Russian runner Stepanova Julia: achievements, biography, photo

Do many people know the Russian runner Yulia Stepanova? Achievements, titles, biography and personal life of this athlete will be presented to your attention in the article.

Brief biography of Yulia Stepanova

July 3, in 1986 in the central city of the Kursk region was born Rusanova Julia Igorevna, who after the marriage took the surname Stepanova. In the same city, she received a secondary education in school number 28, and after she successfully graduated from the technical school. From an early age Stepanova runner Julia was fond of track and field 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 Russia, where Julia Stepanova was selected for the Olympic team in the field of track and field athletics in the specialization of "running for short and medium distances." Before reaching the world arena of track and field athletics Stepanova earned the title of master of sports of Russia of international class.

Stepanova's participation in the Championships

Russian runner Yulia Stepanova went through many championships and competitions. Her best achievement is the won 3rd place in the 800m run, which happened at the 2011 European Championships, which was held in Paris. Before that, in the same year, she won an honorable second place in the domestic competitions in Cheboksary.

In the future, the anti-doping service will detect the fact of doping, and both prestigious results will be canceled. This will be followed by the disqualification of Yuliya Rusanova for two years because of the discrepancy between the blood test and that indicated in the biological passport of the runner. For the same reason, all officially registered achievements of the athlete are considered void, starting from March 3, 2011.

Causes of Disqualification

Disqualification expired in early 2015. During this period Julia Rusanova married Vitaly Stepanova, and in the future her name sounded only with this name. Then followed one of the most striking events associated with her biography - participation in the doping scandal of VFLA.

Impact on the doping scandal

Runner Stepanova together with her husband became the heroes of the documentary film about doping by Russian athletes, authored by documentary filmmaker Hayo Zeppelt. In it, they provided an interview, during which they reported their opinion on the question of abuse of doping in the Russian national track and field team. In the film, which was broadcast on the German TV channel ARD at the end of 2014, Julia Rusanova talked about ways to substitute the samples of athletes for doping and the cost of such manipulations. 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 the words of Stepanova, which has no actual confirmation, were recognized invalid in the Russian Federation, while the president of VFLA, Valentin Balakhnichev, nevertheless left his post. Julia Stepanova, along with her husband and a one-year-old child, based on the plot of the film, irrevocably leave Russia. For some time they lived in Germany, and in November 2015 they asked for political asylum in Canada.

During the court proceedings with representatives of the ARD channel, the film's 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, Zeppelt said that he doubted the validity of these statements.

Evidence of Julia in the film, the Russian authorities explained the desire to obtain permanent residence in Canada, but her husband does not agree with this statement, based on the fact that outside his native country, according to him, they "do not need anyone". In June 2016 it became known that the couple lived in the United States.

Continue his career in the Russian national team athlete could not, but thanks to his testimony in the scandalous film runner Stepanova received the status of informant WADA.

Return in 2016

Despite all the doping scandals, the Russian runner Julia Stepanova received permission to speak at the pre-Olympic European Athletics Championships in 2016, which was held in Amsterdam. The pass was issued by the International Athletics Federation. According to representatives of this organization, the athlete was lenient due to active participation in the fight against doping.

Thanks to this runner Stepanova (photo in the article) took part in the competition at a distance of 800 meters, speaking from the European Athletic Association. The race did not end with success for the athlete, as in the qualification she did not reach the finish. In the future, these results did not prevent Yulia from being an applicant for participation in the 2016 Olympics and becoming the only athlete from the Russian team, whom the association did not remove due to suspicion of doping.

Records in the press release of the IAAF reported on the serious contribution of Yulia Stepanova in protecting and promoting honest athletes and fair sports in general. Therefore, she decided to get the role of an independent athlete at the Olympics in Rio. Also for Stepanov interceded in the World Anti-Doping Agency, asking the committee to admit her to participate. Judging by the official statements of the anti-doping agency, this step was justified by an important information contribution in 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 Olympics in Rio. As a response from Stepanova received an official protest. It stated that this would be a bad example for other informants, and is a contradiction to the decision of the Sports Arbitration Court.

Vitaly Stepanov is the husband of Julia

Yulia's husband Vitaly Stepanov, before moving to Germany, worked for the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), while still living and studying in America from a young age, but after he received his education, he decided to return to Russia. Vitali, like his wife, is fond of athletics at the amateur level. According to the spouses, their acquaintance took place back in 2009, when the Russian championship in track and field athletics took place in Cheboksary. After some time the novel of recent acquaintances was married. According to Vitaly Stepanov, his future wife admitted in the first days of acquaintance that she witnessed doping crimes, and he also shared his observations on this matter. In addition, Julia herself admitted to her husband that she was taking dope.

Runner Stepanova: titles

For her athletic career, Yulia Stepanova received a number of awards and prizes. Many of them are recognized as invalid, a complete list of all the successes are:

• 2nd place at the 800 meter race in 2008 at the Russian Youth Championship in Chelyabinsk.
• 3rd place in Saransk in the race in 800 meters (disqualification followed by cancellation).
• 2011 - World Championship in South Korea - 8th place (disqualification followed by cancellation).

Personal records include results 1: 58.99 at the 800-meter race (2009), 2: 39.81 at the 1000-meter distance and 4: 06.08 in the 1500 meter race in the same year.