Victoria Anatoliïvna Tereshchuk (''Терещук Вікторія Анатоліївна''; born 18 February 1982) is a female former

modern pentathlete The modern pentathlon is an Olympic multisport that consists of five events: fencing (one-touch épée followed by direct elimination), freestyle swimming, obstacle course racing, laser pistol shooting, and cross country running. The sport wa ...

from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. A competitor since 1999 she was awarded a bronze medal in the women's modern pentathlon event at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

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but was subsequently stripped of the medal after a doping re-test. She was World Champion in the individual and mixed relay events in 2011. For her World Championship victories, she was named Ukrainian Sportswoman of the Year and received the

Order of Princess Olga The Order of Princess Olga () is a Ukraine, Ukrainian civil decoration, featuring Olga of Kiev and bestowed to women for "personal merits in state, production, scientific, educational, cultural, charity and other spheres of social activities, fo ...

in the Second Class. She is also the 2008 European Champion and competed at the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and 2012 Olympic modern pentathlon tournaments, where she finished seventh and twenty-third respectively.

Personal life

Tereshchuk was born on 18 February 1982 in

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administra ...

. She took up modern pentathlon in 1999 and began competing out of ZS Luhansk, where she met her coach Sergey Turobov. Of all the constituent events of modern pentathlon, she considered swimming and the cross-country run to be her specialties and fencing, Turobov's specialty, to be her weakest. She married Turobov in 2005 and missed the 2009 season to have a son.

International career

Tereshchuk participated in her first major international competition in August 2001 when she entered the Junior World Championships in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

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and placed 12th. Her first senior World Championship was the 2003 edition, held in

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

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, where she finished 27th, and her first senior European Championship came the following month in

Ústí nad Labem Ústí nad Labem (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction. ...

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, where she came in 34th. She earned her first podium finish in December when she came in second at a World Cup event, followed by her first victory at the Westel World Cup in May 2004. After coming in 6th at the

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later that month in

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, her next stop was the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, where she finished in 7th. At the next three European Championships, Tereshchuk finished 30th, 18th, and 16th, and placed 12th at the 2005 World Championships in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

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. She claimed her first World Championship medal, silver, at the 2006 edition in

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, but then dropped to 34th and 26th the following year at the European and

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Championships respectively. In 2008, she finished 23rd in the individual and 7th in the three-member team relay events at the 2008 World Championships in Budapest, but became the European Champion at a tournament held in Moscow. This led to her participation in the

, where she was awarded a bronze medal in the women's event, finishing behind

Lena Schöneborn Lena Schöneborn (born 11 April 1986 in Troisdorf, West Germany) is a German pentathlete, who won the gold medal in the Modern Pentathlon at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She is living in Berlin and besides Pentathlon she is studying marketing. She w ...

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and

Heather Fell Heather Fell (born 3 March 1983 in Plymouth, England) is a former British modern pentathlete turned triathlete. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, winning the silver medal in the women's modern pentathlon event. Early life Fell grew up ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. She was subsequently stripped of the medal after testing positive for the anabolic steroid

turinabol Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone (CDMT; brand name Oral Turinabol), also known as 4-chloro-17β-hydroxy17α-methylandrosta-1,4-dien-3-one, is an anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS). It is the 4-chloro-substituted derivative of metandienone (dehyd ...

in a doping re-test. After missing the 2009 season to have a child, Tereshchuk returned in 2010 and finished second in that year's mixed relay event at the

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

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, in addition to placing 16th in the individual competition. In 2011, she came in third at the European Championships before winning three medals at the

in Moscow: gold in the individual and mixed relay events and bronze in the three-member team relay. As World Champion, she qualified for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, was named Ukrainian Sportswoman of the Year, and was awarded the

in the Second Class. At the 2012 World Championships in

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, Italy, however, she failed to qualify for the finals and was eliminated before she was able to defend her individual title, also placing 5th in the mixed relay. In the Olympic tournament that year she finished 23rd in a field of 36 competitors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tereshchuk, Victoria 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Luhansk Ukrainian female modern pentathletes Modern pentathletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics Modern pentathletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics Modern pentathletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic modern pentathletes for Ukraine World Modern Pentathlon Championships medalists Doping cases in modern pentathlon Ukrainian sportspeople in doping cases Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals Recipients of the Order of Princess Olga, 2nd class 21st-century Ukrainian sportswomen