Russian Biathlonist Pavel Alexandrovich Rostovtsev: biography, achievements

A small town in the Vladimir region with a poetic name Gus-Crystal presented to the sports world a wonderful athlete who was able to remain forever in the hearts of biathlon fans of our planet. This is Rostovtsev Pavel Alexandrovich. Year of birth of the athlete - 1971, birthday - September 21. If you believe in the oriental horoscope, the Virgo men, born in the year of the pig, have great talents that can fully reveal during their lives through natural diligence and inborn perseverance. This characteristic fully corresponds to the life path of Pavel Rostovtsev. It is not enough to have talent from birth, it is much more important to be able to realize it to the fullest. The sports career of Paul serves as an excellent confirmation of this thesis.

What is he, the famous Russian biathlete Rostovtsev Pavel Alexandrovich? The height of the athlete is 187 cm, weight - 80 kg. Attractive man in his prime. He has a higher education, specialty - mechanical engineer. How was his life? What did he manage to achieve? You will learn about this after reading the article.

Childhood

After living in the city of Gus-Khrustalny until 1977, the Rostovtsev family decided to move to Velikiye Luki. It was in this city that Pavel went to the first class. After three years - a new move. In 1980, Paul with his parents is in a small town of Kovrov, Vladimir region. It is in this city that Pavel begins to seriously engage in sports. In the provincial town there were no special options for starting a sports career. The decisive factor was the fact that Pavel's Pope, Alexander Nikolaevich Rostovtsev, recruited a group of children to practice in the sports section for skiing. Thus, the first coach Rostovtsev can safely be considered his own father.

The first steps in biathlon

Initially, there was no question of biathlon. Rostovtsev Pavel Alexandrovich was engaged in skiing, preferring long-distance running. When Pavel was fourteen years old, a variant appeared to try his hand at a biathlon sport adjacent to cross-country skiing. The new kind of sport so captured Pavel, that clean skies receded into the background. Now all the thoughts of the teenager were only about biathlon. At first it was very difficult - confidently looking on the ski track Rostovtsev did not have a stable shooting, which adversely affected the final results of biathlon competitions. But the high potential of the young athlete was well visible to biathlon specialists. At some point it became clear that Rostovtsev Pavel Aleksandrovich outgrew the level of provincial Kovrov. And in order to grow professionally, you need to radically change something in your life. The family council decided to move Pavel to Krasnoyarsk.

The beginning of a professional career

One of the important arguments for moving to Krasnoyarsk was the fact that Valery Stolnikov, a well-known biathlon coach, showed personal interest in Pavel Rostovtsev. Work with Stolnikov almost immediately brought fruit. A number of victories were won in the domestic Russian biathlon competitions. And already in 1995, after moving to Krasnoyarsk, Paul was called to the banner of the national team.

Russian national biathlon team

At the end of 1995 in the Slovak city of Osrblje Paul made his debut in the World Cup in biathlon. More than eighty sportsmen took part in the race, and the more honorable was the ninth place occupied by the Russian biathlete in his debut race. Finally Rostovtsev Pavel Alexandrovich, whose biography is presented to your attention in the article, was fixed in the composition of the team in the season 1996-1997. In the same season, the first personal success in the international arena took place. The first sprint World Cup in 1996-1997 brought Pavel the third place, and the very next day in the pursuit race Rostovtsev improves his position, finishing in second place. Rostovtsev Pavel Alexandrovich is a biathlete, who is seriously considered by the coaching staff of the national team as the main candidate for a trip to the Winter Olympic Games in Nagano.

Loss of loved ones

However, these plans were not destined to come true. In the spring of 1997, in a car accident, Valery Stolnikov tragically dies - the coach who opened Pavel Rostovtsev for the biathlon world. In the autumn of the same year Paul is waiting for another serious shock. Pavel's father, Alexander Nikolayevich Rostovtsev, leaves his life. The psychological shock experienced by Paul had a negative impact on his results. About the biathlon team for a time had to forget.

Paul out of the depression helped his future wife, also a biathlete, Julia Dykanyuk. She, along with the new coach of Pavel, Konstantin Ivanov, helped the athlete find himself, the former.

Triumphant return to the national team

In the season of 1998-1999 Rostovtsev again is the main participant in the biathlon team of Russia. As a result of the cup season, Pavel becomes the owner of the prestigious Small Crystal Globe in the standings of individual races. In the same season to Paul came the first success at the world championships. At the World Championships in 2000, held in the Norwegian Holmenkollen, already in the first sprint race for 10 km Paul won a silver medal. The next day in the pursuit race, Rostovtsev was again the second, losing only three seconds to the champion from Germany Frank Luke. The next race was a mass start at 15 km. And again a silver medal. Still, Pavel won his gold medal at this World Cup. As part of the relay team of Russia, he defeated the great Norwegian W. E. Bjørndallen at the last, fourth stage.

Golden double

Personal gold world championships appeared in the collection of Paul after the competition in the Slovenian Pokljuka in 2001. Already in the first race at a ten-kilometer distance our athlete was not equal. Pavel developed his success the next day. In the pursuit race, another victory was won with a noticeable superiority over rivals. This championship was the most successful in the sports career of Paul. Two gold medals of the championship, received within two days, is a result deserving of all respect.

Captain of the national team

Stability of the results and successes at the world's largest competitions positively influenced Paul's authority. Since 2000, he is captain of the national biathlon team. The season of 2001-2001 is going well for Paul. Showing consistently high results at the World Cup stages, Pavel approaches to the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City as one of the main favorites of the biathlon tournament. But, experiencing great psychological pressure, constantly being in the center of attention of fans and journalists, Pavel failed his first Olympics. Particular disappointment was the relay race, in which the unsuccessful shooting of Pavel at the last stage deprived our national team of chances for Olympic medals. Disappointment from the unsuccessful performance at the Olympic Games was so great that the end of the season, Paul conducted very unsuccessfully. I missed a real chance to win the World Cup.

Completion of sports career

The following seasons brought the athlete a complete disappointment. For several years in the asset of Paul - only one hit on the podium in personal races. This happened at the World Cup in Anholtz, where in the mass start Paul took second place. Increasingly, Rostovtsev began to think about the completion of a sports career. In addition, in 2004, during training Pavel Rostovtsev suffered a serious injury and was forced to skip all pre-season training. However, inborn perseverance helped Pavel to return to the world biathlon elite and get a deserved Olympic medal. It happened in 2006 at the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. As part of the relay team, Pavel perfectly passed his third stage, which allowed the Russian national team to win Olympic silver. This season was the last for Pavel Rostovtsev in the role of professional athlete.

Life after sports career

Having finished his professional career, three-time world champion Rostovtsev Pavel Alexandrovich does not say goodbye to the sport. He remains in the big sport as an administrative employee. He was offered the post of head of the Agency of Physical Culture and Sports under the administration of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In 2009, Pavel Rostovtseva is elected vice-president of the Russian Biathlon Union. In the spring of 2011 Pavel Rostovtsev decides to switch to coaching. He was appointed coach of the Russian women's biathlon team. In the range of his duties included shooting training athletes. Having worked in this position for three years, Paul resigned in 2014, along with the coaching staff of Wolfgang Pichler. Also in the asset of Pavel Rostovtsev there is work in the rugby club "Krasny Yar" from the city of Krasnoyarsk and the post of the Minister of Sports of the Irkutsk region.

Rostovtsev Pavel Alexandrovich: personal life

Paul was married twice in his life. The first wife of Paul, Julia Dykanyuk, also professionally engaged in biathlon. Pavel and Julia met at the training camp in 1994. For several years the relationship between them was purely friendly. A chain of tragic events that occurred in the life of Paul in 1997 (the death of his father and the death of the coach), plunged the athlete into a deep depression. It was Julia Dykanyuk who managed to help Pavel overcome this difficult life period. In April 2000, they officially registered their relationship.

Does Rostovtsev Paul Aleksandrovich have children? Yulia's wife gave him a son before the wedding. At the time of the official marriage, they already had a four-month-old son, Alexander. Julia had to sacrifice her sports career for the sake of family life. Moreover, in 2006 the young couple had a second child. It was again a boy. His parents called him Artemy. A terrible blow to the family was the news that Yulia was diagnosed with leukemia. All attempts to cope with the terrible disease were fruitless. At the age of 35 Julia was gone.

In 2011, Pavel Rostovtsev entered into a second marriage. His wife was Olga Turovets. With her, Paul met in his hometown of Krasnoyarsk. Paul's future wife by education was a lawyer, but she worked as an editor on the regional channel "Afontovo". The acquaintance occurred during the filming of the television program with the participation of Paul. For some time the future spouses met, and in 2011 decided to officially register their relationship. It was Olga who helped Pavel to take a difficult decision for him to lead the biathlon team of Russia.

Now Pavel is 45 years old, and one can be sure that we will hear more about this great athlete who has given Russian sports many victories.