Alexandr Yuryevich Zubkov (; born 10 August 1974) is a Russian retired

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobs ...

der who has competed since 1999. Competing in four

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held i ...

, he won two medals with a silver in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

(four-man) and a bronze in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

(two-man).Aleksandr Zubkov
Sports-Reference.com On 24 November 2017, he was found guilty of doping offences and stripped of his medals from the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Career

Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Zubkov 24 February 2014

Zubkov also won four medals at the

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since FIBT World Championships 1930, 1930. Starting with 2002, no Wo ...

with two silvers (Four-man:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

) and two bronzes (Two-man: 2008, Four-man:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

). He won the

Bobsleigh World Cup The Bobsleigh World Cup is an annual bobsleigh competitions. It has taken place since the 1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene lan ...

in the four-man event three times as well (2004–5, 2005–6, 2008–9). Prior to competing in

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobslei ...

, he competed in

luge A luge () is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds Supine position, supine (face-up) and feet-first. A luger begins seated, propelling themselves initially from handles on either side of the start ramp, then steers by using the Ca ...

. Zubkov finished 20th in the men's singles event at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

in Nagano.

2014 Winter Olympics

In 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, he was the flag bearer of Russia for the Opening Ceremony. Zubkov won Gold in both Two-Man and Four-Man

Bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobslei ...

. In the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Zubkov was coached by a former rival, Canadian Pierre Lueders. Zubkov also paid a fee to borrow personal skids from the 2011 World Champion,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

's Manuel Machata. Machata bought the skids for €29,000 in Switzerland, and had not qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The 2014 Olympics saw Germany failing to win a bobsleigh medal at an Olympics for the first time since Innsbruck 1964. Machata did not inform German Bobsleigh Luge and Skeleton Federation of this loan and received a one-year competitive ban and fine of €5,000 (250,000 rubles) from the German Federation.Christoph Becker (17 February 2014
Kein „olympiawürdiger“ Schlitten
''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''. After the 2014 Olympics, Zubkov received the

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

award 4th class with Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

handing the state awards. In October 2014 Zubkov announced his retirement from the sport due to a long-term injury which prevented him from competing at the start of the 2014–15 season. In May 2016, Zubkov was named in a New York Times investigation of the state-sponsored steroid program in Russia. On 24 November 2017, he was found guilty of doping offenses by the International Olympic Committee and stripped of his medals from the 2014 Winter Olympics. On 1 February 2018, following a Russian appeal, the CAS removed the sanctions from

Alexey Negodaylo Alexey Aleksandrovich Negodaylo (; born 28 May 1989) is a Russian bobsledder who has competed since 2010. Career Negodaylo was part of a four-man Russian team who originally won gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, ...

and

Dmitry Trunenkov Dmitry Vyacheslavovich Trunenkov (; born 19 April 1984) is a Russian bobsledder who has competed since the early 2000s. Career He won the silver medal in the four-man event at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in Altenberg, Germany. He won a gol ...

in bobsleigh, but upheld them on their teammates Alexandr Zubkov and

Alexey Voyevoda Alexey Ivanovich Voyevoda (; born 9 May 1980) is a Russian bobsledder, professional arm wrestler and politician. Bobsleigh A professional bobsleigher since 2002, Voyevoda won silver in the four-man bobsleigh event with teammates Philippe Egor ...

. In 2018, Zubkov appealed this decision in the Moscow City Court, which decided not to recognise the CAS decision in Russia. Despite no longer being an Olympic gold medallist, the Russian government has continued to classify him as an Olympic champion and pay him the lifetime Presidential stipend which is awarded to all Olympics medal winners.

Personal life

His daughter, Elisaveta Zubkova, is a Russian

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

slider.

References

External links

Bobsleigh four-man Olympic medalists for 1924, 1932–56, and since 1964

*

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080208132156/http://sports123.com/bob/mwc-4.html List of four-man bobsleigh World Cup champions since 1985
List of two-man bobsleigh World Cup champions since 1985
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zubkov, Alexandr 1974 births Living people Russian male bobsledders Russian male lugers Bobsledders at the 2002 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic bobsledders for Russia Olympic lugers for Russia Olympic silver medalists for Russia Olympic bronze medalists for Russia Sportspeople from Bratsk Olympic medalists in bobsleigh Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Russian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in bobsleigh Competitors stripped of Winter Olympics medals 20th-century Russian sportsmen