The four-time biathlon world champion Vladimir Drachev not only passed the thorny path of an athlete, but also was able to withstand the tests that fate sent him. Today he is president of the Russian Biathlon Union. The life and career of this outstanding person will be discussed in the article.
Biography
Vladimir Drachev was born in Petrozavodsk on March 7, 1966. In this city, he made his first acquaintance with skiing. First, the boy attended a youth ski school, and in 1980, at the age of fourteen, he began to engage in biathlon.
After receiving secondary education, he entered the Military Institute of Physical Culture and successfully graduated in 1987.
The first major award of biathlete Vladimir Drachev was the silver medal in the relay at the 1994 Olympics, held in Lillehammer. At this tournament, the athlete showed himself excellently and in the sprint - only 1.5 seconds behind Sergey Tarasov, who won the “bronze”. Thanks to these results, Drachev got a place in the main part of the national team.
A distinctive feature of Vladimir Petrovich was a phenomenal speed. He sometimes had a malfunction in shooting, but even with misses, he often finished in the top three.
Team leader
1996 became a key one in the career of Vladimir Drachev. At the world championship in the German Ruhpolding, he won four medals: two gold - in the sprint and relay race, and two silver - in the individual and team races. In the same year, the athlete reached another triumph - he won the overall standings of the World Cup. In the entire history of the male domestic biathlon, only Drachev and Chepikov were able to become owners of such a prestigious trophy.
In 1998, at the Games in Nogano, Vladimir Petrovich won the Olympic "bronze" in the relay. A personal reward could appear in his piggy bank, but due to weather conditions, the sprint results were canceled. And yet this season he was able to climb the highest step of the podium. As part of the cup stage, the World Championship was held in Pokljuka, Slovenia, where Vladimir Drachev had no equal in the pursuit race.
The biathlete did not stop there and in the next two years replenished his own collection of medals with three more awards of world championships.
Belarus
In 2002, the leadership of the Russian national team did not include Vladimir Drachev in the national team for the Olympics, which was supposed to be held in the American Salt Lake City. According to the athlete, he was removed from the team due to the fact that he said what he thought, but not everyone liked it.
The biathlete began to consider options for moving to another team. Comrade in the Soviet team Alexander Popov invited him to the national team of Belarus, and Vladimir Petrovich accepted the offer.
In 2003, at the world championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Drachev, who had already performed under the Belarusian flag, won the bronze medal as part of the relay. In the overall standings of the World Cup this season, he finished second, second only to Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.
After retirement
In 2006, Vladimir Drachev left the sport. During his career he won victories in fifteen races at the stages of the World Cup, and he got seventeen times among the winners. After leaving the sport, he worked as a coach of the Belarusian youth team. In 2010, he was invited to the Russian biathlon team as a consultant. Subsequently, due to conflicts with the head coach of the team V. Barnashov and frank comments about the work of the coaching staff, he was removed from his post.
After that, Drachev took up politics. In 2013, on the recommendation of A. Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad Region, he was appointed deputy head of the administration of the Vsevolozhsk region, and in 2014 he became the head of the administration.
In 2016, Vladimir Petrovich was elected to the State Duma.
In May 2018, Drachev returned to biathlon, but already as president of the Russian Biathlon Union.
Personal life
The famous athlete was married twice. The first wife Svetlana gave birth to Vladimir Petrovich son Ilya. Now he is a grown man and is engaged in business.
In a second marriage with a woman named Tatyana, Drachev gave birth to five children: two sons, Alexander and Vladimir, and three daughters, Varvara, Elizaveta and a baby, who was born recently, on October 17, 2018. Her parents have not yet disclosed her name.
Now Vladimir Petrovich is preparing the Russian team for the new biathlon season. According to him, the main task of the team is to stay in the top three of the Nations Cup leaders. In addition, Drachev intends to develop regional biathlon centers and connect as many youth as possible to the main team.