Tatyana Akimova: “In Hochfilzen I will take medals from Nove Mesto.” Biographies, stories, facts, photographs Tatyana Akimova's husband

Tatyana was born on October 26, 1990 in Cheboksary under her maiden name Semenova, and began playing sports there.

From the first grade, little Tanya was involved in cross-country skiing and switched to biathlon quite early, at the age of twelve. At first I tried to combine both types and even became a master of sports in skiing, but biathlon still prevailed - both in complexity and entertainment.

The first serious starts were the 2011 Summer Biathlon World Championships, and then the 2013 Winter Universiade in Trentino. Only if Akimova failed to get into the medals on roller skis, the athlete returned from Italy with two personal bronze medals - in the sprint and pursuit, and gold in the mixed relay.

Her debut at the World Cup happened last season in Östersund, where she, with three penalties in the standing position, finished only 83rd in the sprint and, of course, did not qualify for the pursuit. In total, the Russian woman took part in 6 stages (not counting the World Championship), and her best achievement was 12th place at a distance of 7.5 km and 14th in the pursuit in Khanty-Mansiysk.

At the 2016 World Championships, Akimova was entrusted with starting four races. In the sprint she finished 28th with one penalty, in the pursuit – 29th, and together with the team in the relay she became 11th, despite the fall, shooting clean.

According to the results, Akimova was recognized by the IBU as the best newcomer. She finished 45th overall with 145 points.

“This is a very unexpected reward for me - at the end of the season this... I’m happy. The next goal is to get on the podium,” she said then in an interview with R-Sport. “This gives some kind of incentive for the future, we will fight.” "To grow every year, we need to put in more effort in training. I think we will work and the results will improve! This is a huge motivation for me for the next season."

Akimova named the need to gain a foothold in the first team as her goal for this season. At the same time, the athlete is confident that she can only guarantee her place with consistently good performances. At least that’s what Tatiana said before the start of the season. And in the future, the athlete, of course, dreams of an Olympic medal.

The biathlete’s personal trainer is her father-in-law Anatoly Akimov, who is also her first coach, and who, obviously, is the father of her husband Vyacheslav Akimov, a two-time European junior champion.

It is curious that at first it was Vyacheslav who showed great promise and was considered a very promising athlete. Today, according to the athlete, he is the main fan and adviser, even though he never managed to compete at the World Cup or IBU Cup.

In her free time from training and competitions, Tatyana loves to read and tries to learn English. The list of recently read items includes a biography of the famous Norwegian skier Bjorn Deli. According to Akimova, learning about the achievements of great athletes motivates herself for further work.

Among his idols, Akimov names Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. However, the athlete believes that with age and achievement of certain successes they can change. I would like to believe that soon Tatyana will be able to ask this question again.

Took last place in the mass start at the Olympics in Korea. Akimova emphasized that she had no contact with the coaching staff and she simply could not understand some of the classes.

“I have already spoken out about Akimova,” Reztsova began. - She said that with such a move she would not turn out to be a great biathlete. The girl blames everyone now, but what did she herself do for this? Even with clean shooting, she has no results. She knows her minus - the move. But she didn't even work on it.

- Why?
- I was counting on the fact that I would cover all the targets and increase my level. She doesn't care how she runs! She doesn't care.

- Come on?
- Yes. She had arguments with many coaches who wanted to help her. They told her: “Tatiana, you are running slowly, you need to tighten up this element.” And she waved it off: “What does this have to do with the move, I can work purely on the line”... The result is obvious. Akimova is offended by everyone. But first of all, you need to understand yourself. Yes, today she was flunked. But she must be ready for anything!

- It turned out that you’re not ready?
- Yes. Exactly! This race showed that Akimova is not ready to fight! Just not ready! She didn't show anything. It seems like she is running and running. And then - how it goes. And now she still blames everyone - who doesn’t understand her, who doesn’t hear her. She's the one who doesn't hear anyone. The coaches wanted to help her and offered various options. She rejected everything, hoping only for her shooting.

- However, Akimova claims that she felt comfortable working with Noritsin, whose contract was not renewed...
- And you ask Noritsyn? And he will answer you the same as I did. He walked towards her, listened, heard. But when I tried to tell her, she also did everything her own way. I don’t know... A year ago, when she once won the sprint and became third in the pursuit, for some reason they turned her into a star, a leader. But after that Akimova did not confirm that she was the leader. She didn’t fight, she didn’t work until she was exhausted!

- Did you look for the reasons for failures around you?
- Yes. She only blamed the weather, skiing, coaches, and so on. Tanya won't be a great biathlete because she doesn't know how to work! Looking for all sorts of excuses. Today I thought she would be somewhere around 10th. But do you see what the result is? It turned out that I was simply not ready for the mass start.

- Can I finish biathlon with such an attitude?
- I don't know. It's her right. She can continue her career and prove that she was written off early, answer all the critics, including me. Why should she finish?

- What can you say about Kuzmina’s victory?
- I am very grateful to Nastya. She stood up for herself, for her brother, for the girls who were not allowed. She communicates with many people and is friends. In particular, with my daughter Daria Virolainen. I am very grateful to her. Kuzmina once again proved that there is no need to humiliate and insult athletes who are not guilty of anything. We all bow deeply to her.

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Anfisa! You don’t have to kick others to raise your own! Don’t you know how much athletes, any of them, need support! and not just yours! If you can’t afford such luxury, then it’s better to keep quiet, at least it won’t ricochet.

Well, what to take from the talker.

mother, not understanding the harm to her children, the diagnosis is instinctive. There is no one else to interview. After all, by supporting our athlete in every detail now, we become stronger. yes Denis is a noble troll

Dmitry,
Well, yes, and the current coaches planned everything in advance so that the current athletes would not have any results this year, so to speak, to help those who ordered their own “murder” and their accomplices - representatives of the second oldest. :))

Don't think it's a complicated design. But I think everything turned out much simpler, without a social order. The athletes are not satisfied with the result, and not just one or two. You can, of course, blame the entire biathlon team for “not knowing how to work and fight,” but it would be more logical to ask those who train them.

Conspiracy theories are, of course, cool, but somehow too mysterious. :))

DimaN1951: “Actually, it would be better for Reztsova to remain silent after her own simple-minded statement several years ago about her taking “pills” at one time.”

And not just keep silent, but be expelled from the RRF.

Anton Pavlovich Chaika, this is not the first time. So the command “FAS” went to the current coaches. And journalists are used as executors in this matter. And to approach any athlete and get the necessary answers from him - I don’t see anything difficult here
Even Reztsov can be set up like this. This has already happened to her. I remember the case when details of the personal life of her and her daughters were published. And she didn’t sue anyone there.
She grinds everything, and then the journalists choose the most rotten and closest to the order. Reztsova is a very convenient material for journalists in this regard
That’s why journalists are called representatives of the “most ancient profession.”

zakol,
but Tatyana was not the only one who expressed dissatisfaction with her preparation during the season. Olga Yakushova said approximately the same thing a few months ago, that she completed the entire volume, but there was no result, so she left biathlon altogether. Babikov and Tsvetkov spoke about the same thing. And you can accuse these athletes of bias, incorrectness, etc. as much as you like, but the trend, however, is not in favor of our coaches. As they say, this is not the first case in our practice. And something needs to be done about this. After all, if an athlete dares to speak unflatteringly about the coaches, then this is already the end, which means the weight has reached the floor. And if several athletes talk about this at once, then at least their opinion should be listened to carefully.

difficult season, not difficult, Reztsova was never a biathlete by and large, a skier, yes, but she had a lot of character, and she always fought to the end, you can’t take that away, it’s only the coach or goalkeeper’s fault in football, individual events - only athlete! and the fact that “Kuzmina and Domracheva opened up thanks to the lack of competition and careful attitude towards them in their new teams.” - this statement causes, to put it mildly, great surprise!? they already had a good foundation laid before they got into other teams, and there they were helped to develop them, how? An interesting question, but certainly not due to the hothouse conditions and the gagging of representatives of local kings, all this will not add popular support to the akim, everyone is equal on the ski track

In fact, it would be better for Reztsova to remain silent after her own simple-minded statement several years ago about her taking “pills” at one time.

zakol, where did you see “the weak-willed holding of races”? Getting into the MC based on the results of previous races at the Olympic Games already indicates the opposite. What’s the point of squeezing out the last of your strength after 5 misses at one milestone, when ahead of our biathletes lies the most important race for them at these Olympic Games - SE (it was announced even before the start of the games)? To take 28th or 29th place instead of 30th, and then lose your stage in SE?
And many biathletes can make mistakes; just remember Ustyugov’s 8 mistakes in the standing position of the last stage of the relay, which dropped our team from first to fourteenth place.

Mikhail Vansyatsky, dirt is your expression about the fans. Here they are talking about the weak-willed conduct of races and an obvious attempt to blame everything on others. How else does all this look directly at the Olympic Games? Not all races are finished yet. Why do all this if everyone else has to perform? They start: they don’t write to me, they write to me, but Barnashov himself called me...

I don’t see anything in Akimova’s words that would fall under the definition of “throwing mud.” If our press interprets and distorts her words in any way, puts quotes taken out of context into headlines, calls an honest answer to a question a “statement,” etc., then these are problems of the press and those who believe it.
I repeat once again - not a single Russian biathlete shows anything this season. Tatyana simply voiced the general problem of the team and explained its reason not in detached general phrases, but specifically based on her personal experience.

Actually, it was Tatyana who began to accurately throw dirt at the coaches. I started after the individual competition and continued after the mass start.

1) Tatyana Akimova never considered herself the leader of the team and always talked about it.
2) Tatyana wanted to continue working with Noritsyn in the off-season. They already had a preparation plan ready, taking into account the mistakes made during last season, which needed to be corrected. Noritsyn's removal and Konovalov's arrival were like a bolt from the blue. At the same time, no one took the athlete’s opinion into account.
3) Akimova’s main complaint against Konovalov and Co. is the lack of any explanation for the usefulness of certain exercises. They simply told her, do it and that’s it. And why and for what - you don’t need to know. No one was interested in her well-being, and she herself did not understand what stage of readiness she was at.
4) As soon as the starts began, it turned out that Tatyana’s speed on the ski track not only did not increase, but also worsened. She did not receive a clear explanation from the coaches, and as a result, she lost confidence in the coaching staff and their instructions.
5) The same situation applies to absolutely all members of the Russian women’s national team. More or less, the only exception is Yurlova, who trained individually. But her results are worse than those that Tatyana showed last year. I'm not even talking about the deafening failure at the European Championships of Svetlana Mironova, the country's main young biathlon hope. So Akimova just voiced the team’s general problem, and Reztsova’s attack specifically on her is, to say the least, a dishonest act.

6) Reztsova, as usual, contradicts herself. First, she showers all the trunks on Akimova, and at the end she declares: “Kuzmina has once again proven that it is NOT NECESSARY TO HUMILIATE AND INSULT athletes who are not guilty of anything.” So why is Reztsova herself doing this?
7) I know what Konovalov wrote to Tatyana on the eve of the mass start. To put it mildly, this is not how they support their athletes.
8) Kuzmina and Domracheva blossomed thanks to the lack of competition and careful attitude towards them in their new teams. We only treat with care those who are convenient, pleasing, and “thieves.”
9) Tatyana is having a difficult season and there is no need to throw mud at her.

Mad bear, where did you see hatred? I write factually, and here you are spreading demagoguery. Anfisa correctly said that Akimova does not fight and does not show results, but is only looking for excuses for herself.

“Protect fans from hatred”

LOL WHAT? I am not responsible for other people. All claims to them.

Denis, who do you think stands out among those in the WC this season, besides Yurlova? Of the men, only Shipulin and Loginov, and then only with great reserve. I have never seen Anton so helpless on the track before as he was this season. We still don't know Loginov's potential at KM. And all three, mind you, prepared according to their own plans, and Yurlova and Shipulin were also outside the team.

Fedya,... “With such and such diligent work by the coaches, maybe we shouldn’t evaluate the potential of the athletes?!” - I completely share your opinion.

Denis, claims regarding Mironova should not be made against Akimova. Why hasn’t Konovalov, as a shooting coach (his specialization), taught the girl how to shoot yet? My opinion is that Svetlana should be on the team. And I also regret that she is not on the team. Both Tatyana and Svetlana, according to their abilities and capabilities, should be on the team. But TS did not solve their problems, but only aggravated them and therefore no longer has the right to exist. For what (what merits) Konovalov was returned to the team, I still don’t understand. And then Tikhonov cried out for him, oh-oh-oh, but now he’s dissatisfied. I wonder what he was pleased with during his first appointment, when Konovalov simply drove Olga Podchufarova and did not train anyone in anything? At the moment, I’m just glad that Sveta is not on the team on a permanent basis. It will be saved this way. But I expect a breakthrough from her. The team needs both athletes to skillfully develop their abilities.

Denis, remove Sveta from your avatar and express your opinion on health. Otherwise, you are only provoking attacks from fans of the same Ulyana and Tanya in Sveta. Isn't this the work of a provocateur?

If you really were a fan of Sveta, you would try to protect her from the reciprocal hatred of the fans of those athletes for whom you yourself are filled with hatred, wouldn’t you?

DimaN1951, I don’t want to denigrate anyone, but I’m writing my opinion. My opinion about Akimova was exactly the same as about Kaisheva. Both of them have nothing to do at the World Cup. They don’t try and don’t fight.

Mad bear, These are not attacks on biathletes. This is a truth that people here don’t want to notice.

Valentinovna, So you think that Akimova’s only success last season is that she now has to be dragged around all stages of the World Cup like a tourist without results? If she has no desire to fight for medals and she’s frankly not up to the task this season, then why torture her? Let him rest at the Russian Cup and if he shows good results he will come back. Why was Mironova put into reserve with excellent speed, while Akimova can constantly skate at the bottom of the protocol? Where's the justice?

Fedya, it looks like a scorched field. Just as they burned everything out after Pichler, that’s where we are now.

DimaN1951, I support! As a personal fan of Sveta Mironova, it was always disgusting for me to read Denis’ attacks on other biathletes. Let him remove Sveta from her avatar and then he’ll start throwing dirt instead of disgracing her. And so, a typical provocateur, trying to arouse hatred of fans towards Sveta.

Dmitry, but this, perhaps, really looks a lot like a scorched field.

With such diligent work by coaches, maybe we shouldn’t evaluate the potential of athletes?!

Denis, don’t you think that you and Anfisa are twin sisters? She is trying to denigrate her daughters’ competitors, you are trying to denigrate Sveta Mironova’s competitors. All that remains is to ask Dasha, Christina and Sveta whether they need such “intercessors”. I think no.

And Virolainen, apparently, knows how to work... Sorry. Nothing personal.

Denis, if Akimova is to be sent to the Russian Cup, then where should Mironov be sent?
A failure is a failure and you need to treat it as a failure, and not build conclusions that are beneficial to you.
Tatyana Akimova is at least our 2nd-3rd best biathlete, but everyone else still needs to prove this.

Yuri: “... how to feel about Akimova’s shooting?”
And how should we feel about OC Ustyugov, who somehow, being the team leader, made 8 mistakes in the standing position, at the last stage of the relay, dropping the team from first place to fourteenth:- (

That’s why I respect Anfisa so much for the truth! I said everything as it is and I’m completely right! Akimova does not work and does not fight! Couldn't have said it better! It's time to send Tanya to the Russian Cup. Vyalbe removed Nepryaeva and Nechaevskaya from the team last year, but they returned proving that they can perform successfully!

Sometimes it's better to remain silent.
And these are our rules

Vladimir,
If you don’t see that A. Reztsova goes beyond all boundaries in relation to all the athletes of our team without exception, excluding only her daughters, then it’s difficult for me to talk to you. If you can name at least one athlete from our national team about whom A.A. would say at least something positive, I will be very grateful to you. I don't know such facts.

As for me, I don’t have the habit of writing nasty things about anyone. I operate exclusively with facts. I wish the same for you. :)) We are not discussing here the question of how much Reztsova gave to biathlon. We are talking about how much it takes away from biathlon when it undermines the self-confidence of active biathletes, tells gossip about them, discusses and condemns them at the most inopportune moment, during important competitions. They don’t treat enemies the way she treated Tatyana Akimova. I didn’t have the courage to ask her coaches for their work, so I turned the arrows to the athlete. A good decision, and most importantly, a “bold” one. :))

Valentinovna, you still haven’t answered how to feel about Akimova’s shooting? And this is the athlete who blames coaches for improper functional training. You can fail shooting in one or two races, but not in four. The Ukrainians also didn’t show anything at the Olympic Games, but at least they ran at the World Championships this season. As for my personal concern for our athletes, I personally worry about Kuklina and Dmitrieva. Yes, I wrote vaguely above, giving the example of Podchufarova. I wanted to say, do you want to bother with Akimova in the same way as with Podchufarova’s incomprehensible problems?

Marina Alekseevna,))) urgently change your avatar to the one with a gun, so that everyone immediately understands who surrendered))

What is “age”? There are no middle-aged people! There are those who give up!

Marina Alekseevna, God will forgive you!
And I’m just Handsome, HEALTHY, but not a military man.
Where did you get the idea that I was hitting on you?
I know for sure that I DON’T LIKE HEALTHY WOMEN (as you wrote there:fffffffffffffffffffffffffff, not even military men!

(Now you will receive offers from military camps! So don’t be discouraged!)

Yuri, don't hesitate to ask. The only thing I disagree with is what I wrote above in detail. And how is Akimova so different from Mironova in terms of experience at KM? Appeared on KM one year earlier? And the fact that Akimova has the same problems as Podchufarova is quite possible. The girls were rolled out thanks to their good results. Maybe Svetlana was also lucky to avoid such a disaster in this way. But Sveta (I understand, you are her personal fan) needs to find a good shooting coach and then her place on the team at the KM will be unshakable.

We thought that our athletes at these Olympic Games would be humiliated by Comrade Bach and his company. But it turned out that journalists and an SBI official are leading in this case.

Marina Alekseevna, Marish, come and visit then.. I’ll provide you with something))

Nick Kuziansky, Well, you know, you can’t praise yourself...
although... I’m not interested in you as a man... I’m sorry... But I LOVE military men, Handsome, HUGE...

Lily, come to me?
I guess I didn't understand something?

Marina Alekseevna, no Marishechkin, I had a question for you))

Marina Alekseevna, Oh! I am handsome! It's true!

Valentinovna, I’m embarrassed to ask you, what did Reztsova say that was so terrible and wrong?” I don’t take Tatyana’s progress at the Olympic Games into account, only the rate of fire in time: sprint -44, GP-48 out of 60 participants, IG-62 and MS-29. What can you count on with such shooting and this is zero in one sprint. I repeat that what Reztsova said was wrong. This could be forgiven today for Mironova, but not for Akimova. Do you want Akimova to be like Podchufarova’s problems? And the fact that she defends Virolainen, of course, goes too far - so here we have Elen defending Volkov, Khinskyi Kaisheva no less.

Nick Kuzyansky, don’t be ridiculous... look at yourself in the mirror, handsome...

“Scandals, intrigues, investigations” - this is our biathlon today! It's terribly disappointing and annoying

Lily, all questions to mom)
She only ruins everything, including the girls’ reputation.

Fell. Akimova missed 5 times on one line. Akimova was the last. The results of the mass start are a complete description of Russian biathlon.

The women's mass start is the penultimate race at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, where the Russian team has its own representative office. Tatyana Akimova performed well in the individual race, finishing 15th. This gave little hope for further progress in the race from the general start. What else do we have to do? Just hope and believe. The two main favorites of the mass start were Laura Dahlmeier and Anastasia Kuzmina, who approached the Games in South Korea in brilliant shape. Daria Domracheva and Kaisa Mäkäräinen really wanted to rehabilitate themselves for previous failures. We must not forget about the powerful squad of Wolfgang Pichler. Swedes and Swedes take high places in every race, so we had the right to expect surprises from Hanna Oeberg, Mona Brorsson and Lynn Persson.

Fell before the shooting

When the biathlete fell on the first lap, for some reason there was no doubt who exactly collapsed on the snow. Yes, this is a cruel irony, but it is no longer possible to react to it differently. Tatyana Akimova immediately fell back to 30th place. If anyone was hoping for a miracle, their hopes were dashed instantly. But it was possible to watch the real struggle of the world biathlon leaders without unnecessary worries. Kuzmina worked the fastest in the first shooting, followed by Oeberg and Wierer, who also craved a personal medal at this Olympics. Akimova shot cleanly, but the gap was already 26 seconds. Losing almost half a minute while shooting clean after the first lap in a race from a general start is a disaster.

Former Russian women are at the top, the current Russian woman is at the bottom

On the second lap, Kuzmina predictably broke away from her rivals, who were now Domracheva and Herrmann. Akimova continued to fall down the protocol. Tatyana left the first shooting in 18th place with a lag of 26 seconds, and by the second she was already approaching 25th with a minute loss. The Russian shot cleanly again, but was already losing for more than a minute. Can you imagine it? And Kuzmina still remained in the lead, followed by Domracheva and Oeberg about 10 seconds later. The Swede continued to work wonders at the Olympics, increasing Pichler's stock in world biathlon. Although, it would seem, much higher.

Akimova continued to amuse. Tanya, where did you shoot?

The only one who could maintain Kuzmina’s crazy pace on the track was Domracheva. The two former Russians looked brilliant on the track. Daria lost to Anastasia by 10 seconds, but the gap from third place was almost half a minute. Sister Shipulina did everything perfectly at the third shooting stage, but Domracheva “failed” once and fell back to fifth place, losing 44 seconds. Our beloved Italian Dorothea Wierer soared into second place, and Veronika Vitkova closed the top three. Mäkäräinen also returned to the fight, and after a mistake in the second shooting, she worked well in her first stance. Tatyana Akimova... It's so sad that it's even funny. The Russian missed all five shots and fell back to last place, losing more than four minutes. The Russian national team has been mocking its fans for a long time, but this performance is too much even for them.

Kuzmina - space

Kuzmina demonstrated some kind of cosmic level of readiness in the mass start. Even missing the last shot could not prevent her from winning. Perhaps only a hurricane could hold back the athlete from Slovakia. Domracheva finished second, and this looked like a very good result after failures in previous races. The top three was completed by Tiril Eckhoff, who easily ran away from Wierer and company on the last lap. Akimova began shooting the second “rack” around the time Kuzmina ran out to the finishing shooting range. Someone might even think that Tatyana is preparing to finish in the top three. The Russian missed one more shot at the last shooting stage and was already losing for almost six minutes. Six minutes! In a 12.5 kilometer race. This is a fiasco, friends.

She started cross-country skiing in first grade and started biathlon at the age of 12. For some time she combined two sports and became a master of sports in cross-country skiing. The first coach, Anatoly Valentinovich Akimov, did a lot for the athlete’s training, and also supported her financially - he helped purchase equipment. Tatyana speaks warmly about her childhood training and calls those training sessions friendly and partly family-like.

As a junior, she was only able to qualify once for the European Championships, held in Ridnaun, Italy, and took 17th and 10th places there in the sprint and pursuit, respectively. These results allowed her to get into the Russian youth team and conduct her first training sessions as part of the national team. At the junior level, Tatyana demonstrated high speed, but did not always cope with shooting at her main competitions.

The first significant success happened in 2013 at the World Winter Universiade in Trentino - in Italy, Tatyana managed to win bronze medals in the sprint and pursuit, as well as gold in the mixed relay. A year later, on the Izhevsk Rifle, Tatyana fulfilled the selection criteria and won the right to compete at the World Cup and European Championships in Estonia. However, due to the lack of qualifying points, she was forced to start first at the IBU Cup stages.

She held her first race within the World Cup at the beginning of the 2015/2016 season, for which she was preparing as part of the national team. In the first races, she did not show a stable result and was sent to the IBU Cup stages, from where, having won sprint gold, she returned to the World Cup competitions. Her best personal result that season was 12th place in the sprint at the stage in Khanty-Mansiysk. In addition, Tatyana became a participant in the 2016 World Championships in Holmenkollen, where she competed in the sprint, pursuit, individual race and relay.

At the end of the 2015/2016 season, she received the Rookie of the Year award from the International Biathlon Union.

The 2016/2017 season was Tatyana’s first full season at the World Cup stages. In the same season, she won her first victory there: on December 16, 2016, Tatyana won gold in the sprint at the World Cup stage in Nove Mesto. The next day, in the pursuit race, she retained her place on the podium, finishing third.

The Biathlon World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, brought Tatyana a bronze medal in the mixed relay. On February 9, 2017, the Russian team, for which Olga Podchufarova, Tatyana Akimova, Alexander Loginov and Anton Shipulin competed, became third, losing only to the teams of Germany and France. Tatyana finished the 2016/2017 season in 16th place in the overall Women's World Cup standings.

Which was the leader of the team last year and even won the World Cup race, has significantly slowed down this season. In the Olympic uniform of an athlete from the United Arab Republic, she performed incredibly dullly. Not afraid to criticize the coaches in Pyeongchang, Tatyana suddenly disappeared from the biathlon horizon, missing the World Cup in Kontiolahti. The day before it became known that she would not go to Oslo either. The public was outraged: is this really a punishment for having a long tongue?

Not really. Akimova, apparently surprised by the wave of interest in her absence, hastened to explain on her Instagram page that the reasons were quite trivial.

"Thank you all for your support. I really got sick. I want to explain the situation. I deliberately missed the stage in Kontiolahti and was preparing to go to Oslo. But, unfortunately, I got sick. I missed several days of training due to fever. Apparently some kind of virus. There is no need to look for any other reasons here. I’m doing everything to recover and get back on track as quickly as possible, but it takes time. I don’t want to make any predictions yet. I sincerely wish good luck to our entire team at the upcoming stage.”

But this explanation does not mean at all that there is no conflict between the athlete and the coaching staff of the women’s team. It would be strange not to assume this, taking into account Akimova’s recent performances. Here are some quotes:

“How do we communicate with coaches? To be honest, our coaches did not call me or write to me even once during the Olympics. I’m telling it like it is.”

“It’s psychologically very difficult when there is no trust between the athletes and the coaching staff. I don’t want to look for excuses for an unsuccessful performance, but a series of changes in coaches does not lead to anything good.”

“This season has shown that operating principles need to be adjusted, to put it mildly.”

It is likely that the conflict is internal in nature, and Akimova and Sergei Konovalov have not yet had the opportunity to talk openly. After the Olympics - the main start of the season, which revealed obvious problems between the athlete and the coach - they have not seen each other yet. But Konovalov’s “answer” turned out to be unconvincing: “Akimova said this season that we don’t know her and that we are not preparing her. But some moments are forgotten very quickly - the year before last, when I was working as a senior coach, she was awarded the IBU Best Newcomer Award.” Bringing up an award from two years ago is a “grass was greener back then” technique that does not give the coach any points in a verbal battle with an athlete.

Anfisa Reztsova, who acted as a fortuneteller, also added fuel to the fire: “Where did Akimova show herself well? She shot one stage at the World Cup, and immediately after that she was made a leader. What kind of leadership can we talk about if she almost always loses with her move? Again, a girl cannot be a great biathlete with such a move.” It is interesting that such jabs from prominent figures do not harm the athletes, but the image of the coaching staff led by Konovalov. However, it is still biathletes who still have to make excuses for every failure after the race, who cannot even silently pass by the mixed zone without this gesture collecting hundreds of dissatisfied comments on the Internet.

If the grandiose changes vaguely promised by someone big and strong in the RBU are implemented, then the Akimov-Konovalov tandem, with which both the athlete and the coach are dissatisfied, will disintegrate. The only question is which of them will remain in the team.