Olga Borisovna Graf (; born 15 July 1983) is a Russian

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marath ...

. Graf competed at 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 ...

, where she won bronze medals both in the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

event and in the

team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

Personal life

Olga Graf was born 15 July 1983 in

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

Soviet Union 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 ...

. She began speed skating in 1995 when her martial arts instructor suggested that she try it. She attended the Siberian State University of Physical Education and Sport. In 2007, she joined the Russian national speed skating team. Graf is married to Rustam Madaminov and lives in

Kolomna Kolomna (, ) is a historic types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva River, Moskva and Oka Rivers, (by rail) southeast of Moscow. Population: History Mentioned for the fir ...

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 ...

. She speaks Russian, German and English.

Early speed skating career

Graf gradually worked her way up the world standings in women's speed skating. In her debut 2007–08 World Cup appearance she finished 56th in the 3000m/5000m. In the 2009–10 World Cup she improved her 3000m/5000m result slightly to 46th. She performed better that year in the 1500m where she finished 35th. She did not qualify for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

in Vancouver. It was not until the 2011–12 World Cup that Graf was able to crack the top ten in the individual. That year she finished 9th in the 3000m/5000m. In the 2012–13 World Cup she placed 7th in the 3000m/5000m and 3rd in the 5000m event.

2014 Sochi Olympics

At the

in the 3000m event Graf skated in the 10th pair against

Jilleanne Rookard Jilleanne Rookard (born January 9, 1983, in Wyandotte, Michigan) is a former speed skater who has competed since 2006. She was named to the U.S. team for the 2010 Winter Olympics. She reached the 12th place in the 3000m in a time of 4:13.05 and ...

of the United States. She finished with a time of 4:03.47 which was good enough for first place. However, two pairs later

Martina Sáblíková Martina Sáblíková () (born 27 May 1987) is a Czech speed skater, specializing in long track speed skating. She is an Olympic gold medal winner and a multiple European and World allround champion. She became the first Czech to win two Olym ...

of the Czech Republic finished with a time of 4:01.95, pushing Graf into second. In the thirteenth and final pair

Ireen Wüst Irene Karlijn "Ireen" Wüst (; born 1 April 1986) is a Dutch former long track speed skater. Wüst became the most successful speed skating Olympian ever by achieving at least one gold medal in each of five consecutive Winter Olympic appearan ...

of the Netherlands finished with a time 4:00.34 and win the gold medal and moving Graf into third for bronze. Graf finished 4th in the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

event, missing out on a podium position by 0.11 of a second. In the

, Graf helped her team win the bronze medal behind Netherlands and Poland.

2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

Graf qualified for the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

and was invited to participate by the International Olympic Committee. She, however, said that she is not going to participate. She said that her main target was the team pursuit, and out of four Russian female skaters who qualified IOC only invited two (including Graf) to participate, so that the Olympic Athletes from Russia were not able to form a pursuit team. She was not planning to retire in 2017/18 season.

Personal records

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graf, Olga 1983 births Russian female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters for Russia Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic bronze medalists for Russia Speed skaters from Omsk Russian people of German descent Living people World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Russian sportswomen