How many famous Russian runner Julia Stepanova? The achievements, titles, biography and personal life of this athlete will be presented to your attention in the article.
Brief biography of Yulia Stepanova
On July 3, in 1986, in the central city of the Kursk region , Rusanova Yulia Igorevna was born, who after marriage took the last name of Stepanova. In the same city, she received secondary education at school No. 28, and after she successfully graduated from the installation college. From an early age, the runner Stepanova Julia was fond of athletics, and thanks to her talent, she was able to get into professional sports, where for many years she was preparing for serious achievements.
Master of Sports of Russia
Her sports career began in the Russian Federation, where Yulia Stepanova was selected for the Olympic team in athletics with a specialization in short and medium distances. Before entering the world arena of athletics, the runner Stepanova earned the title of international master of sports in Russia.
Stepanova's participation in the Championships
Russian runner Yulia Stepanova went through many championships and competitions. Its best achievement is the won 3rd place in the 800m race, which happened at the 2011 European Championships, which was held in Paris. Before that, in the same year, she won an honorable 2nd place at domestic competitions in Cheboksary.
In the future, the anti-doping service will detect the adoption of doping, and both prestigious results will be canceled. This will be followed by a disqualification of Yulia Rusanova for two years due to a mismatch of the blood test to what is indicated in the biological passport of the runner. For the same reason, absolutely all officially registered achievements of an athlete are considered invalid starting from March 3, 2011.
Reasons for disqualification
Disqualification expired in early 2015. During this period, Julia Rusanova married Vitaly Stepanova, and in the future her name sounded only with this surname. This was followed by one of the most striking events related to her biography - participation in the VFLA doping scandal.
Impact on the doping scandal
Runner Stepanova, together with her husband, became the heroes of a documentary film about doping by Russian athletes, authored by documentary filmmaker Hayo Zeppelt. In it, they provided an interview, during which they expressed their opinion on the issue of doping abuse in the Russian athletics team. In the film, which was broadcast on the German television channel ARD at the end of 2014, Yulia Rusanova talked about how to replace athlete samples with doping and the cost of such manipulations. The timing lasted 2 hours, and during this time enough moments accumulated to provoke an international scandal, which ultimately affected the fate of the Russian and IAAF.
All testimonies from Stepanova’s words, which did not have any factual evidence, were declared invalid in the Russian Federation, while VFLA President Valentin Balakhnichev nevertheless resigned. Yulia Stepanova, together with her husband and one-year-old child, proceeding from the plot of the film, will irrevocably leave Russia. They lived for some time in Germany, and in November 2015 they sought political asylum in Canada.
During court proceedings with representatives of the ARD channel, film defenders, like the author himself, stated that they did not confirm the statement of the Stepanovs and did not check their words about the constant use of doping in Russian athletics. Also, unexpectedly for everyone, Seppelt said that he doubts the reality of these statements.
The Russian authorities explained the testimonies of Yulia in the film by the desire to obtain permanent residence in Canada, but her husband does not agree with this statement, on the basis that, according to his statement, “no one needs them” outside the home country. In June 2016, it became known that the couple lived in the United States.
The athlete could no longer continue her career in the Russian national team, but thanks to her testimony in the scandalous film, the runner Stepanova received the status of a WADA informant.
Return in 2016
Despite all the doping scandals, Russian runner Yulia Stepanova received permission to compete in the 2016 Pre-Olympic European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam. The pass was issued by the International Athletics Federation. According to representatives of this organization, the athlete received leniency thanks to her active participation in the fight against doping.
Thanks to this, the runner Stepanova (photo in the article) took part in the competition at a distance of 800 meters, speaking from the European Athletics Association. The race did not end with success for the athlete, since in the qualification she did not reach the finish line. In the future, these results did not prevent Julia from being a contender for participation in the 2016 Olympics and becoming the only athlete from the Russian team, whom the association did not suspend due to suspicions of taking doping.
The entries in the IAAF press release announced the serious contribution of Yulia Stepanova to the protection and promotion of honest athletes and fair sports in general. Therefore, she decided to get the role of an independent athlete at the Olympics in Rio. They also stood up for Stepanova at the World Anti-Doping Agency, asking the committee to allow her to participate. Judging by the official statements of the anti-doping agency, this step was justified by an important informational contribution to its investigation.
And yet, with such strong support, the Russian runner Yulia Stepanova, whose biography is presented to your attention in the article, did not receive permission from the IOC to participate in the Rio Olympics. In response, Stepanova received an official protest. It stated that this would be a bad example for other informants, and was contrary to the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Vitaly Stepanov - husband of Julia
Julia’s husband - Vitaly Stepanov, before moving to Germany, worked at the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), while he lived and studied in America from a young age, but after receiving his education, he decided to return to the Russian Federation. Vitaly, like his wife, is fond of athletics at an amateur level. According to the spouses, their acquaintance took place in 2009, when the Russian Championship in athletics was held in Cheboksary. After some time, the novel of recent acquaintances went into marriage. According to Vitaly Stepanov, in the very first days of his acquaintance, his future wife admitted that she had witnessed doping crimes, and he also shared his observations on this matter. In addition, Julia herself admitted to her spouse that she is taking doping.
Runner Stepanova: titles
During her sports career, Julia Stepanova received a number of awards and prizes. Many of them are recognized as invalid, a complete list of all successes is:
- 2nd place in the 800 meter race in 2008 at the Russian Championship among youth in Chelyabinsk.
- 3rd place in Saransk at a race of 800 meters (disqualification followed by cancellation).
- 2011 - World Championship in South Korea - 8th place (disqualification with subsequent cancellation).
Personal records include the results of 1: 58.99 at the 800-meter race (2009), 2: 39.81 at the 1000-meter distance and 4: 06.08 at the 1500-meter race in the same year.