Evgenia Soboleva is one of the most famous Russian water polo players. He is a winner of the Olympic Games and World Championships, a two-time winner of the continental championship.
First sports steps
Soboleva Evgenia Viktorovna was born in 1988 in the small town of Kirishi, which is located in the Leningrad Region. The future water polo player from an early age wanted to connect her life with professional sports. In this case, preference was given to aquatic species.
Having tried several disciplines, Eugenia chose water polo for herself. The first mentor for the young Soboleva was the famous coach Baranova, who was able to discover sports talent in the girl.
Hard training has paid off. At the age of 15, Evgenia Sobolev is a player at the KINEF-Surgutneftegaz water polo club.
Sports career and achievements
As part of the water polo team of her hometown, Sobolev has won 13 champion titles of the Russian Federation since 2003.
The excellent game of Eugenia attracted the attention of the coaches of the national team. At 17, the defender began to be involved in the training process and games for the Russian team.
In 2006, Evgenia Soboleva won the first medal in international competitions for herself - she brings home the bronze medal of the World Cup.
A year later, the 19-year-old water polo player receives the same award for the 2007 World Cup in Melbourne. At the two subsequent World Championships (2009 and 2011), the Russian team with Evgenia Soboleva in the composition twice took third place.
Much better achievements of the Russian athlete in the continental championships. In 2008, Sobolev for the first time became part of the national team of Europe, and two years later repeated this success.
In parallel with the busy training schedule, Eugene managed to graduate from the University of Engineering and Economics in St. Petersburg.
Olympic success
The highlight of the career that Evgeny Sobolev remembered was water polo at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. These were the third Games for the Russian athlete. Unfortunately, in Beijing and London, the Russian team failed to win medals.
The Olympic tournament in Rio was very difficult. Having hardly left the qualification group, the Russians managed to defeat the Spaniards in the quarterfinals, but were defeated by the Italian team in the semifinals.
In the “bronze" finals, where Russia played with Hungary, most of the time did not determine the winner. And in the penalty shootout, Soboleva Evgenia and her friends in the national team were more accurate. As a result, the Russian women's team for the first time in its history managed to win the medal of the Olympic Games in water polo.