Irkutsk Oblast is becoming a real talent suppliers for the Russian women's freestyle wrestling team. The main star here, of course, is Natalya Vorobyeva, who won the Olympics in London, but there is also multiple winner and winner of the largest freestyle wrestling tournaments up to 75 kg Ekaterina Bukina. At one time, she competed with a younger compatriot, then she changed the weight category and cleared Catherine the way to the 2016 Olympic Games, where Bukina managed to get a bronze medal. In addition to sports exploits, the Siberian also works in the police with the rank of senior lieutenant and teaches male colleagues self-defense techniques.
Junior period
Member of the national team in freestyle wrestling Ekaterina Bukina was born in Angarsk, in the Irkutsk region, in 1987. Initially, the girl was engaged in athletics and achieved certain successes in this sport. Then, nevertheless, a place was found for free-style wrestling in the biography of Ekaterina Bukina. Not quite a female sport fell in love with Natalia, and since 2000 she began to disappear in the training halls, honing techniques and throws. The progress of the athlete became obvious, and after a while the Siberian moved to Moscow to reach a qualitatively different level of development.
In 2004, she first showed herself at the junior level, becoming the vice-champion of Europe in freestyle wrestling. Ekaterina Bukina did not slow down and two years later she took bronze at the World Youth Championship in Guatemala. In 2007, she rises one notch on the podium, becoming the silver medalist in Paris.
Adult wins
By the end of the 2000s, Ekaterina Bukina became the leader of the women's freestyle wrestling team in the category up to 72 kg. She wins the national championship in 2010 and is selected to participate in major international tournaments. At the European Championship in freestyle wrestling, Yekaterina Bukina makes it to the finals and is inferior only to the winner in a bitter fight. At the 2010 World Championships in Moscow, the competition was tougher, and the athlete takes a bronze award.
A year later, she again wins the national selection and becomes the vice world champion at the tournament in Istanbul. Most experts expect that it is Ekaterina Bukina who will represent the country at the London Olympics.
Lost Olympic ticket
However, at the same time, another “star” of freestyle wrestling from the Irkutsk region was gaining momentum.
At the 2012 Russian Championship, which decided the issue of selection for the Olympic Games, Natalya Vorobyova in a brilliant style won a clear victory over the Siberian.
However, the athlete from Angarsk did not give up and continued to work hard on herself and fight with competitors. Soon Natalia Vorobyeva leaves the category up to 72 kg, and in freestyle wrestling, Ekaterina Bukina has a new chance to declare herself loudly. She again becomes the strongest in the country and wins in domestic tournaments.
Women's freestyle wrestling competitions at the Olympics
Ekaterina Bukina wins the Russian Championship in 2013, 2014 after a two-year break, but the national championship of the next even year becomes decisive for her. After all, according to the results of the competition, the winner received a ticket to the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Not without problems, Ekaterina Bukina defeated Alena Perepelkina in the final of the 2016 Russian Championship and won the right to participate in the main starts of the four-year period. The Irkutsk athlete approached the most important tournament in her life in excellent shape and confidently beat all rivals up to the semifinals.
She was preparing for battles against the strongest girls - Yasimin Adar, Adeline Gray, Erica Weibe. In the semifinals, the experienced Guzel Manyurova, who previously represented Russia, and then made a choice of sports citizenship in favor of Kazakhstan, was waiting for her. Ekaterina Bukina was considered a clear favorite in the match against the 38-year-old athlete and confidently controlled the match, leading 8-1 in the score. However, in a matter of seconds before the end, the Russian woman lost concentration and missed the lightning attack of a Kazakh girl, who pressed her to the carpet and won a clear victory.
Yuri Shakhmuradov, the head coach of the women's team, urged the athlete to stop shedding tears after an insulting defeat and go get ready for the match for third place. The rival of Ekaterina Bukina was the Cameroonian athlete Anabel Laura Ali. Equal careful struggle reached the moment when the score became equal. However, Ekaterina Bukina had an advantage in the quality of techniques, which her rival overlooked. The African girl did not go on the attack, and the battle in a cautious mode ended in the general victory of the Russian woman.
After the end of the competition, the President of the Russian Federation in Freestyle Wrestling of Russia broke out in an angry tirade against the girls who had missed the correct medals a few seconds before the end of the bouts. Ekaterina Bukina also came under fire. However, the cold-blooded girl reacted calmly to this, saying that she understood the emotions of a large official.
Senior lieutenant
Sport is not the only place in the life of a famous athlete. She worked as a trainer in the Federal Drug Control Service, and after the dissolution of this structure, she went to the police. Here, Senior Lieutenant Ekaterina Bukina teaches men the basics of freestyle wrestling and self-defense techniques.