Nikolay Kruglov (Jr.) - a famous athlete, biathlete, a participant in two Olympics and just a titled athlete. The son of the Soviet biathlete Nikolai Kruglov.
Biography
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kruglov was born in Nizhny Novgorod in April 1981. He comes from a sports dynasty. His father is a titled Soviet biathlete.
Sport has always been in Nikolai’s life. Since two years he has been skiing. He spent all his childhood in the tennis section, but these classes did not bring the boy any pleasure, he often skipped, and then completely abandoned this sport.
But the ski race attracted him with its unpredictability and speed. From the seventh grade, Nikolay Kruglov studied at the children's sports school in Nizhny Novgorod. Since good results immediately began to appear, a year later the boy was assigned to the school of the Olympic reserve. His coach was Yuri Kuzmin.
In the eleventh grade, Kruglov won his first title, becoming the champion of Russia among young men (in skiing). It was then that he clearly decided for himself that he wanted to play sports professionally.
From 1999 to 2010, Nikolai Kruglov performed in biathlon. First for the youth national team of Russia, then for the main one. After the end of his sports career, he worked for some time in the press service of UTair Airlines. Then in 2014 he headed the Office of Corporate Communications at the same company.
Nikolai Kruglov, whose biography is unthinkable without sports, managed to work as deputy minister of sports and youth policy of the Nizhny Novgorod region, but soon realized that politics was not his.
Now, in addition to his main employment, he acts as a biathlon expert and commentator on some sports TV channels.
Sports career
In 1999, Nikolai Kruglov moved from skiing to biathlon and moved to Khanty-Mansiysk to train. The first season brings him luck. He wins two gold medals at the European Junior Championships and two silver medals at the World Championships.
Since 2002, Nikolai has been a member of the country's national biathlon men's team. His career is going very well. In 2005, in Austria, he became the second in the classic relay race. In the same year he won gold at the mixed relay relay of the World Championship.
Nikolai Kruglov - a biathlete with a capital letter, in his piggy bank dozens of medals from the world and European championships. However, the athlete considers his main achievement to be participating in the Winter Olympic Games. In 2006 in Turin, he, along with teammates, won the silver medals of the main sporting event of the four-year period.
The next two seasons after the Olympics also became successful for Nikolai. A few more precious rewards appeared on his neck. In 2009, the athlete's results declined. He himself explained this by the fact that he wants to save energy for the future Olympics.
In Vancouver, in 2010, Nicholas was entrusted with an individual race. He spent the first three stages brilliantly and confidently ahead of all his rivals. But now the fourth stage was a real tragedy - Kruglov fell. Yes, so unfortunate that his rifle broke. He was forced to carry her in his arms until the finish. Russia was left without medals.
Nikolay Kruglov, for whom biathlon became a matter of life, in the same year ended his sports career.
Father
Nikolai Konstantinovich Kruglov, the famous Soviet athlete, two-time champion of the 1976 Olympics, made almost impossible for his son Nikolai Kruglov. In order for Nikolai Nikolaevich to get to the Olympics, huge funding was required. Kruglov Sr. sold his two Olympic gold medals for this. He did not inform his son about this. Much later, Nikolai learned about his father’s deed and decided to return the awards at all costs. After speaking in Turin, he bought them at auction for thirty thousand dollars.
This touching story became one of the short stories of the Russian film "Champions", released in 2014.
Interesting Facts
- He graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a degree in Combating Economic Crimes.
- He speaks English and German.
- He is interested in cars, helicopter sports, jet skiing, music. Nikolai sings well. He plays hockey twice a week. Do not mind skiing. He claims that after completing his sports career he began life anew.
- His best friend is Maxim Miracles, also a biathlete.