Olga Podchufarova threw mud at her native country, but turned out to be of no use to anyone abroad.
The famous and titled Russian biathlete compared our sport to a “big tent”, made many harsh statements, criticized the coaching staff and simply dreamed of breaking out of what she thought was a vicious circle.
The idea of moving to Europe and playing for the Slovenian national team seemed great to her, but her expectations did not match reality. It turned out that no one in the West needs it.
The epiphany was painful.
Rapid rise and sharp fall
Olga Podchufarova was considered a great talent in the early 2010s. Olga started biathlon late, which did not prevent her from successfully performing at the junior level. Her debut at the adult World Cup took place in March 2013 in Sochi, and a year later she ran the individual race at the Olympic Games. The biathlete took only 49th place, but the potential was obvious to all specialists.
Nevertheless, Olga’s talent manifested itself only sporadically. She could win a race at the World Cup stage, and then simply disappear from the radar due to health problems. The athlete’s body could not cope with high loads, at least that was the official version. In 2017, Podchufarova reached the World Championship medal in the mixed relay, but this was not a signal for a breakthrough in her career.
On the contrary, the biathlete had a terrible start to the next season, and already in April 2018 she announced her retirement, simultaneously criticizing everyone around her. Olga then said that she did not feel motivated to play sports and wanted to find herself in something else. However, just a year later, Podchufarova canceled her previous decision and announced that she intended to resume her career as a biathlete.
Olga Podchufarova / Photo: © Boris Streubel / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
Unpleasant words about Russia and escape to Slovenia
At the same time, Olga uttered many loud words that she no longer wanted to connect her life with Russia, but saw her happiness in Europe. Soon information appeared that we were talking about Slovenia, where they were waiting for her. The Russian Biathlon Union (RBR) approved the transition. They didn’t really believe that the athlete Podchufarova was capable of returning to her previous level. Olga finally rudely talked about our sport on social networks.
— In the understanding of fans, our entire sport is some kind of show for evening gatherings or something like a circus performance. At one point, I also realized that it was all a gimmick. But I don’t really want to be a sad clown in it, so I’m changing the vector,” she wrote.
Many fans felt that they had been spat on, because they were rooting for Podchufarova. Some even went to the World Cup to support her. And then there’s this attitude…
Olga Podchufarova / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Alexander Vilf
Why didn’t it work in Europe?
At the end of the same year, Olga was on Match TV on the program “Biathlon with Dmitry Guberniev” and stated that she never regretted her decision to escape to Slovenia. She even announced that she plans to compete for World Championship medals, no more and no less. Only instead of great results came disappointment. She was never able to compete for Slovenia, and she also failed to obtain an EU passport, so Olga promised to return to Russia and try to revive her career in her homeland.
— I spent a year and a half in Slovenia waiting for official permission to perform as part of a new country. Circumstances have so developed that now I am returning home to Russia. None of the two sides expected such an outcome, but, without going into details, the internal laws of the EU do not allow me to complete the procedure for obtaining citizenship, which means that the prospect of competing as part of this country has been nullified. Of course, the current circumstances were a blow to the gut both for me and for the Slovenian sports federation, because the initial prospects were completely different,” Podchufarova wrote on her social networks in 2021.
Three years without competition made her statements about returning to the Russian national team rather funny. Few people believed that Olga would be able to again reach a level that allowed her to qualify for the Olympics and win the World Cup. So what about the World Cup, at least perform tolerably well at domestic competitions. Unfortunately, the fears were confirmed. Nothing worked out for Podchufarova, and in 2022 the biathlete again announced her retirement.
Later, the athlete tried to prove to fans and experts in Russia that her bad words about her homeland were misinterpreted. Only now few people were interested in this.
2023-10-05 16:50:34
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