Olga Alekseyevna Zaitseva (; born 16 May 1978) is a former Russian biathlete. She began her career in 1994. After not competing in the 2014–15 season, Zaitseva announced her retirement on 24 January 2015. Shortly afterwards she announced that she had been appointed as caretaker head coach of the Russian biathlon team.

Record

Olympic Games

Zaitseva has won two gold medals and one silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games. On 1 December 2017, she was disqualified from the 2014 Winter Olympics for doping offences. She appealed this decision to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

in 2018. After a postponement that lasted until 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld her disqualification; however, it lifted her lifetime ban from all Olympic Games.

World Championships

Zaitseva has won eight medals — three gold, two silver and three bronze. All her World Championship medals Zaitseva won in two Championships: 2005 Hochfilzen, Austria and 2009 Pyeongchang, South Korea.

World Cup

During her first 1999—2000 World Cup season, Zaitseva only appeared in one race, didn't scoring for the overall standings. Starting from the second half 2001—02 season, she became a regular in the Russian World Cup team. The best result is the 4th place in the 2004—05 season and winning the mass start discipline cup of the same season. All her results from the 2013-14 season after Sochi were voided due to doping offences. :''*Key:Races—number of entered races/all races; Points—won World Cup points; Position—World Cup season ranking.'' :''**2011–12 season in progress. Statistics as of 15 January 2012.''Olga Zaitseva
IBU Profile

World Cup wins

Over the course of her career, Zaitseva has reached twelve personal World Cup wins. In the history of the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the city. It was rocked by a corruption ...

she is ranked twelfth for all-time career victories. In addition, she has won twelve relay races and two mixed relay events as part of the Russian World Cup team. *''Key:WCH—World Championships; OG—Olympic Games.'' **''2011–12 season in progress. Statistics as of 15 January 2012.''

Overall record

As of January 2012, Zaitseva has competed in a total of 208 races at senior level, winning 26 of them (a 12.5 win percentage), including 174 races with 12 wins (a 6.9 win percentage) in individual events. She has claimed at least two wins in each discipline of biathlon. Zaitseva has reached a total of 60 World Cup podiums (28.8%): 37 in individual races (21.3%) and 23 in team events (67.6%). In addition, she has achieved 120 top ten finishes — 57.7% of all the races she has entered (including 88 top ten results (50.6%) in individual races). OlgaZaitseva-Trondheim

:''*Results in all IBU World Cup races. Statistics as of 15 January 2012.''

Achievements and honours

Sport titles *

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 ...

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 ...

– Gold medal in the Relay, silver medal in the 12.5 km Mass Start **

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 ...

– Gold medal in the Relay *

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

– Gold medal in the 12.5 km Mass Start and Relay, bronze in the 7.5 km Sprint and 10 km Pursuit **

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 ...

– Gold medal in the Relay, silver in the 7.5 km Sprint and Mixed Relay and bronze in the 10 km Pursuit. * Mass Start World Cup winner — 2004–05 State Decorations and Awards * The Order of Friendship (5 March 2010). * Medal of the Order "For Merits to the Fatherland" 2nd Class (22 February 2007). * Medal of the Order "For Merits to the Fatherland" 2nd Class (17 January 2003). * Honoured Master of Sports (2005). Other Awards * The Best Russian Athlete of the Year according to the vote at Sportbox.ru — 2011.

Personal life

Zaitseva has two sisters: Elena (b. 1976) and Oksana (b. 1973), who was her coach. On 30 September 2006, Zaitseva married Milan Augustin, a Slovakian biathlon coach; they had a son Aleksandr in 2007, but divorced in 2013. In October 2015, Zaitseva gave birth to her second son Stepan. Around that time, she stopped coaching and was employed as a consultant for the Russian biathlon team. She was expected to return to coaching in 2016.Двукратная олимпийская чемпионка по биатлону Зайцева во второй раз стала матерью
tass.ru. 17 October 2015

Notes

:a. The mixed relay, contested for the first time in the World Championships, was held in 2005. :b. The mixed relay was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. :c. Until 2010—11 season it was required to leave out the result of the worst discipline race for the final result of discipline world cup (if there were four discipline races or more during the season), so the points in respective columnes «Points» is represented after deduction of the result of the worst discipline race. :d. Since 2008—09 season it was applied another points system in World Cup. Earlier biathlete got 50 points for win and top-30 was awarded. Now World Cup give 60 points and top-40 awarded. :e. Until 2010—11 season it was required to leave out the results of the three worst races for the final result of overall world cup, so the points in respective column «Points» is represented after deduction of the results of the three worst discipline races. :f. Did not finish (DNF). :g. Disqualified (DSQ).

References

External links

Official website
*
Profile on RBU websiteStatistics at biathlon.com.uaProfile on CSKA website

Olga Zaitseva: Lynchpin of the Russian biathlon squad
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaitseva, Olga 1978 births Living people Skiers from Moscow Russian female biathletes Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes for Russia Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Competitors stripped of Winter Olympics medals Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic silver medalists for Russia Olympic gold medalists for Russia Biathlon World Championships medalists Winter World University Games medalists in biathlon Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Cross-country skiing coaches Russian sports coaches Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class Doping cases in biathlon Russian sportspeople in doping cases FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Russia Competitors at the 2001 Winter Universiade Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism alumni