Name: Albina Akhatova

Age: 42 years

Height: 158

Activity: biathlete, Honored Master of Sports of Russia

Family status: Married

Albina Akhatova: biography

Albina Akhatova is a biathlete, Honored Master of Sports. He has the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, first degree, as well as the Order of Honor. Today she is considered one of the best biathletes in Russian history.

Albina was born in the Vologda region in the city of Nikolsk on November 13, 1976. Her father Khamit Faizrakhmanovich Akhatov was a famous coach who brought more than one athlete to big-time sports. He has the title of Honored Trainer of the Russian Federation, was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, second degree, as well as the Sports Yamala medal.

The girl’s mother, Tatyana Akhatova, was the director of the Sports Palace, which was located in Labytnangi. Unfortunately, my mother died tragically in 2000. A sports school was named in her honor.

Akhatova first started skiing when she was only ten years old. Her first coach was her father, who even then noticed that his daughter had talent. She actively took part in cross-country skiing competitions. At the age of 14, the athlete manages to fulfill the standards of a master of sports.

Biathlon

Next, Leonid Aleksandrovich Guryev becomes Albina’s coach. In 1993, Akhatova decided to become a biathlete. The training took place in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk, where the young girl was forced to move.

In 1994, Akhatova participated in the Youth Olympic Games. Unfortunately, she did not manage to win prizes, but the girl’s results were quite good: in the classic sprint she came eleventh, and in the biathlon with an air rifle she took an honorable eighth place.

In the same year, the young athlete is preparing for the Arctic Games. They became more successful for Albina, since it was then that she won two golds and one silver. After these games, people begin to talk about Akhatova in sports circles.

When Akhatova turned 20, she went to the World Cup, which took place in Italy. The year 1996 was not very successful for the young girl, as she showed the worst result among Russian athletes and came only 56th.

But Akhatova needed only one year to prove to everyone that hard training will sooner or later bring a positive result. In the individual race during the second stage of the World Cup, which took place in Sweden, she manages to come 17th.

The girl takes part in the European Championship, which took place in Austria in 1997. Then the Russian Federation team became the first. It was Akhatova who made a great contribution to this victory.

In 1998, Akhatova won silver for the individual race at the World Cup in Slovakia. The same year brought the girl vice-championship at the Winter Olympics.

At the same competition, but already in 2002, she came third, and before that, in 1999 she received bronze in Oslo at the Biathlon World Championships.

The first “gold” went to the athlete in 2003 in Italy at the World Cup. In the same year, she took part in the World Championships, which took place in Khanty-Mansiysk. She comes first in the mass start.

As of 2003, the girl is a four-time world champion, and in 2004 she manages to win silver in Oberhof.

In 2006, the Olympics in Turin brought the girl the “gold” desired by every athlete. Albina also won two bronze medals at these games in the individual race of 15 and 10 kilometers.

The next awards came during the World Championships in Östersund in 2008.

Doping scandal and career end

At the end of 2008, Albina donates blood for doping. At the beginning of next year, the result comes from the International Biathlon Union, which indicates that during the study prohibited substances were found in her blood. By court decision, the athlete was suspended from competition for two years.

In addition to the ban on participation in tournaments, she was also not allowed to compete at the Olympic Games, which took place in 2010 and 2014. Akhatova did not agree with the decision and filed an appeal in Lausanne.

But she was never able to prove her innocence, since the official letter stated that, according to the results of the study, doping was present in the biathlete’s blood.

In 2010, the ban on participation in tournaments was lifted, but Albina Akhatova never returned to big-time sports.

Albina Akhatova now

After leaving big sport, Albina decided to become a coach. One of the students was her current husband Maxim Maximov. He managed to win awards at the European and World Championships.

In 2012, Akhatova was offered to become a shooting coach. She agreed and today works with the Tyumen region team. Today, the biathlete lives in the city of Labytnangi, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Today, Akhatova is rightfully considered one of the best biathletes in Russian history.

Personal life

Albina's first husband, Dmitry Maslov, is a famous skier. They lived together for only two years and decided to divorce. The couple did not have any children together.

Akhatova’s second husband was Andrei Dmitriev. He worked as a doctor for the Russian biathlon team. In 2006, they had a son, who was named Leonid.

The marriage with Dmitriev broke up in 2009. There were rumors that the reason for the divorce was a doping scandal.

Akhatova has been living with her third husband for three years. Maxim Maximov proposed to Albina, and they got married in 2013. During the same period, the couple had a daughter, whom they named Nastya.

Children occupy one of the places of honor in the life of the former athlete. She raises her kids and pays them a lot of attention. In her free time, Albina likes to play tennis and skiing in the mountains.

Akhatova’s hobby is growing cacti. In addition to her sports career, she managed to get an education at the State University of Railways and Communications. Albina's specialty is manager-economist.

“My blood ran cold. I thought this only happened in movies."

Biathletes born wearing shirts, motivator Tikhonov, fanatic coach and how to learn to shoot - in an interview with Albina Akhatova.

After a high-profile doping scandal in 2009, the biathlete (unlike other defendants in the case Dmitry Yaroshenko and Ekaterina Yuryeva) did not return to biathlon. She was preparing to return, but in 2010, due to health problems, she was forced to end her career and has not given in-depth interviews since then. In a conversation with a special correspondent of the “Championship”, one of the most prominent representatives of the “golden” generation of the 2000s told how the Russian team almost died in its entirety, how our biathlon lived when we defeated everyone, what was her greatest fear, what trials Alexander Tikhonov trained the athletes and how she now helps Russian biathletes.

“The order was given to destroy our plane”

The life of a professional athlete is rich in unusual stories. What incident from your career do you remember most often?
- How we flew to Kirovsk for roll-in on a small charter in the late 90s. In Moscow, the Russian biathlon team boarded in full force. When we arrived, we learned that due to bad weather, neither Kirovsk nor Murmansk could land us, and there wouldn’t be enough gasoline to fly back. The commander decided to land at a military airfield near Monchegorsk. The plane was shaking a lot, shaking, it was really scary. All the time before landing I read prayers and envied those who were sleeping. By some miracle they sat down. We get off the plane and see a picture: the ship is standing close to a pole, and around there is an ice rink, zero visibility and a strong snowstorm. We were met by military men with machine guns, escorted to the airport, and helped us carry our things and cases with skis. One military man offered to help me carry a heavy bag. As soon as I gave it away in joy, the wind picked me up and carried me across the ice. We barely caught up. The guy had to carry both the bag and me. Satisfied that we are alive, we warm ourselves in the room and wait for transport to Kirovsk. An officer comes in - I don’t remember who it was, the head of the airfield or the commander of the aviation unit. He greeted us and said that we were really born wearing shirts. Firstly, we must pay tribute to the commander of the ship, he is a great professional, as he managed to land the plane in such conditions. Secondly, we were denied landing at a military airfield. According to the rules, a command was given to hit the target. Why the order was not carried out will be investigated, and the culprit will be punished. I listened and my blood ran cold. I used to think that this only happens in films. I am still grateful to the crew commander and that human being who did not carry out the order and did not press the red button.

Looking at the performance of the Russian national team in recent years, did you have the feeling that in 2010 you could still return to the sport and perform at a high level for several years?
- Feelings that I could, of course, sometimes appeared, my inner ego and pride awoke, and I was certainly aware of this. In the pursuit of medals, sometimes we lose touch with reality. But the reality around me was sobering, and I realized that my time had passed. We must give way to the young.

- At what point did you realize that returning was no longer possible?
- Every athlete has motivation as long as there is results and health. Some people strive to stay in sports for as long as possible, although the main thing is to stop in time so that playing professional sports does not harm your health. Even robots and iron machines break down and have a service life, and the human body even more so. Each of us understands that biathlon in life is not eternal, and we need to prepare ourselves morally and psychologically for the life that comes after. This last step is the hardest. You yourself must forever cross out for yourself your former, very bright, rich and in some sense unique life. In the future, even if you really want to, you will no longer be able to repeat those unforgettable experiences. There is even resentment from the fact that by this moment, experience, knowledge and understanding of what and how to do has appeared, but you can no longer apply it. It may be difficult for an ordinary person to understand what I’m talking about, but I myself experienced it all exactly this way and that’s why I tried to resist it for so long. I really wanted to continue my career, but too many factors prevented me from doing so.

Each of us understands that biathlon in life is not eternal and we need to prepare ourselves morally and psychologically for the life that comes after. This last step is the hardest.

- Tell us more about them.
- I planned to return after the expiration of the period of disqualification and compete at the 2011 World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk and then end my career. But circumstances turned out differently. You can't calculate everything in life. Doctors advised me to stop playing professional sports. Or rather, they said that they would not give me access for health reasons. When you constantly have to endure enormous physical and nervous stress, regardless of your health, you cannot do without consequences. My four Olympic cycles were hard work. Alexander Rosenbaum’s song “38 Knots” has the following lines: “It was all like this, but time does not wait. Now I should give it “the most complete.” I shout into the car: “Full speed ahead!” “Yes, the screws don’t pull, they get stuck in the waves...” I realized that I was tired, emotionally burned out and would not be able to return.
In addition, I have a son, who was already 4.5 years old at that time. Many athletes, being part of a national team, are deprived of the joy of communicating with children. We don’t see significant moments: the child took the first step, said the first word. It’s hard for any woman to leave home, leaving a child, so from the very birth of Lyonka, I always tried to take him with me to training camps. On the one side of the scales lay all the sound arguments, the understanding that the most precious thing was being sacrificed - a child and health, but on the other side was the entire previous life. For me, ending my career was a small death, emotional burnout. There was no longer that me, there was no longer the life that I had lived for the last 20 years. The philosopher Martin Heidegger once called death “the impossibility of further possibility.” But there is no time to grieve over this. Now I have different values, first of all family. I achieved everything I wanted, even if I couldn’t put a bright point in my career.

- But with heavy loads, you have had health problems for a long time.
- Since 2002, I had such a reaction from my body that when I finished, my blood pressure dropped sharply for 5-10 minutes. I only managed to reach the locker room, after which I felt vomited and was on the verge of losing consciousness. After my return from maternity leave, such cases became more frequent, especially after sprint races. At the finish line of each race, a doctor was waiting for me with ammonia or a caffeine tablet to revive me. This may be due to Kimmerle's anomaly, which restricts the mobility of blood flow through the artery to the brain. That’s why I was always afraid of the finishing lap; if I overdid it on the last lap, my body’s reaction would be unpredictable. It was easier when working more evenly over long distances.

“I have never experienced such excitement as in Turin”

- The only thing you need to get to a complete set is the World Cup. What prevented you from winning it in 2003?
- For me, this was the most successful season in my career. I looked good throughout the season, didn’t miss a single race, and improved my shooting to 92 percent. I didn’t specifically chase victory in the Cup, but lost to Martina Glagov by only 9 points. Everything was decided at the World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, which became very difficult for me in terms of selecting the ski structure. We failed the first sprint race. I was 23rd, but in the pursuit I had already risen to 7th place. It was one of my worst starts of the season. The skis worked poorly for the entire team, and the men who started after us had time to make adjustments to the lubrication. I could have done better in the individual race. But in the mass start I was lucky with my skis.

Thanks to them, you unexpectedly won the finishing spurt against Svetlana Ishmuratova and won your only personal gold at the world championships?
- I chose a warm pair of skis that I had not run on before or since, but on this day they skated perfectly, although it was freezing and it seemed unnatural. They say that the best lubricant is zero at the line, but here Svetlana and I worked equally well. On the climbs she overtook me, and on the sunny sections, on the final descent and loops at the stadium, I had an advantage over Sveta due to my skis. It allowed me to overtake such a good skier.

- Another bright moment was the gold of the Olympics in Turin. What do you remember about these Games?
- These games generally turned out well for me. I won two personal bronze medals, and my childhood dream of becoming an Olympic champion came true. Of the five races, the relay was the most difficult psychologically. I ran the final leg of the relay and competed with World Cup winner Kati Wilhelm, who at that time was head and shoulders above everyone else. I understood that I needed to have a large margin of safety, and it’s good that the girls brought me this advantage. I have never experienced such strong excitement before a race before. I was just shaking until I took off. You can't see on TV all the tension in the race and the difficulties that arose during the shooting. While lying down I had to work with the aiming point moved to the wind by 8 clicks.

- Why take such a risk?
- The fact is that during the shooting before the race the wind was blowing from the right side, the flags were horizontal, and an hour later, by the time I approached the firing line, it had changed to the opposite. Before shooting, I adjusted the wind eight clicks to the left. But as I prepared to fire the first shot, the wind blew from the right again. Returning the correction back means wasting time, and it is not a fact that the wind will not change direction again during shooting. I decided to shoot with the aiming point out into the wind. I had to take almost every shot with a different takeoff, as the wind was constantly changing. Now I realize that it was a big risk. And I’m glad that I didn’t panic and maintained my concentration until the end; I shot for a long time, but managed to complete the first shooting. None of those watching from the outside knows about this. Well, yes, they say, well done, she shot to zero, neat. When I finished, I felt a great sense of happiness and satisfaction because I had overcome the stress and difficulties that the wind created. And this helped win the long-awaited gold.

At 21, you ran in the relay at the Olympics. Doesn’t it bother you when people now say about 26-27-year-old athletes that they are young and inexperienced?
- It really hurts the ear. I have been training as part of the adult national team since I was 18 years old. While still a junior, she made it to the senior world championship in 1996, but broke her leg and missed out on the championship. During the Olympic season, Vitaly Nikolaevich Fatyanov said that I was still small and my Olympics would be next. Then additional competition was created by an experimental team of skiers led by Valentin Zadonsky. We went through all the training camps together, but I was sure that I would qualify for Nagano. At the control starts before the season, I won the individual race, and in the sprint I was second after Galya Kukleva. I got to the World Cups and went well throughout the season, becoming an Olympic medalist and world champion in the team race. I can confirm from my own experience that it is possible to perform at a high level at 20-22 years old, but I was lucky to train in a team with great biathletes: Kukleva, Svetlana Pecherskaya, Luiza Noskova, Nadezhda Talanova, Olga Romasko, Anfisa Reztsova, Sergei Tarasov, Vladimir Drachev , Pavel Muslimov, Viktor Maigurov. Working with them in conjunction contributed to rapid growth. They showed how to work hard to achieve good results. Now girls lack the continuity of generations that I had.

First lady. How Albina Akhatova changed biathlon

An Olympic debut at the age of 21, a trendsetter, a strong link in the national team and two doping scandals - such was the career of Albina Akhatova.

“The rifle is shaking, and you hear Tikhonov laughing behind you”

How do you feel that it was possible to get into Guryev’s team either through the Tyumen team or through bed?
- The Tyumen team was really very strong back then. Four athletes from Tyumen, Olga Romasko from Krasnoyarsk and Svetlana Ishmuratova from Zlatoust, qualified for the Olympics in Nagano, but we all passed the selection criteria and got to the Olympics on the sports principle. I have heard attacks on Tyumen about this before and have always been surprised by them. You can look at the protocols, ratings by season, and all questions will disappear. In my entire career I have never encountered “selection through bed” and have never heard from girls that such a thing could happen.

- Reztsova returned to the team at that time as a legendary athlete. What impression did she make?
“She was truly a great athlete and a strong personality. I remember once standing behind her during a strength training session. I did all the exercises after it, lifting weights with great difficulty. At the end of the training, I was almost in tears, but I didn’t back down, realizing that I would have to fight with her during the Olympic selection and I needed to go through all this.

At the end of the training, I was almost in tears, but I didn’t back down, realizing that I would have to fight with her during the Olympic selection and I needed to go through all this.

-In such a tough competition, was it difficult to maintain good relationships with your teammates?
- We never had any showdowns, the atmosphere was always friendly, and the team was friendly. Maybe young me looked at everyone with my mouth open and treated everyone with respect. A few years ago I admired their achievements on TV. The main thing is that the girls knew how to joke, were always positive and created an atmosphere in the team. Head coach Vitaly Nikolaevich Fatyanov also loved to joke and lighten the atmosphere if necessary, so emotionally it was very easy and comfortable for me to train.

- How did the coaches protect you as the youngest person or force you to work on an equal basis with everyone else?
- In the first year of my work in the national team, when I was still competing as a junior, I was given a lighter load than the girls, and in subsequent years I worked on equal terms with everyone else. I don’t think the coaches had any problems with me. I have always been diligent and diligent, I did everything from A to Z. Vitaly Nikolaevich called me his daughter or “you are our girl.” I was lucky enough to work with mentors who helped me discover and develop my abilities: dad, Leonid Aleksandrovich Guryev, Valery Nikolaevich Polkhovsky, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Alikin.

How did you manage to defeat German women more often in relay races, despite the fact that they had more individual victories?
- German girls did not always cope with shooting. Someone was sure to fail the relay race. Our team was very even and psychologically strong. Out of five or six people, any of us could be included in the relay race. For me it was a special discipline. I have never been able to realize myself so much in the sprint, but in the relay I worked wonders. Probably because the responsibility to the country, to the team did not stress me out, but forced me to concentrate and gather myself as much as possible. When I was young, I failed a couple of relay races, ending up on penalty loops, but this hasn’t happened again since 1999. We trained psychological resilience.

- How can she be trained?
- Many ways. Sometimes Alexander Ivanovich Tikhonov helped us with this. He often visited us at training camps in Austria and watched our comprehensive shooting training. Before the shooting range there was a climb that we climbed at a decent heart rate. You come to the line and hear the voice of Alexander Ivanovich: “Now I’m ready to bet that he will miss two or three times. See how hard it fits.” And it only turns you on, you understand that you cannot allow this. Sometimes you stand in a ready position, and he will sneak up behind you, put his index finger on the top of the butt plate and slowly begin to make circular movements. You hold your breath, take aim, and your rifle is shaking. At this moment you don’t understand what is happening, and then you hear him laughing behind him. Dueling shooting with men also helped develop psychological stability.

“After giving birth, I wanted to run the 100-meter dash with all my might.”

Coming back after giving birth was not easy for you due to health problems. Did you believe that you would have time to get in shape for the World Championships in Östersund?
- After giving birth, I had a high. I missed biathlon and trained with great desire. The loads were easy. My first desire after giving birth was to run the 100-meter dash as hard as I could. The only problem was shooting, because after giving birth I had problems with my spine and it was painful for me to lie in my usual position. I had to change my stance, bring my weight back to normal, and only after that did shooting improve. At first I lost to the girls in the “functional”, I didn’t have enough stamina, but already at the roll-in in Yekaterinburg I won the first control training and didn’t believe it. Before the start of the World Cup in Finland, I was in very good shape, but fell ill. I wanted to come back straight away beautifully, so I decided to skip the first stage. This was my mistake. I went to Austria to prepare, recovered there and came to the third stage in Pokljuka, but, as often happens there, I got poisoned. It took me several races to get back to normal. In Antholz I already had good results on the move, and after that everything went fine, there were no breakdowns.

You did not formally fulfill the selection criteria then. Alexander Tikhonov says that he convinced the coaches to take you on as an exception. Did you feel additional responsibility because of this?
“I didn’t know about this at all and wasn’t afraid to let the coaches down and not live up to their trust. I was well prepared at that time and beat some girls who also went to the championship. Of course, I didn’t expect that the result at the World Championships would be so good, but I had a good move, shooting and good skiing together.

- We cannot help but ask you about the difficult events of 2009...
- I prefer to leave them without comment. Not the time and not the place.

Doping control stood in the way of glory

The Russian Biathlon Union announced the creation of a Walk of Fame. According to the existing criteria, athletes associated with doping scandals also get there.

After finishing your career, you worked as a coach and helped Leonid Guryev. How was it working with him? They say that he has a difficult character?
-Which of us is easy? He is a fan of his work and a workaholic. From morning to evening he lives only for biathlon. He has five Olympic champions, and this would be impossible without mutual understanding. It was not difficult for me to work with him, because before that I went through a good school with my father, and he is also tough. My dad raised me to be very efficient, so I think it was easy for all the coaches with me. I never had conflicts, always respected the coach and fully fulfilled all the workloads. Perhaps this was my disadvantage, which led to overtraining. I was stubborn and often did more than I was told. The huge foundation laid in childhood helped me withstand this. From the age of six I was used to training six days a week. In the third grade, she completed the second adult category in cross-country skiing and successfully competed with seventh graders. Probably, such a base is now lacking for Olga Podchufarova, who only started studying at the age of 15.

The huge foundation laid in childhood helped me withstand this. From the age of six I was used to training six days a week. In the third grade, she completed the second adult category in cross-country skiing and successfully competed with seventh graders.

- When you became a coach, was your understanding of biathlon different from the way Guryev worked?
- As an organizer of the training process, he is impeccable. He has a system built over the years, where every little detail is taken into account. But in shooting training, our views differed on some issues. He wanted the girls to work quickly and accurately, but I am a follower of a different methodology - from quality to speed, and not vice versa. To develop a stable skill, you first need to do all the movements slowly, our brains are designed that way, otherwise you won’t develop the skill. Leonid Aleksandrovich was impatient in this regard. It was important for me to work for quality first, and increase the speed gradually, when I was ready. As soon as the quality deteriorated, she slowed down the speed and started working more slowly. At competitions, I only took a shot when I was sure that I would hit the target. Nevertheless, I consider Guryev a good and competent professional.

Why did you and your husband Maxim Maximov leave the Tyumen region team and stop working in conjunction with Guryev?
- Since 2015, I have been on maternity leave, and now I do not have the opportunity to officially work with the team. We don’t have any helpers in the form of grandparents. The only parent left is my dad, and he has his own job, his own goals and objectives. I only worked fully with the Tyumen team for the first year. Then my son went to school, and from that moment on I had the opportunity to work only in the summer and during school holidays. Max worked for a year with Leonid Aleksandrovich, and apparently they did not work well, because the next season Guryev did not include him in the list of coaches of the women's team. In my opinion, the tandem was good. Max was offered a job in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug team, and he agreed.

- Is his resignation fair? What could it be connected with?
“This news came as a surprise to all of us. I can’t say what it’s connected with, I don’t know. This situation did not seem possible at all. It always seemed to me that Leonid Aleksandrovich is a brand, a person who made women's biathlon in the Tyumen region. I think that for him, his resignation from the post of head coach of the Tyumen team is a tragedy. I would like all coaches to be like him and care so much about their students.

- What does it take for you to return to coaching and agree to work for the national team?
- I like this job. Shooting is generally my passion. But I don’t have the opportunity to work as a coach. To lead an athlete, especially a team, you need to be constantly nearby. I have the kids. I now work individually with athletes, with those who seek help. I help correct errors in manufacturing or make a new stock. This year we made a new stock for Zhenya Garanichev with all the necessary adjustments. Now he has received a new barrel, we will do the installation under the receiver.

- When did you get the idea to start making a stock?
- When I worked as a coach in the Tyumen team, I realized that I could not demand from an athlete the correct execution of a shot if I saw that the design of the stock did not allow him to do this. The designs offered on the market do not always allow for perfect execution, and my ultimate goal is for the athlete to shoot accurately. Therefore, you first need to make the correct stock, then adjust the stock so that it is convenient for the athlete, and only after that set up the technique and develop the skills of an accurate shot. This is especially true for beginners, because it is very difficult to retrain an athlete when he has years of faulty skills and preparation.

- What was your first experience?
- I tried to modify the stocks that the girls in the Tyumen team worked with, but it turned out that it was better to make new ones than to remake already finished ones. We ordered seven new gun laminate and walnut blanks. With the help of modern technologies that make it possible to create a three-dimensional model of the stock, the design was worked out. All stocks were milled on a modern CNC machining center, this ensures high strength, accuracy and quality of products. After this, my creative work began on creating a pistol grip and a champignon for standing shooting individually for each athlete. My work is complex, and after the stock is ready, I work with the athlete to adjust the production. The SCATT shooting simulator helps to evaluate the vibrations of a weapon in the ready position; with its help, we select the optimal variant of the ready position, which should be comfortable for the athlete and allow him to keep the aiming line in the region of ten. Then we work with the cartridge at the shooting range, assessing the accuracy of the fire. When ready, the rifle should be balanced, stable and easy to control. After the work has been completed, the stock undergoes final processing, sanded and impregnated with oil.

- Do athletes often contact you and who helps make the original design of rifles?
- In four years I made 35 pieces. I develop the technical design, adjustment units, come up with the image and design, make an individual handle and champignon for the stand and coordinate this with the athletes. Each design has its own story. Of course, I don’t do everything myself. It is impossible to be a master of everything. For example, Anton Shipulin, born in the year of the dragon, ordered the head of a dragon at the beginning of the forearm. First, the sculptor sculpted this head from plasticine from a photograph, then they created a 3D model, based on which they made the stock using high-precision equipment. The stock was made in two copies. A master from Yekaterinburg applied airbrushing to the working one, and impregnated the spare one with oil. Maria Panfilova liked the image of the Gorgon Medusa, which turned out with Masha's face. We made a black panther for Svetlana Sleptsova, and a tiger for Sveta Mironova.

There are many more female coaches in Russian biathlon than 10 years ago. Is it easier for you to work with women than men?
- It makes no difference to me who I work with. True, with men the results of work are more effective. It’s more interesting to work with professionals; with them I get objective feedback, I understand that I myself am developing, and not standing still. The brain begins to work actively, solving problems of a more complex level.

After a high-profile doping scandal in 2009, biathlete Albina Akhatova (unlike other defendants in the case of Dmitry Yaroshenko and Ekaterina Yuryeva) did not return to biathlon. She was preparing to return, but in 2010, due to health problems, she was forced to end her career and has not given in-depth interviews since then.

In a conversation with a special correspondent of the “Championship”, one of the most prominent representatives of the “golden” generation of the 2000s told how the Russian team almost died in its entirety, how our biathlon lived when we defeated everyone, what was her greatest fear, what trials Alexander Tikhonov trained the athletes and how she now helps Russian biathletes.

“The order was given to destroy our plane”

The life of a professional athlete is rich in unusual stories. What incident from your career do you remember most often?
- How we flew to Kirovsk for roll-in on a small charter in the late 90s. In Moscow, the Russian biathlon team boarded in full force. When we arrived, we learned that due to bad weather, neither Kirovsk nor Murmansk could land us, and there wouldn’t be enough gasoline to fly back. The commander decided to land at a military airfield near Monchegorsk. The plane was shaking a lot, shaking, it was really scary. All the time before landing I read prayers and envied those who were sleeping. By some miracle they sat down. We get off the plane and see a picture: the ship is standing close to a pole, and around there is an ice rink, zero visibility and a strong snowstorm. We were met by military men with machine guns, escorted to the airport, and helped us carry our things and cases with skis. One military man offered to help me carry a heavy bag. As soon as I gave it away in joy, the wind picked me up and carried me across the ice. We barely caught up. The guy had to carry both the bag and me. Satisfied that we are alive, we warm ourselves in the room and wait for transport to Kirovsk. An officer comes in - I don’t remember who it was, the head of the airfield or the commander of the aviation unit. He greeted us and said that we were really born wearing shirts. Firstly, we must pay tribute to the commander of the ship, he is a great professional, as he managed to land the plane in such conditions. Secondly, we were denied landing at a military airfield. According to the rules, a command was given to hit the target. Why the order was not carried out will be investigated, and the culprit will be punished. I listened and my blood ran cold. I used to think that this only happens in films. I am still grateful to the crew commander and that human being who did not carry out the order and did not press the red button.

Looking at the performance of the Russian national team in recent years, did you have the feeling that in 2010 you could still return to the sport and perform at a high level for several years?
- Feelings that I could, of course, sometimes appeared, my inner ego and pride awoke, and I was certainly aware of this. In the pursuit of medals, sometimes we lose touch with reality. But the reality around me was sobering, and I realized that my time had passed. We must give way to the young.

- At what point did you realize that returning was no longer possible?
- Every athlete has motivation as long as there is results and health. Some people strive to stay in sports for as long as possible, although the main thing is to stop in time so that playing professional sports does not harm your health. Even robots and iron machines break down and have a service life, and the human body even more so. Each of us understands that biathlon in life is not eternal, and we need to prepare ourselves morally and psychologically for the life that comes after. This last step is the hardest. You yourself must forever cross out for yourself your former, very bright, rich and in some sense unique life. In the future, even if you really want to, you will no longer be able to repeat those unforgettable experiences. There is even resentment from the fact that by this moment, experience, knowledge and understanding of what and how to do has appeared, but you can no longer apply it. It may be difficult for an ordinary person to understand what I’m talking about, but I myself experienced it all exactly this way and that’s why I tried to resist it for so long. I really wanted to continue my career, but too many factors prevented me from doing so.

- Tell us more about them.
- I planned to return after the expiration of the period of disqualification and compete at the 2011 World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk and then end my career. But circumstances turned out differently. You can't calculate everything in life. Doctors advised me to stop playing professional sports. Or rather, they said that they would not give me access for health reasons. When you constantly have to endure enormous physical and nervous stress, regardless of your health, you cannot do without consequences. My four Olympic cycles were hard work. Alexander Rosenbaum’s song “38 Knots” has the following lines: “It was all like this, but time does not wait. Now I should give it “the most complete.” I shout into the car: “Full speed ahead!” “Yes, the screws don’t pull, they get stuck in the waves...” I realized that I was tired, emotionally burned out and would not be able to return.
In addition, I have a son, who was already 4.5 years old at that time. Many athletes, being part of a national team, are deprived of the joy of communicating with children. We don’t see significant moments: the child took the first step, said the first word. It’s hard for any woman to leave home, leaving a child, so from the very birth of Lyonka, I always tried to take him with me to training camps. On the one side of the scales lay all the sound arguments, the understanding that the most precious thing was being sacrificed - a child and health, but on the other side was the entire previous life. For me, ending my career was a small death, emotional burnout. There was no longer that me, there was no longer the life that I had lived for the last 20 years. The philosopher Martin Heidegger once called death “the impossibility of further possibility.” But there is no time to grieve over this. Now I have different values, first of all family. I achieved everything I wanted, even if I couldn’t put a bright point in my career.

- But with heavy loads, you have had health problems for a long time.
- Since 2002, I had such a reaction from my body that when I finished, my blood pressure dropped sharply for 5-10 minutes. I only managed to reach the locker room, after which I felt vomited and was on the verge of losing consciousness. After my return from maternity leave, such cases became more frequent, especially after sprint races. At the finish line of each race, a doctor was waiting for me with ammonia or a caffeine tablet to revive me. This may be due to Kimmerle's anomaly, which restricts the mobility of blood flow through the artery to the brain. That’s why I was always afraid of the finishing lap; if I overdid it on the last lap, my body’s reaction would be unpredictable. It was easier when working more evenly over long distances.

“I have never experienced such excitement as in Turin”

- The only thing you need to get to a complete set is the World Cup. What prevented you from winning it in 2003?
- For me, this was the most successful season in my career. I looked good throughout the season, didn’t miss a single race, and improved my shooting to 92 percent. I didn’t specifically chase victory in the Cup, but lost to Martina Glagov by only 9 points. Everything was decided at the World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, which became very difficult for me in terms of selecting the ski structure. We failed the first sprint race. I was 23rd, but in the pursuit I had already risen to 7th place. It was one of my worst starts of the season. The skis worked poorly for the entire team, and the men who started after us had time to make adjustments to the lubrication. I could have done better in the individual race. But in the mass start I was lucky with my skis.

Thanks to them, you unexpectedly won the finishing spurt against Svetlana Ishmuratova and won your only personal gold at the world championships?
- I chose a warm pair of skis that I had not run on before or since, but on this day they skated perfectly, although it was freezing and it seemed unnatural. They say that the best lubricant is zero at the line, but here Svetlana and I worked equally well. On the climbs she overtook me, and on the sunny sections, on the final descent and loops at the stadium, I had an advantage over Sveta due to my skis. It allowed me to overtake such a good skier.

- Another bright moment was the gold of the Olympics in Turin. What do you remember about these Games?
- These games generally turned out well for me. I won two personal bronze medals, and my childhood dream of becoming an Olympic champion came true. Of the five races, the relay was the most difficult psychologically. I ran the final leg of the relay and competed with World Cup winner Kati Wilhelm, who at that time was head and shoulders above everyone else. I understood that I needed to have a large margin of safety, and it’s good that the girls brought me this advantage. I have never experienced such strong excitement before a race before. I was just shaking until I took off. You can't see on TV all the tension in the race and the difficulties that arose during the shooting. While lying down I had to work with the aiming point moved to the wind by 8 clicks.

- Why take such a risk?
- The fact is that during the shooting before the race the wind was blowing from the right side, the flags were horizontal, and an hour later, by the time I approached the firing line, it had changed to the opposite. Before shooting, I adjusted the wind eight clicks to the left. But as I prepared to fire the first shot, the wind blew from the right again. Returning the correction back means wasting time, and it is not a fact that the wind will not change direction again during shooting. I decided to shoot with the aiming point out into the wind. I had to take almost every shot with a different takeoff, as the wind was constantly changing. Now I realize that it was a big risk. And I’m glad that I didn’t panic and maintained my concentration until the end; I shot for a long time, but managed to complete the first shooting. None of those watching from the outside knows about this. Well, yes, they say, well done, she shot to zero, neat. When I finished, I felt a great sense of happiness and satisfaction because I had overcome the stress and difficulties that the wind created. And this helped win the long-awaited gold.

At 21, you ran in the relay at the Olympics. Doesn’t it bother you when people now say about 26-27-year-old athletes that they are young and inexperienced?
- It really hurts the ear. I have been training as part of the adult national team since I was 18 years old. While still a junior, she made it to the senior world championship in 1996, but broke her leg and missed out on the championship. During the Olympic season, Vitaly Nikolaevich Fatyanov said that I was still small and my Olympics would be next. Then additional competition was created by an experimental team of skiers led by Valentin Zadonsky. We went through all the training camps together, but I was sure that I would qualify for Nagano. At the control starts before the season, I won the individual race, and in the sprint I was second after Galya Kukleva. I got to the World Cups and went well throughout the season, becoming an Olympic medalist and world champion in the team race. I can confirm from my own experience that it is possible to perform at a high level at 20-22 years old, but I was lucky to train in a team with great biathletes: Kukleva, Svetlana Pecherskaya, Luiza Noskova, Nadezhda Talanova, Olga Romasko, Anfisa Reztsova, Sergei Tarasov, Vladimir Drachev , Pavel Muslimov, Viktor Maigurov. Working with them in conjunction contributed to rapid growth. They showed how to work hard to achieve good results. Now girls lack the continuity of generations that I had.

“The rifle is shaking, and you hear Tikhonov laughing behind you”

- How do you perceivewords by Anfisa Reztsova, that it was possible to get into Guryev’s team either through the Tyumen team or through bed?
- The Tyumen team was really very strong back then. Four athletes from Tyumen, Olga Romasko from Krasnoyarsk and Svetlana Ishmuratova from Zlatoust, qualified for the Olympics in Nagano, but we all passed the selection criteria and got to the Olympics on the sports principle. I have heard attacks on Tyumen about this before and have always been surprised by them. You can look at the protocols, ratings by season, and all questions will disappear. In my entire career I have never encountered “selection through bed” and have never heard from girls that such a thing could happen.

- Reztsova returned to the team at that time as a legendary athlete. What impression did she make?
“She was truly a great athlete and a strong personality. I remember once standing behind her during a strength training session. I did all the exercises after it, lifting weights with great difficulty. At the end of the training, I was almost in tears, but I didn’t back down, realizing that I would have to fight with her during the Olympic selection and I needed to go through all this.

-In conditions of such fierce competition, was it difficult to maintain good relations with your teammates?
- We never had any showdowns, the atmosphere was always friendly, and the team was friendly. Maybe young me looked at everyone with my mouth open and treated everyone with respect. A few years ago I admired their achievements on TV. The main thing is that the girls knew how to joke, were always positive and created an atmosphere in the team. Head coach Vitaly Nikolaevich Fatyanov also loved to joke and lighten the atmosphere if necessary, so emotionally it was very easy and comfortable for me to train.

- How did the coaches protect you as the youngest person or force you to work on an equal basis with everyone else?
- In the first year of my work in the national team, when I was still competing as a junior, I was given a lighter load than the girls, and in subsequent years I worked on equal terms with everyone else. I don’t think the coaches had any problems with me. I have always been diligent and diligent, I did everything from A to Z. Vitaly Nikolaevich called me his daughter or “you are our girl.” I was lucky enough to work with mentors who helped me discover and develop my abilities: dad, Leonid Aleksandrovich Guryev, Valery Nikolaevich Polkhovsky, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Alikin.

How did you manage to defeat German women more often in relay races, despite the fact that they had more individual victories?
- German girls did not always cope with shooting. Someone was sure to fail the relay race. Our team was very even and psychologically strong. Out of five or six people, any of us could be included in the relay race. For me it was a special discipline. I have never been able to realize myself so much in the sprint, but in the relay I worked wonders. Probably because the responsibility to the country, to the team did not stress me out, but forced me to concentrate and gather myself as much as possible. When I was young, I failed a couple of relay races, ending up on penalty loops, but this hasn’t happened again since 1999. We trained psychological resilience.

- How can she be trained?
- Many ways. Sometimes Alexander Ivanovich Tikhonov helped us with this. He often visited us at training camps in Austria and watched our comprehensive shooting training. Before the shooting range there was a climb that we climbed at a decent heart rate. You come to the line and hear the voice of Alexander Ivanovich: “Now I’m ready to bet that he will miss two or three times. See how hard it fits.” And it only turns you on, you understand that you cannot allow this. Sometimes you stand in a ready position, and he will sneak up behind you, put his index finger on the top of the butt plate and slowly begin to make circular movements. You hold your breath, take aim, and your rifle is shaking. At this moment you don’t understand what is happening, and then you hear him laughing behind him. Dueling shooting with men also helped develop psychological stability.

“After giving birth, I wanted to run the 100-meter dash with all my might.”

Coming back after giving birth was not easy for you due to health problems. Did you believe that you would have time to get in shape for the World Championships in Östersund?
- After giving birth, I had a high. I missed biathlon and trained with great desire. The loads were easy. My first desire after giving birth was to run the 100-meter dash as hard as I could. The only problem was shooting, because after giving birth I had problems with my spine and it was painful for me to lie in my usual position. I had to change my stance, bring my weight back to normal, and only after that did shooting improve. At first I lost to the girls in the “functional”, I didn’t have enough stamina, but already at the roll-in in Yekaterinburg I won the first control training and didn’t believe it. Before the start of the World Cup in Finland, I was in very good shape, but fell ill. I wanted to come back straight away beautifully, so I decided to skip the first stage. This was my mistake. I went to Austria to prepare, recovered there and came to the third stage in Pokljuka, but, as often happens there, I got poisoned. It took me several races to get back to normal. In Antholz I already had good results on the move, and after that everything went fine, there were no breakdowns.

You did not formally fulfill the selection criteria then. Alexander Tikhonov says that he convinced the coaches to take you on as an exception. Did you feel additional responsibility because of this?
“I didn’t know about this at all and wasn’t afraid to let the coaches down and not live up to their trust. I was well prepared at that time and beat some girls who also went to the championship. Of course, I didn’t expect that the result at the World Championships would be so good, but I had a good move, shooting and good skiing together.

- We cannot help but ask you about the difficult events of 2009...
- I prefer to leave them without comment.

After finishing your career, you worked as a coach and helped Leonid Guryev. How was it working with him? They say that he has a difficult character?
-Which of us is easy? He is a fan of his work and a workaholic. From morning to evening he lives only for biathlon. He has five Olympic champions, and this would be impossible without mutual understanding. It was not difficult for me to work with him, because before that I went through a good school with my father, and he is also tough. My dad raised me to be very efficient, so I think it was easy for all the coaches with me. I never had conflicts, always respected the coach and fully fulfilled all the workloads. Perhaps this was my disadvantage, which led to overtraining. I was stubborn and often did more than I was told. The huge foundation laid in childhood helped me withstand this. From the age of six I was used to training six days a week. In the third grade, she completed the second adult category in cross-country skiing and successfully competed with seventh graders. Probably, such a base is now lacking for Olga Podchufarova, who only started studying at the age of 15.

- When you became a coach, was your understanding of biathlon different from the way Guryev worked?
- As an organizer of the training process, he is impeccable. He has a system built over the years, where every little detail is taken into account. But in shooting training, our views differed on some issues. He wanted the girls to work quickly and accurately, but I am a follower of a different methodology - from quality to speed, and not vice versa. To develop a stable skill, you first need to do all the movements slowly, our brains are designed that way, otherwise you won’t develop the skill. Leonid Aleksandrovich was impatient in this regard. It was important for me to work for quality first, and increase the speed gradually, when I was ready. As soon as the quality deteriorated, she slowed down the speed and started working more slowly. At competitions, I only took a shot when I was sure that I would hit the target. Nevertheless, I consider Guryev a good and competent professional.

Why did you and your husband Maxim Maximov leave the Tyumen region team and stop working in conjunction with Guryev?
- Since 2015, I have been on maternity leave, and now I do not have the opportunity to officially work with the team. We don’t have any helpers in the form of grandparents. The only parent left is my dad, and he has his own job, his own goals and objectives. I only worked fully with the Tyumen team for the first year. Then my son went to school, and from that moment on I had the opportunity to work only in the summer and during school holidays. Max worked for a year with Leonid Aleksandrovich, and apparently they did not work well, because the next season Guryev did not include him in the list of coaches of the women's team. In my opinion, the tandem was good. Max was offered a job in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug team, and he agreed.

- Is his resignation fair? What could it be connected with?
“This news came as a surprise to all of us. I can’t say what it’s connected with, I don’t know. This situation did not seem possible at all. It always seemed to me that Leonid Aleksandrovich is a brand, a person who made women's biathlon in the Tyumen region. I think that for him, his resignation from the post of head coach of the Tyumen team is a tragedy. I would like all coaches to be like him and care so much about their students.

“It’s more interesting to work with professionals”

- What does it take for you to return to coaching and agree to work for the national team?
- I like this job. Shooting is generally my passion. But I don’t have the opportunity to work as a coach. To lead an athlete, especially a team, you need to be constantly nearby. I have the kids. I now work individually with athletes, with those who seek help. I help correct errors in manufacturing or make a new stock. This year we made a new stock for Zhenya Garanichev with all the necessary adjustments. Now he has received a new barrel, we will do the installation under the receiver.

- When did you get the idea to start making a stock?
- When I worked as a coach in the Tyumen team, I realized that I could not demand from an athlete the correct execution of a shot if I saw that the design of the stock did not allow him to do this. The designs offered on the market do not always allow for perfect execution, and my ultimate goal is for the athlete to shoot accurately. Therefore, you first need to make the correct stock, then adjust the stock so that it is convenient for the athlete, and only after that set up the technique and develop the skills of an accurate shot. This is especially true for beginners, because it is very difficult to retrain an athlete when he has years of faulty skills and preparation.

- What was your first experience?
- I tried to modify the stocks that the girls in the Tyumen team worked with, but it turned out that it was better to make new ones than to remake already finished ones. We ordered seven new gun laminate and walnut blanks. With the help of modern technologies that make it possible to create a three-dimensional model of the stock, the design was worked out. All stocks were milled on a modern CNC machining center, this ensures high strength, accuracy and quality of products. After this, my creative work began on creating a pistol grip and a champignon for standing shooting individually for each athlete. My work is complex, and after the stock is ready, I work with the athlete to adjust the production. The SCATT shooting simulator helps to evaluate the vibrations of a weapon in the ready position; with its help, we select the optimal variant of the ready position, which should be comfortable for the athlete and allow him to keep the aiming line in the region of ten. Then we work with the cartridge at the shooting range, assessing the accuracy of the fire. When ready, the rifle should be balanced, stable and easy to control. After the work has been completed, the stock undergoes final processing, sanded and impregnated with oil.

- Do athletes often contact you and who helps make the original design of rifles?
- In four years I made 35 pieces. I develop the technical design, adjustment units, come up with the image and design, make an individual handle and champignon for the stand and coordinate this with the athletes. Each design has its own story. Of course, I don’t do everything myself. It is impossible to be a master of everything. For example, Anton Shipulin, born in the year of the dragon, ordered the head of a dragon at the beginning of the forearm. First, the sculptor sculpted this head from plasticine from a photograph, then they created a 3D model, based on which they made the stock using high-precision equipment. The stock was made in two copies. A master from Yekaterinburg applied airbrushing to the working one, and I impregnated the spare one with oil. Maria Panfilova liked the image of the Gorgon Medusa, which turned out with Masha's face. We made a black panther for Svetlana Sleptsova, and a tiger for Sveta Mironova.

There are many more female coaches in Russian biathlon than 10 years ago. Is it easier for you to work with women than men?
- It makes no difference to me who I work with. True, with men the results of work are more effective. It’s more interesting to work with professionals; with them I get objective feedback, I understand that I myself am developing, and not standing still. The brain begins to work actively, solving problems of a more complex level.

Date of Birth: November 13, 1976
Place of Birth: Nikolsk, Vologda region, Russia
Location: Labytnangi, Tyumen region
Height Weight: 160/55
Education: higher education, economist-manager
Family status: married, raising a son Leonid (from his marriage with Dmitriev) and a daughter Nastya, born in marriage with her current husband Maxim Maximov
Hobbies: tennis, alpine skiing, cactus growing

Member of the Russian national team since 1997
Team coach: V.A. Alikin
Personal coach: H.F. Akhatov, L.A. Guryev
Rifle model: Anschutz
Ski brand: Fischer
Official site: www.akhatova.ru
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Achievements:

Honored Master of Sports.

• World junior champion in relay and team race (Antholz-Anterselva, 1995)
• Bronze medalist at the World Junior Championships in the relay and team race (Ruhhpolding, 1996)
• Silver medalist of the Olympic Games in relay (Nagano, 1998)
• World champion in team race (Hochfilzen, 1998)
• Bronze medalist at the World Championships in the individual race (Holmenkollen, 1999)
• Silver medalist at the World Relay Championships (Kontiolahti, 1999)
• World relay champion (Holmenkollen, 2000)
• In 1997-2000 — won the Russian championship 4 times
• Olympic bronze medalist in relay (Salt Lake City, 2002)
• World champion in mass start and relay (Khanty-Mansiysk, 2003)
• Silver medalist at the World Championships in the individual race and relay (Oberhof, 2004).
• Bronze medalist in the individual race and pursuit at the Olympic Games (Turin, 2006)
• Olympic champion in relay (Turin, 2006)
• Silver medalist at the World Championships in the sprint race (Östersund, 2008)
• Bronze medalist at the World Championships in pursuit (Östersund, 2008)

Albina has repeatedly shown extremely high performance in shooting. In the 2002/2003 season, the overall percentage of accurate hits was 92.84%, and in the 2005/2006 Olympic season - 94.17%!!!

Awards

• 1998 - Awarded the medal of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland 3a, 2nd degree.
• 2003 - Awarded the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st degree.
• 2007 - Awarded the Order of Friendship.

Albina Akhatova was familiar with sports from early childhood, because Albina’s father, Khamit Faizrakhmanovich Akhatov, is an honored coach of Russia, a cross-country skiing specialist. It was he who became his daughter’s first mentor. Throughout her childhood, until she graduated from school, Albina was seriously involved in skiing, and only came to biathlon in 1993. By that time, the Akhatov family had long since moved from the Vologda region to the polar city of Labytnangi. After Albina switched to biathlon, Leonid Aleksandrovich Guryev became her coach. He, like Khamit Akhatov, already had a famous biathlete student - Luiza Noskova. Albina herself claims in one of her interviews that she simply followed in her footsteps. From the very first steps in biathlon, it became clear that Albina Akhatova is an extremely gifted athlete. She fulfilled the standard of master of sports in biathlon already in 1994.

Since 1997, she has been an international master of sports, and in 1998, after a remarkable performance at the Olympic Games in Nagano, Albina Akhatova became an honored master of sports. In addition to outstanding sporting achievements, Albina also has an ordinary, completely everyday profession - she graduated from the Russian State Open University of Transport with a degree in Economist-Manager. The talent of this wonderful athlete is recognized not only by thousands of fans. One of Albina Akhatova’s highest awards is the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, first degree.

In the 2008/2009 season, right during the World Championships in Pyeongchang, she was disqualified for doping. At the end of the period of disqualification, she planned to return to professional sports, but due to health problems, she decided to end her career in December 2010.

After completing her sports career, Albina Akhatova became the personal trainer of her husband Maxim Maximov. Since the 2012/2013 season, she became a shooting coach in the Tyumen region team.

Albina Khamitovna Akhatova(Tat. Albina Khamit kyzy Akhatova, Albina Həmit qızı Axatova; November 13, 1976, Nikolsk, Vologda region) - Russian biathlete. Honored Master of Sports of Russia (1998).

She made her debut in the World Cup on January 13, 1996 - in the sprint race (held as part of the 3rd stage of the 1995-1996 World Cup) in Anterselva, Italy, showing the 56th result (and the last among Russian athletes).

For the first time she entered the top 30 (points group) in a World Cup race on December 11, 1997 - in the individual race (as part of the 2nd stage of the 1997-1998 World Cup) in Ostersund, Sweden, showing 17th result.

She reached the podium for the first time in a World Cup race on December 16, 1998 - in the individual race (held as part of the 2nd stage of the 1997-1998 World Cup) in Brezno, Slovakia, showing 2nd result.

She won her first victory in the World Cup race on January 26, 2003 - in the Mass Start (held as part of the 6th stage of the 2002-2003 World Cup) in Anterselva, Italy.

In relay racing, Albina Akhatova won a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, a bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. At the same time, Albina Akhatova became a bronze medalist in the 15 km individual race, after Olga Pyleva’s medal was confiscated for doping. She won her second bronze medal in the 10 km pursuit race.

At the World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2003, Albina won a gold medal in the mass start, also a bronze medal at the 1999 Biathlon World Championships in Oslo and a silver medal at a distance of 15 km at the 2004 Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof. She won gold medals in the team sprint in 1998 and in the relay in 2000 and 2003; silver medalist in relay races 1999 and 2004.

Thus, at the moment Albina Akhatova is one of the most titled Russian biathletes, having 10 world championship medals (4 gold) and 5 Olympic medals (1 gold).

Second overall winner of the 2002/03 World Cup, in the same season the athlete won the small crystal globe in the mass start race category. In total, during her career she won 3 World Cup stages in the individual competition, and was also second 8 times and third 10 times.

I missed the 2006/07 season due to the birth of a child. On December 24, 2006, Albina and her second husband Andrei Dmitriev, a doctor for the women’s team, had a son, Leonid (Akhatova was previously married from April 2002 to 2004 to Dmitry Maslov, a skier).

In the 2007-2008 season, she returned to professional sports and won two medals at the 2008 World Championships. Even at this championship, Albina suffered an unfortunate setback in the relay race: her rifle’s firing pin failed, which is why the team’s gap from the leader - the German national team - grew from 21 seconds at the beginning of the stage to more than 2.5 minutes when the relay was transferred. The Russian team entered the third stage in 14th place. However, thanks to the efforts of Tatyana Moiseeva and, mainly, Ekaterina Yurieva, the backlog of prizes was reduced to a minimum. Shortly before the finish, Yuryeva managed to break into third position and until the last tried to win at least bronze for the team, but, being completely exhausted from making up for lost minutes, she lost to the Frenchwoman Sandrine Bailly at the finish line.

Disqualification 05.12.2008-06.12.2010

On December 4, 2008, at the World Cup stage, the athlete was given a doping test “A”, which turned out to be positive. On February 13, 2009, the International Biathlon Union officially confirmed the positive results of doping tests taken from Ekaterina Yuryeva, Albina Akhatova and Dmitry Yaroshenko in December 2008 at the first stage of the 2008/2009 World Cup in Ostersund, Sweden. On August 11, 2009, the biathletes were found guilty of using illegal drugs and disqualified for two years each, without the right to participate not only in the Vancouver Olympics, but also in the Sochi Olympics.

In response, Ekaterina Yuryeva and Albina Akhatova filed an appeal against the decision of the Anti-Doping Commission of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) regarding their disqualification. But on November 13, 2009, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS) rejected the appeal of two Russian biathletes. According to the published statement of the court, the sanctions of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) against the athletes were recognized as lawful. In particular, CAS experts emphasized that “the presence of a prohibited drug, recombinant erythropoietin (rEPO), in doping samples of female athletes can be considered a scientifically proven fact.”

Despite this, the athletes decided to continue fighting for their reputation. On their initiative, the law firm Libra Law, in which the partners are Jorge Ibarollo and Claude Ramoni, lawyers of Ekaterina Yurieva and Albina Akhatova, arranged a meeting with the media on December 10, 2009, at which it was stated that the appeal against the decision of the Arbitration Court for Sports in Lausanne filed with the Swiss Supreme Court.

On May 11, 2010, it became known that the Swiss Federal Tribunal upheld the decision of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on a two-year disqualification of Russian athletes Ekaterina Yuryeva and Albina Akhatova for doping. Akhatova’s period of disqualification expired on December 5, 2010. After the expiration of the period of disqualification on December 6, 2010, Albina Akhatova decided to leave biathlon (www.akhatova.ru).

Coaching career

After completing her sports career, Albina Akhatova became the personal trainer of her husband Maxim Maximov. Since the 2012/2013 season, she became a shooting coach in the Tyumen region team.

Albina Akhatova - photo