University.

Results

Winter Olympics

World Championships

World Cup

Individual podiums

Relay podiums

Positions

IBU Cup

Relay podiums

References

External links

* *
Biathlon.com.ua
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Semerenko, Vita 1986 births Living people Ukrainian female biathletes Olympic biathletes for Ukraine Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2018 Winter Olympics Ukrainian twins Twin sportspeople Biathlon World Championships medalists Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Ukraine Olympic bronze medalists for Ukraine Olympic medalists in biathlon Dynamo Sports Club sportspeople Universiade medalists in biathlon FISU World University Games gold medalists for Ukraine Universiade silver medalists for Ukraine Universiade bronze medalists for Ukraine Competitors at the 2007 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 2011 Winter Universiade Laureates of the Prize of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for special achievements of youth in the development of Ukraine Sportspeople from Sumy Oblast