Nadezhda Skardino is a biathlete who managed to achieve fame as the most accurate woman of our time. The athlete not only won the titles of European and world champion, but also proved by her own example that nothing is impossible. Due to problems with her right eye, Nadezhda has to shoot from a rifle with a special butt, created especially for her. However, this did not become an obstacle for the purposeful biathlete.
Childhood and youth
The future champion was born in St. Petersburg on March 27, 1985. The girl grew up in a large family: Nadezhda has four sisters and two brothers. Scardino developed an interest in sports at an early age - already at the age of seven she was seriously involved in cross-country skiing and was planning a sports career. However, as it turned out later, life had something else in store for Nadezhda.
In 2004, during a sports training camp, Nadezhda met Belarusian biathletes. The athletes jokingly suggested that the girl try shooting. The proposal turned out to be fateful: Nadezhda Skardino no longer let go of the rifle and changed her sport, starting to engage in biathlon.
However, a surprise awaited the girl on her way to the Olympic heights. It turned out that there are too many biathletes in Russia who want to get into the national team. Therefore, Nadezhda, without hesitation, accepted the invitation of the Belarusian coaches to join the Belarusian national team. The athlete moved to Minsk, and a completely new page opened in her biography.
Biathlon
Scardino’s biathlete career began with youth competitions. The girl showed excellent results and already in 2005 brought the first medals to the national team: Nadezhda won a prize in the mass start race and two silver medals (in the sprint and pursuit). The 2005-2006 season was marked for Scardino with a victory in the IBU Cup, which allowed the athlete to take a place at the core of the Belarusian team.
Biathlete Nadezhda Skardino on the track However, the first World Cup did not live up to Nadezhda’s expectations: the girl managed to score only 11 points and take 70th place in the overall standings. The failure did not upset the athlete; on the contrary, it forced her to train and improve. And two years later, in the 2009-2010 season, Nadezhda Skardino took 8th place at the World Cup (that year the competition was held in Pokljuka, Slovenia). And a year later, the girl brought two bronze medals to the Belarusian team.
The next sports season was unsuccessful for Nadezhda: the biathlete began to have vision problems. The girl had to undergo surgery. Fortunately, everything went without complications, and already in the sprint of the 2012 - 2013 season, Nadezhda Skardino won a bronze medal at the World Cup.
The heyday of the biathlete’s career was 2014, the year of the Sochi Olympic Games. This season, the girl climbed to the World Cup podium four times and took Olympic bronze, becoming third in the individual event. The name of Nadezhda Scardino became famous even outside the sports community, and photos of the athlete appeared in, perhaps, every sports publication.
In 2015, the Belarusian team won silver and bronze at the World Cup, and a year later, in 2016, Nadezhda Skardino received a gold medal, becoming the best in the pursuit race at the European Championships, which took place in Tyumen. In addition, the athlete won the title of best sniper in women's biathlon, having completed 17 races without a single miss.
2017 added to Nadezhda Skardino’s collection of awards: in the first stage of the World Cup (the competition was held in the Swedish city of Östersund), the athlete won gold, leaving behind her rivals in the individual race. Let us remind you: “silver” went to the Norwegian biathlete Synneva Sulemdal, and the third place was taken by the representative of Ukraine.
Personal life
The miniature athlete (Nadezhda Skardino’s height is 160 cm and her weight is 51 kg) has not yet gotten married. The girl admits that now the priority place in her life is occupied by sport, not her personal life. However, Nadezhda has planned a large family for the future: the athlete dreams of at least four children.
In her free time, Nadezhda Skardino loves to travel the world, discovering foreign countries. In addition, the girl is fond of knitting, however, laughing, she admits that she only has enough patience for a week at most. However, Nadezhda knitted mittens in the colors of the Belarusian flag.
Nadezhda does not forget about charity: the athlete devotes a lot of time to the public organization “Children. Autism. Parents”, communicating with “special” children and helping the parents of such babies.
Nadezhda Skardino considers the best relaxation, besides knitting, to be reading books, painting, as well as a bath and a relaxing massage. The biathlete admits in an interview that she is no different from ordinary people: the girl loves to devote time to family and friends, watch movies and walk in nature.
Nadezhda Skardino now
Now Nadezhda Skardino is preparing to participate in the 2018 Olympic Games, which will be held in Pyeongchang, Korea.
In an interview, the athlete said that perhaps this season will be the final one in her career. Nadezhda emphasized that she has reached the threshold age for professional sports and is already thinking about a dignified retirement from biathlon.
In the meantime, Nadezhda’s fans can only wait for the start of the Olympic competitions and hope that their favorite athlete will show enviable results, as well as follow the news in the media and on Nadezhda’s personal page in "Instagram".
Awards and achievements
- 2007 - first entry into the points zone, 27th place in the sprint race in Pokljuka
- 2009 - first place in the "flowers" (4-8 places) - 8th place in the sprint race
- 2010 - 2011 - first “podium” in the relay (3rd place) in Oberhof; first “podium” at the World Championships (relay)
- 2012 - 2013 - first “podium” in individual races (3rd place) in the sprint race in Pokljuka
- 2013 - 2014 - second place in the pursuit race in Anterselva (Antholz), third place in the individual race at the Olympic Games in Sochi; world record for shooting accuracy
- 2017 - 2018 - first place in the individual race of the first stage of the World Cup
Nadezhda Skardino, whose biography is presented in this article, is a famous Belarusian biathlete. In addition to bronze medals at the Olympic Games and the World Championships, the athlete won continental championships and the Universiade.
Biographical information
Nadezhda Skardino, whose biography contains many interesting facts, was born in March 1985 in St. Petersburg. She grew up in a large family with two brothers and four sisters.
Ski racing was Scardino’s first sport, but Nadezhda did not achieve much success here and even considered giving up performing.
The girl got into biathlon completely by accident. At one of the training camps, she trained on the same slope with “shooting” skiers from Belarus, who invited her to try herself in another sport. It was “love” at first shot.
Professional career
Since there was too much competition for a place in the Russian team, Nadezhda Skardino, for whom biathlon opened new prospects in big-time sports, decided to move to Minsk, where she began competing under the Belarusian flag.
At first, the biathlete performed quite successfully in the IBU Cup, the second most prestigious tournament on the planet, and from the 2006/2007 season she began competing at the World Cup stages.
Nadezhda’s first sporting successes came in 2007. She brought back three medals from the Universiade in Turin: two golds for victories in the relay and mass start, as well as a silver for the pursuit race. In the same season, she became the European champion as part of the Belarusian national team. In the relay race, the girls were more accurate and faster than their rivals from Germany and Ukraine.
Nadezhda Scardino made her debut at the World Cup in Östersund in the individual race, which she finished in 44th place. That year she showed rather modest results, never making it into the top thirty.
The first successes in adult competitions appeared in the 2008/2009 season. At the World Championships in Pyeongchang, Korea, Nadezhda Scardino took fourth place in the relay race. She also made it to the flower ceremony 4 times, and with 179 points scored, she became 38th in the ranking of the best biathletes of the year.
In the 2010/2011 season, Nadezhda Skardino stood on the podium for the first time. First, she and her teammates from the Belarusian national team took third place in the relay race at the World Cup in Oberhof, and then repeated their success at the World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk. At this tournament, Nadezhda also took fourth place in the individual race.
In the 2012/2013 season, Scardino won a medal for the first time not for the relay. At the World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia, she finishes third in the sprint.
"Bronze" Olympic season
Nadezhda Skardino prepared very seriously for the Olympics, which was almost dear to her. She had a fairly smooth season in the World Cup. The athlete regularly placed in the top ten in various disciplines, and in Anterselva she managed to take second place in the pursuit race, behind only the famous Andrea Henkel.
The Olympics in Sochi did not start very well for Nadezhda. She took seventeenth place in the sprint and thirteenth in the parsuit. Next up was the individual race. Scardino went through four shooting ranges without misses and managed to take third place, missing only her legendary compatriot Daria Domracheva and Swiss Selina Gasparin.
After a successful performance in Sochi, Nadezhda once again stood on the podium at the World Cup in Pokljuka, where she came third in the sprint.
In the post-Olympic season, Scardino won prizes in relay races three times. She also became third in the mass start in Pokljuka, which had already become lucky for her.
In 2016, at the European Championships, Nadezhda Skardino became the champion in the pursuit race. This medal was the only one for the Belarusian team at these competitions.
Nadezhda Scardino is considered one of the most attractive biathlon representatives in the world according to several sports publications. And this despite the fact that she does not have model characteristics at all - her height is 160 cm.
A rifle with a special stock was designed for Scardino. This is due to the fact that Nadezhda has problems with her right eye, so she aims with her left.
Despite the fact that the athlete has been competing under the Belarusian flag for more than twelve years, Russia remains her first homeland. So, at least, Nadezhda Skardino herself says.
Personal life
In the “marital status” column in Nadezhda’s profile it is written “not married”. As the biathlete herself admitted in an interview, sport still comes first for her. However, in the future she plans to start a family and have at least four children.
Nadezhda Skardino's hobbies include tourism, mountaineering and volleyball. He also loves to travel around the world.
Belarusian biathlete, Olympic champion of Pyeongchang Nadezhda Skardino announced the end of her sports career. Nadezhda announced her decision on June 2 live on the TV channel "Belarus 1".
“I decided to end my career. I would like to say thank you to Belarus for giving me this opportunity, for allowing me to feel like a Belarusian, truly like a person here. This is very important to me. Belarus will always remain my country. I hope that I will also remain your biathlete.
I just want to say thank you very much and explain why. I understand that some steps need to be taken on time, and not after. And this day has probably come for me. I decided, and it’s very difficult for me - I love biathlon, I love competitions, but, unfortunately, I probably can’t find the motivation and strength to continue. And I understand that in order to show good results, you first need motivation. And, of course, strength for everyday training. But at the moment I understand that I probably don’t have it.
There were many factors that I thought about for two months. But the most important factor is probably that I just want to relax.
Thank you all very much for rooting for me and supporting me. All these 13 years that I have been here, I will remember with great love, I will root for our team. I wish her good luck and, of course, victories.
I understand that now is a very difficult time for our team, it will be for the girls. But I think that if I leave, then maybe I will make room for some young promising athlete who will find motivation and strength, and will want and will win.
So I think this is the best thing I can probably do right now.”
The now 33-year-old native of Leningrad was involved in cross-country skiing before moving to Belarus in 2004. It was in Belarus that she was offered to try herself in biathlon. And it is clear that both sides do not regret this decision.
Nadezhda Scardino is the Olympic champion of Pyeongchang in the relay race and the bronze medalist of the Sochi Olympics in the individual race.
At the world championships in individual races, the best result is 4th place, in relay races - bronze (both achievements were established in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2011).
At the World Cup, where she made her debut in November 2006, she stood on the podium six times in individual races (one gold, one silver and four bronzes) and six times in relays (three silvers and three bronzes).
The best result in the overall World Cup standings is 17th place (397 points) at the end of the 2013/2014 season, while the largest number of points in the World Cup standings - 478 - was scored a season earlier (18th place). At the end of last season, Nadezhda Skardino became the winner in the individual races.
Scardino is an Honored Master of Sports, awarded the Order of the Fatherland and the Order for Personal Courage.
The Belarusian biathlon team has been distinguished by successful performances in recent years, regularly winning medals at various championships. It is impossible to imagine this team without the eminent Nadezhda Skardino, who has been part of the main team for many years. We'll tell you about it.
short biography
Athlete Nadezhda Skardino was born in St. Petersburg on March 27, 1985. Besides her, there were two more brothers and four sisters in the family. The parents saw the girl as a future skier, so at the age of seven they sent her to the section. There was no particular success in sports. Nadezhda was thinking about ending her career, but chance changed everything.
Once at a training camp, a girl trained with a team from Belarus. Biathletes suggested Scardino try shooting. Nadezhda liked it; she had a natural talent for it. So she switched to biathlon. Too much competition did not allow the girl to get into the Russian national team, so the athlete gladly accepted the offer from the Belarusian coaching staff and moved to Minsk.
It was from this that Nadezhda Skardino began her performances in the top division. The biography of the former skier has since been inextricably linked with biathlon.
Achievements
Scardino's first major success came in 2007. She won as part of the women's relay team. The year 2011 was remembered by fans of the athlete for two high results at once - third place at the world cup stage and a bronze medal at the world championship in similar races. In 2012, Nadezhda Skardino won her first individual medal - bronze in the sprint, as well as second place in the relay.
The 2014 Olympic year was the most successful for the biathlete. The athlete was on the podium four times at the World Cup stages, and also became a bronze medalist at the Sochi Olympics in the individual race.
Nadezhda Scardino, whose photo then spread throughout the media, in 2015 continued to prove that she is an indispensable relay fighter. At the World Cup stages, the Belarusian team won silver and
2016 began for the biathlete with a victory at the European Championships held in Tyumen. The athlete left no chance for her rivals in the ten-kilometer pursuit race.
Facts about the biathlete
Nadezhda Skardino has repeatedly admitted in an interview that she considers two states to be native at once - Belarus and Russia. And although, as mentioned above, the athlete was born in the Northern capital of the Russian Federation, she has been playing for the Belarusian team for more than nine years.
Nadezhda Skardino, whose photo was published many times in various magazines, was recognized as one of the world. This list also included her teammate - Olympic champion and leader of the Belarusian team
A native of St. Petersburg has been repeatedly recognized as the best sniper in world biathlon. She even set a record of not missing a single shot in 17 races. Against the backdrop of such results, it is difficult to believe that the athlete previously suffered from an eye disease - astigmatism. Subsequently, the racer underwent surgery, but there is no guarantee that the disease will not return again.
Interests and preferences
Nadezhda Skardino is a very versatile girl. The biathlete loves active recreation: various hikes, volleyball and rock climbing.
He prefers to compete in mass starts and relay races. She is especially good at the latter, because the athlete is a team fighter by nature. More confident in shooting from a standing position.
Scardino considers his most memorable race to be the start at the 2005 Junior World Championships. Then she managed to approach the final segment of the race with such a comfortable advantage that she managed to finish with the flag.
Nadezhda advises beginning biathletes to look only forward and never look back. For her it became
Pyeongchang Olympic champion Nadezhda Scardino, having endured a grandmaster pause after her most successful season, decided to announce her biathlete status at the beginning of summer. The site, not without a hint of sadness, sees off the smiling girl to her new life and, including with the help, recalls with pleasure the mark she left on history and the hearts of her fans.
Skirmisher of the Olympic gold team
As the unforgettable Stirlitz rightly believed, the last phrase is remembered. And when we name Nadezhda Scardino today (as well as her three friends on the Pyeongchang gold relay team), we automatically insert the phrase “Olympic champion” in front of it.
At the games in South Korea, Nadezhda Skardino traditionally accelerated the Belarusian relay. Moreover, she had to do this in conditions where the wind knocked her off her feet.
But one of the best snipers in world biathlon perfectly coped with the prone position and heroically withstood the snow and wind on the stand. She completed her starting stage with only two additional rounds and at the moment of handing over the baton was only nine seconds behind the race leader, providing her partners with an excellent springboard for storming, if not the Olympic peak, then certainly the podium.
Considering that before the Olympic season Scardino said that it would be her last, then the dream should have come true in Pyeongchang.
Last season, first Crystal Globe
However, even without Olympic gold last season, Nadya would have had something to remember. This is also in personal starts World Cup (in Ostersund, Sweden), and, albeit small— for winning the World Cup individual race classification.
Although today Nadezhda Skardino admits that she has achieved in her career “everything she wanted, and even a little more,” at least one dream remains unfulfilled— medal of individual races of the World Championship. This goal gave her strength to work on another Olympic cycle after Sochi 2014. But, probably, Nadezhda decided that the trophies won at the World Cup and the Pyeongchang Olympics would fully compensate for the missing award from the World Cup. And would anyone even dare to reproach the biathlete for her decision?
Born in Russia, but at the age of 19 she moved to Belarus for biathlon
Nadezhda Skardino was born in the Leningrad region. She grew up in a large family. Of the seven children, only girls went into sports: Nadya and another of the sisters - in cross-country skiing, the third daughter of the Scardino family - in tennis. As a skier, Nadezhda did not show high speeds. As a junior, she even thought about quitting the sport, but she was promptly offered to move to Belarus and try herself in biathlon. Scardino realized: in this sport there is a chance to compensate for the average distance move with accurate shooting.
The athlete noted that it was in Belarus that she was helped to believe in herself and become an Olympic medalist, so Nadya did not even think about returning to Russian biathlon.
Hobbies: knitting and traveling
The best anti-stress for 33-year-old Scardino is knitting. Although she admits that the patience for this painstaking task lasts a maximum of a week - then it gets boring. Nadya knitted herself mittens in the colors of the Belarusian flag and even prepared a gift for little Ksenia Bjoerndalen in the form of a hat and sweater.
The biathlete also loves to travel. Tasty and picturesque Italy leads the list. By the way, Nadezhda has Italian roots. She jokes that she has a very emotional character in the temperamental Italian tradition. For the video, Scardino once cooked real pizza in a Belarusian embroidered shirt and the company of Dorothea Wierer and Lukas Hofer.
He is involved in charity work and dreams of adopting a child.
Nadezhda regularly takes part in charity events. There is not always enough time to organize independent projects. But Scardino gladly responds to invitations, if a strict training schedule allows it. For example, she supports the events of the organization “Children. Autism. Parents". Meetings with special children and their families delight her and fill her with joy and strength.
In the future, the biathlete wants to adopt a child from an orphanage. Her father worked in an orphanage for many years, and Nadya and her brothers and sisters went with her father’s pupils to children’s camps. She was friends with children who were left without parents, and believes that by raising a child, she could give happiness not only to him, but also to herself.
Anastasia Kinnunen's daughter was baptized
In August 2017, Belarusian biathlete Anastasia Kinnunen gave birth to a daughter, Sofia-Lumi. The family invited Nadezhda Skardino to play the role of godmother. The winner of the individual competition in Östersund admitted that becoming a mother is always a pleasure, even if she is a godmother to begin with. Scardino gave the newborn one of her medals and promised to help her parents raise the athlete.
Became the most accurate shooter in world biathlon
Last Olympic season, Nadezhda Skardino set a world record for shooting accuracy. She passed 22 firing lines in a row without misses. Statistics on this criterion have been kept in biathlon since 1988. Neither women nor men have yet been able to surpass or at least repeat the result of the Belarusian athlete.
Thanks to his sniper accuracy, Scardino’s “crown” is considered to be the 15-kilometer individual race. It was in the “individual” that Nadya took bronze at the 2014 Games and climbed to the podium together with Daria Domracheva. After Sochi, the super-sharp Scardino's vision problems worsened. Doctors performed two corrective surgeries on her and even suggested she quit sports. But Nadya changed her aiming eye and began performing with a unique rifle, which allowed her to maintain her usual right-hand position.
She was number two, but called Domracheva a “Belarusian joker”
After her victory at the World Cup in Östersund, Scardino was asked if she could finally say that she had finally emerged from the shadow of Daria Domracheva. The Belarusian calmly replied that she had never been in the shadow of the three-time Sochi champion, but was simply in her place. During the seasons when Daria was being treated for mononucleosis and was taking care of family matters, Scardino was number one in the national team. She failed to win medals at the World Cup, but last winter she became the European sprint champion.
Skardino and Domracheva have been friends for many years and periodically even post nostalgic photos of their cheerful youth on social networks. Nadya noted that Daria is a motivator and a gift for all athletes, and for the Belarusian team she is a joker and an iron man who is able to play a whole minute at the last relay stage.
Ha ha! Nadka! Do you remember this photo?) Photo: www.instagram.com/dadofun/ It’s just not yet known whether Domracheva will continue her career. Daria has not yet given an answer to this question...
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