Yulia Anatolyevna Chepalova (; born 23 December 1976 in

Komsomolsk-on-Amur Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐ‿ɐˈmurʲə) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur R ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

) is a former

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n cross-country skier.

Early and current personal life

Daughter of a cross-country skiing coach, Chepalova started to ski as soon as she began to walk. Coached by her father, Anatoly Chepalov, Yulia made her debut in 1986 and continued to move upward through the old

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

system (and later Russian, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991). Chepalov, a coach of the Russian junior national team, reportedly sold off all of his assets to help finance his daughter's career. Chepalova is currently affiliated with

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

, lives in

Syktyvkar Syktyvkar (, , ; , ) is the capital city of the Komi Republic in Russia, as well as its largest city. It is also the administrative center of the Syktyvkar Urban Okrug. Until 1930, it was known as Ust-Sysolsk after the Sysola, Sysola River. Ety ...

with her second husband, Vasily Rochev, and her daughter Olesya, and their daughter Vaselina who was born in February 2007; works as a sports instructor, and speaks, besides her native

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, also some

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Skiing career

Debuting on the

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cross-country circuit in the 1995–1996 season, Chepalova has continually ranked in the Top 15 throughout her career (the lone exception is the 2002–2003 season, where she took maternity leave to have her daughter Olesya), finishing #1 overall in 2000–2001 (#3 in 2005–2006 with #1 in the distance category (greater than 5 km)). This includes success at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial Nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship eve ...

, with golds in the 4 × 5 km relay (2001) and 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit (2005), silvers in the 4 × 5 km relay and 10 km freestyle (both 2005), and bronzes in the Individual sprint (2001) and Team sprint (2005). Additionally, Chepalova has won the women's 30 km at the

Holmenkollen ski festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in March and has been arranged every ...

three times (1999, 2004, and 2006), joining fellow Russian cross-country skier

Larisa Lazutina Larisa Yevgenyevna Lazutina (; née Ptitsyna, born 1 June 1965) is a Soviet-Russian former professional cross-country skier. Career Lazutina was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1998 (shared with Fred Børre Lundberg, Alexey Prokurorov and ...

as the only three-time winners of the event. She earned the Holmenkollen medal in 2004. 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 ...

, Chepalova won the women's 30 km freestyle event in her Olympic debut, becoming the youngest winner of that event (and in women's cross-country skiing). Four years later at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

, Chepalova won a complete set of medals with gold in the individual sprint, silver in the 10 km classical, and bronze in the 15 km freestyle. At the Winter Olympics in

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, Chepalova would win two more medals with a gold in the 4 × 5 km relay and a silver in the 30 km freestyle mass start. Chepalova was absent from the cross-country skiing World Cup for the 2006–2007 season due to her pregnancy. She tested positive for

Erythropoietin Erythropoietin (; EPO), also known as erythropoetin, haematopoietin, or haemopoietin, is a glycoprotein cytokine secreted mainly by the kidneys in response to cellular hypoxia; it stimulates red blood cell production ( erythropoiesis) in th ...

(EPO) during an in-competition doping control on 3 January 2009 in

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, Italy. She was banned from competition for two years after this. Immediately after the EPO test results went public her father and coach Anatoly Chepalov officially announced her retirement. On 29 November 2009, Chepalova addressed

IOC President The president of the International Olympic Committee is head of the executive board that assumes the general overall responsibility for the administration of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the management of its affairs. The IOC E ...

Jacques Rogge Jacques Jean Marie, Count Rogge (, ; 2 May 1942 – 29 August 2021) was a Belgian sports administrator, former athlete, and physician, who served as the eighth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2013. In 201 ...

where she came down hard on the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

, accusing the organisation of being biased and unscrupulous in general, of unlawful ruling of her case in particular, and of "severing the career" of many good athletes but all the efforts to restore her good name were of no avail. Following this, in December 2009, Chepalova ostracised

Russian Olympic Committee The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is the National Olympic Committee representing Russia. Its current president during IOC suspension is Mikhail Degtyarev. The membership of ROC is currently suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC ...

President Leonid Tyagachyov and Ski Federation of Russia President Vladimir Loginov for "their inaction in matters of defending the sportsmen whose guilt is not yet proven".

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 6 medals – (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) :a.

and

Olga Danilova Olga Valeryevna Danilova (Russian: Ольга Валерьевна Данилова; born 10 June 1970 in Bugulma, Tatar ASSR, Russian SFSR) is a Russian cross-country skier who competed from 1991 until she was banned for using performance-enha ...

tested positive in the drug test which was taken an hour before the relay race, after their names were submitted for the race. Russia couldn't replace them because according to the rules, replacement must have been done at least two hours before the starting time.

World Championships

* 6 medals – (2 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze) :a. Cancelled due to extremely cold weather.

World Cup

Season titles

* 2 titles – (1 overall, 1 distance)

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 18 victories * 33 podiums

Team podiums

* 13 victories – (11 , 2 ) * 25 podiums – (22 , 3 )

Overall record

:a. Classification is made according to FIS classification. :b. Includes individual and mass start races. :c. Includes pursuit and double pursuit races.

References

External links

"FIS Doping Panel delivers two decisions".
– FIS 23 December 2009 article accessed 25 December 2009. * * – click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file * – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file {{DEFAULTSORT:Chepalova, Yuliya 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Komsomolsk-on-Amur Doping cases in cross-country skiing Russian sportspeople in doping cases Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic cross-country skiers for Russia Holmenkollen medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Olympic gold medalists for Russia Olympic silver medalists for Russia Olympic bronze medalists for Russia Russian female cross-country skiers Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Cross-Country World Cup champions Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics 21st-century Russian sportswomen