Borzakovsky Yuri (born in 1981) is a Russian track and field athlete. 2001 World Indoor Athletics Champion in the 800m race.
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, born on Cosmonautics Day, was named after Gagarin. Yuri was the eldest in the family and was an example for the younger children.
At the age of ten, he began training in the athletics section. The energetic and lively child enjoyed the training sessions. By the age of twelve, he achieved some positive results in this sport and received the nickname Kenyan.
Since childhood, Yuri has admired runners from this country and claimed that they have a different muscle structure, ideal for running.
However, the athlete himself has all the data to win various competitions. He is naturally endowed with enormous 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 the success in middle-distance running depends, these qualities allow Yuri to win various competitions.
At the World Indoor Athletics Championships, held in the spring of 2001 in Lisbon, nineteen-year-old Borzakovsky beat all competitors in the 800 m final, finishing first and winning gold. He beat the silver medalist by almost 2 seconds and showed the second fastest time in the history of indoor track and field games.
Yuri Borzakovsky's tactical trick is a slow start and a fast finish. 500 m from the start, the runner catches up and easily passes his opponents, leaving them no chance. His advantage increases with almost every step, reaching tens of meters.
However, athletes from other teams do not like this style of running. So at one of the international tournaments, Kenyan Noah Ngeni, at that time the world record holder in the 1000 m race, hit Yuri, who was trying to get around his opponents, in the liver, and when he tried again, 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 track and field athlete himself studies at 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 nor high-profile titles turned his head. Yuri Borzakovsky continues his daily training, hoping to become a prize-winner at the next competition.
Brief biographical dictionary
"Yuri Borzakovsky" and other articles from the section
Head coach of the Russian national athletics team since 2015.
Former Vice-President of the All-Russian Athletics Federation.
Yuri Borzakovsky was born on April 12, 1981 in the city of Kratovo, Moscow region. After school he graduated from the Moscow State Academy of Physical Culture. He started participating in athletics at an early age. During this period, he was able to achieve impressive results.
Borzakovsky is the title holder: Champion of Russia among youth in the 800 m run, winner of the World Youth Games, multiple champion of Russia in the 800 m run, Russian record holder in the 400 and 800 m run among juniors, European and Russian record holder in the 800 m run among youth, world, European and Russian record holder among youth in the 800 m indoor race, Russian record holder in the 600 m indoor race, 800 m, 800 m indoor and 1000 m indoor, European champion among juniors, two-time winner of the winter European Championship in the 800 m run, European Youth Champion in the 400 m run.
Borzakovsky's main distance, in which he has competed at the level of the world elite since 2000, is 800 m. The athlete's distinctive tactics is the ability to stay behind the group for the first 500 m, and then get 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 ended up seventh. In 2001, he became the world indoor champion, and at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, the athlete won silver medals, losing only 0.03 seconds to the Algerian Jabir Said-Guerni.
Yuri achieved his greatest success in his sports career at 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 the silver medal, losing to Rashid Ramzi from Bahrain. Two years later, at the World Championships in Osaka, Yuri took third place. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, he finished third in the semi-finals and thus did not qualify for the final round.
In 2009, he won gold at the European Indoor Championships for the second time in his career, and in 2011, at the World Championships in Daegu, he became third in the 800-meter event, losing to world record holder Kenyan David Rudisha and Abubaker Kaki from Sudan. In 2012, for the first time in his career, he won the European Summer Championship, winning in Helsinki.
The athlete played for the Dynamo sports society. Borzakovsky announced his retirement on July 23, 2014, 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 athletics team, and two months later he was confirmed in this position. He is also vice-president of the All-Russian Athletics Federation.
On December 6, 2019, Yuri Borzakovsky submitted an application to the first vice-president acting as president of ARAF, Yulia Tarasenko, about his desire to resign from the presidium of the organization and resign as vice-president.
Presidium of the All-Russian Athletics Federation 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's 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 Russian championships (2000, 2002 - 400 m).
Russian indoor champion (1999, 2001, 2004 - 800 m, 2006 - 1500 m, 2008 - 4x800 m relay).
Winner of the European Cup (1999, 2002).
Winner of the European Indoor Cup (2008 - 800x600x400x200 m relay).
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, 1500 m - 3:41.53 (2006).
As a boy, he became a football player and became a 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, born on Cosmonautics Day, was named after Gagarin. Yuri was the eldest in the family and was an example for the younger children.
At the age of ten, he began training in the athletics section. The energetic and lively child enjoyed the training sessions. By the age of twelve, he achieved some positive results in this sport and received the nickname Kenyan.
Since childhood, Yuri has admired runners from this country and claimed that they have a different muscle structure, ideal for running.
However, the athlete himself has all the data to win various competitions. He is naturally endowed with enormous 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 the success in middle-distance running depends, these qualities allow Yuri to win various competitions.
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On wikipedia
The highest achievements of Yuri Borzakovsky
Achievements:
Champion of the XXVIII Olympic Games (2004, Athens) in the 800m race
World Indoor Champion 2001,
European Indoor Champion 2000 (Ghent),
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 meter race
Interview with Yuri
Yura, at the age of 19, in infancy for a middle athlete, you already ran in the Olympic final. When did you become interested in running?
- It all happened by chance. At the age of 10, he went to play football at the sports school in his hometown of Zhukovsky. Two weeks later there were the first competitions. I thought it was football, but it turned out that it was running. I came to the finish line second. I was very happy and decided to stay.
Do you regret football?
- We often play football during training. In the game you move and don’t notice a huge amount of acceleration, you get less tired psychologically. 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 separated, the parents changed their place of residence. True, we only found out about this at the age of 16, when we met again and remembered our childhood. After this meeting we never parted. I began to look after her. And three years later they got married. 
Do you remember when you proposed?
- We walked together, as usual, around the city. Then we 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 made it to the finals. Using positive emotions after the wedding, I won the 2001 Winter World Championships. And in May last year a boy was born, they named him Yaroslav.
Svetlana Masterkova about Yuri Borzakovsky
Yuri Borzakovsky is an ideal athlete. He is very strong mentally. His tactics - a slight lag and a dash at the finish - are a win-win tactic. But only on one condition. If the athlete is in ideal physical shape.
This is how Yuri won the Olympic Games in Athens. However, if there was something wrong in the preparation during the season, 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 opponents.
Video
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Yuri Borzakovsky: “Victories at the Olympics are not so easily forgotten”
Russian runner Yuri Borzakovsky spoke about the upcoming Olympics in Beijing and shared his memories of his victory at the 2004 Games.
“The start at the national championship is preparatory. A kind of training for Olympic running: a race, the next day a semi-final and the next day a final. I had a race here, the semi-final the next day, 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 Olympic running is practiced week after week, month after month. But in general, this Olympics will be easier for me psychologically, 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 undergo some kind of acclimatization and fly to Beijing three days before the start. I haven’t planned the Olympic running yet, because there are no race lineups as such yet. Then I’ll see what the draw looks like, find out my race and, based on this information, I’ll dance, how to run, what tactics to use. I calm myself down psychologically. If you start thinking about the Olympics, sleep immediately disappears. You get tired, your body is exhausted and wants to sleep, but thoughts about the start don’t let you sleep. As soon as you forget, you immediately switch off. Therefore, I try not to think about the race or counting elephants, but to remember my friends - how we went fishing with them. Or better yet, I’ll think about my family: my wife, sons Yaroslav and Lev, who are now relaxing with their mother-in-law at the dacha. They have already grown up, and they have their own friends and their own affairs there. With such thoughts I immediately fall asleep.
The highest positions in middle-distance running are firmly occupied by runners from Kenya, Ethiopia, and North Africa. It’s rare that any European is able to break even into the top ten runners in the world. All the more significant are the achievements of track and field athlete Yuri Borzakovsky, European champion, Olympic Games triumphant and multiple winner of world championships. However, fans valued the athlete not only for his awards: every race with his participation became a real thriller, in which the final outcome was always postponed until the last seconds.
Finishing Master
Inexperienced fans believe that in running disciplines everything depends solely on the physical condition of the athlete, and that any race is simply a speed competition. However, in middle-distance running competitions, the tactical struggle between athletes occupies an important place. In this regard, Yuri Borzakovsky was an unsurpassed master and a real grandmaster in athletics.
The athlete, once a successful long-distance sprinter, possessed excellent explosive speed.
Not wanting to get involved in a tense struggle in the main group of competitors at a distance, a native of the Moscow region preferred to calmly run 500 m behind everyone, and then, having overcome the last bend, turned on his excellent speed and pulled ahead from behind the discouraged competitors.
Thus, Yuri Borzakovsky achieved a brilliant victory at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and won all his awards in the same way. Together with his mentor, he carefully studied the capabilities of his future rivals and very accurately determined the pace of his running over the distance and the decisive moment for the last push.
From football to athletics
Yuri Borzakovsky was born in the Moscow region in 1981 in the small town of Kratovo. His parents are simple people. Mom worked as a janitor, and father turned the steering wheel on a garbage truck. He was named Yura in honor of Gagarin, since he was born on Cosmonautics Day.
An active, energetic boy could not sit still, loved to play football and was constantly lost in the yard. Yuri Borzakovsky, whose biography could have turned out differently, got into athletics almost by accident. Arriving at the stadium, he saw a group of boys who were playing football, and, joining them, signed up for the company in their section. Yuri attended training sessions with pleasure, progressed at 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 by heart the achievements of the best athletes.
Finding yourself
Fantastic physical data allowed Yuri to try his hand at a fairly wide range of running disciplines. A naturally good heart perfectly supplied oxygen to the body, providing endurance. The runner was also excellently developed physically: almost 50% of the mass of his legs was pure muscle.
Thanks to his excellent speed, he ran well over long sprint distances and even took part in competitions in the 200 m race. Still, after going through various options, Yuri Borzakovsky settled on middle distances. Speed endurance, coupled with an excellent finishing spurt, allowed him to perform best in the 800, 1000, 1500 m races.
Junior exploits
It was at a distance of 800 m that Yuri Borzakovsky won his first serious international award. His native walls helped him in this. At the World Youth Games held in Moscow in 1998, he won a gold medal in the 800 m distance, and added a silver medal in the 1500 m distance.
On the domestic stage, Yuri Borzakovsky was also unstoppable. He became the national champion among youth 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 opened up for him precisely in the eight hundred meters.
The Rise of an Athletics Star
The flowering of stayers, that is, specialists in middle-distance running, comes with age, since these grandmasters from athletics acquire skill along with experience. However, Yuri Borzakovsky, an athlete with outstanding physical characteristics and extraordinary intelligence, began to win quite early. At the age of 18, he won the Russian adult championship, then the same year he won the European Junior Championship.
A year later, Yuri Borzakovsky reached a serious international level, winning gold at the European Indoor Championships. Having updated his personal best 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 middle-distance running was established forever. Since the time of the legendary Bolotnikov and Kuts, European stayers have had virtually no achievements at a serious level. However, Yuri Borzakovsky gradually became the continent's real star in athletics. After yesterday’s junior, at the age of 19, managed to reach the finals of the Sydney Olympics, competing on equal terms with the best, they started talking about him as a possible winner of the next Games in Athens.
The main victory in my career
During the pre-Olympic seasons, Yuri Borzakovsky gained momentum and consistently won major tournaments. In 2003, he made his debut at the World Championships, where he was one step away from gold. It is noteworthy that many experts did not say that the African runner won, but that Borzakovsky lost his 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 and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.
The 800m final became one of the most spectacular television broadcasts of the Athens Games. Yuri Borzakovsky chose his favorite tactics and stayed behind his main competitors for most of the distance. However, at some point it seemed that the athlete made the final push too late. 50 meters before the finish, he was hopelessly behind his competitors, but Yuri rushed like the wind and was literally half a meter ahead of his famous 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 truly stellar status. However, the hardworking athlete did not slow down and continued to work hard in training to achieve new victories. In 2005, he came second at the World Championships, and two years later he took the bronze medal, losing to his opponents in a slow tactical final.
A few months before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Yuri Borzakovsky (running, 800 m) showed his second result at one of the commercial tournaments. He was in excellent shape and was considered one of the contenders for victory, but failure awaited him in the capital of China. Having overcome the qualifications with difficulty, in the semi-final race Yuri showed only the third result and did not even qualify for 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 highest level for several more years. 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 ended his active career in 2014, but did not say goodbye to sports, switching to coaching a year later.
The Athens Olympic champion met his wife Irina in kindergarten. Having met fifteen years later, they decided not to be separated again and got married at a fairly young age. By the way, his chosen one also previously participated in athletics.
Since then, they have had two sons, the eldest of whom is also involved in athletics and has already won youth tournaments.
As a boy, he became a football player and became a world and European champion in athletics. The most talented Russian runner Yuri BORZAKOVSKY is missing this winter season - he will not go to the World Championships in Birmingham in March. But he dreams of becoming the best in Paris in August.
His wife Ira helped him win his first gold medal at the world championship. For this, he taught his young wife culinary wisdom, which he masters perfectly. Now the governor of the Moscow region, Boris GROMOV, is building an entire stadium in Zhukovsky “for Borzakovsky,” and Yura will not have to travel to Moscow every day in his “nine” for training.
Yura, at the age of 19, in infancy for a middle athlete, you already ran in the Olympic final. When did you become interested in running?
Everything happened by chance. At the age of 10, he went to play football at the sports school in his hometown of Zhukovsky. Two weeks later there were the first competitions. I thought it was football, but it turned out that it was running. I came to the finish line second. I was very happy and decided to stay.
Do you regret football?
During training we often play football. In the game you move and don’t notice a huge amount of acceleration, you get less tired psychologically. 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 separated, the parents changed their place of residence. True, we only found out about this at the age of 16, when we met again and remembered our childhood. After this meeting we never parted. I began to look after her. And three years later they got married.
Do you remember when you proposed?
We walked together, as usual, around the city. Then we 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 made it to the finals. Using positive emotions after the wedding, I won the 2001 Winter World Championships. And in May last year a boy was born, they named him Yaroslav.
And who is the boss in your family?
My wife says I am. But sometimes it shows the opposite. It happens that Ira is wrong about something, she is aware of it, but she tries not to show it to me. He says: I’m older than you, which means I’m right. She really is a year older. But when she needs to answer for something, she says: you are the eldest in the family, you sort it out. (Ira later deciphered: “Married means to her husband, he is the most important!” - V.R.)
As a child I fed the whole family
What does a young wife do besides raising a child?
She is a needlewoman, a seamstress by profession. Maybe for fun, sew yourself a dress or suit. Before the birth of her son, she managed to work as a secretary. Now a housewife. And even before that I was involved in athletics and ran. Nowadays, too, to keep fit, he sometimes goes for a run in the forest.
A small child probably doesn’t let you sleep at night, do you have to get up often?
To be honest, they let me get enough sleep. I don't get up. Everyone understands that I have a hard workout tomorrow and I need to be in shape.
Do you live separately from your parents?
We are currently living with our mother-in-law. After victories at the World and European Championships, they promised me better living conditions. But for some reason this process took a long time. And my coach, Vyacheslav Makarovich, arranged a meeting with the governor of the Moscow region. We arrived 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 track and field athletes will be built in Zhukovsky. We went to look for housing and got a whole stadium in addition - great! There is already a project, the place has been cleared, and by the summer they will probably have time to lay the path.
Who cooks for you and your wife at home?
In the kitchen now either the wife or the mother-in-law is in charge. I don’t want to brag, but I can also make a lot of different dishes. I like to cook cabbage soup, for example. When I was unmarried and living with my parents, I had to cook often. 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 interested in cars, are you an exception?
Yes, I really like driving a car. But unlike my brother, I don’t like to dig into them. Thank God my car doesn’t break down.
And what model?
I learned to drive a V8. After the European Championship, I got some money and changed my old car to a “nine”.
What sports plans do you have for this year?
My coach and I decided to skip all the winter competitions. We want to be better prepared 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. Don't want to become a millionaire?
To be first, you need to win all the summer starts of the Golden League. To do this you will need to give it your all. Maintain peak form for three months. I'm still young for such loads. At some stages, of course, I will participate. But we must remember that the championship in Paris is ahead. And next year - the Olympics. In my opinion, a small Olympic gold medal is worth more than a pile of gold bars of the highest standard.
Yuri is not an alien
They say that Borzakovsky recovers faster than other athletes from physical activity and his heart works differently than others. And the reason for this is his naturally slow pulse. For comment, we turned to the President of the Sports Medicine Federation, Lev MARKOV.
Yuri has a very good heart from birth, and also a very trained one. It pumps oxygen better than competitors and helps the runner use his strength more effectively over the course. As for the pulse, these are rumors. He is not an alien, as some people think. And the fact that even on the eve of the competition Yuri had a cold, but went out and defeated everyone, should not be surprising. The reason is simple. When a person is sick, all the reserves of his body are mobilized. And they help you quickly adapt to new loads. The body seems to turn on additional power and work to the maximum! But only if the person has a very healthy heart.