Borzakovskiy: so many goals yet to achieve
Tuesday 7 December 2004
At 23, Russia’s Yuriy Borzakovskiy is Olympic 800m champion and is dreaming of beating the World record, and of the many gold medals and titles he has yet to win.
Somehow Borzakovskiy is considered to be a lucky guy. Born in 1981 in a little village not far from Moscow he became famous at the age of 17 when he won the 800m at the 1998 World Youth Games which were held at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. By the end of the following year Borzakovskiy was the European Junior 800m champion. More impressive still, he sprinted to a remarkable victory over senior opposition at the 1999 European Cup. Then in the January of 2000 on the indoor ‘boards’ of Dortmund, he ran a senior national record of 1:44.38, the fastest ever run indoors in the world by a junior.
For a rather tall (1.82m) runner, Borzakovskiy made his fast finishing victories look like an easy game, so much so that people in Russia used to say he was just flying to his victories, and that everything was easy for him. But believe it, this was far from the truth.
Borzakovskiy’s childhood was far from being a holiday, as he was born into a family of workers who shared rooms in a so called “communal flat”. If you do not know what that means, please just count yourself lucky. Imagine several families living all their life in a flat with one kitchen, one bathroom and a single toilet.
His mother Ekaterina worked at a factory, then became a street cleaner. She woke up at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning each day and it was Yuriy, the elder son, who at 7.30am each morning had to accompany his younger brother to his kindergarten and then make his way to his own school. He also had to prepare the meals for his brother and sister, for his father who worked at a factory had absolutely no time for things like cooking. To say the least the family was far from being rich.
A rocket ride to success
Yuriy Borzakovskiy, born on the 12 April 1981, was named after the world's first cosmonaut Yuriy Gagarin who was launched into the cosmos on the 12 April 1961.
He was a natural talent but neither he nor his parents recognised his gift until at the age of 10, in school he began a kind of wrestling, a sport called ‘sambo’ – that means in Russian 'self-defence without weapons'. Then after just two weeks he was invited to join another sport's group which at first Borzakovskiy believed to be football. But he wasn’t to know then that the games of football he was playing at the beginning were just set up for fun. No, unknowingly he had been asked to join the school of athletics.
After a month this newcomer had to run a 600m race in his first school competition and much to everybody’s surprise Borzakovskiy finished as the runner-up. Soon he won his home town - which was called Zhukovskiy - championship, and from there went on to take first place at the Moscow-Region Junior Championship.
A strong heart
Borzakovskiy’s explanation for his success then, as it is nowadays, is simple: “I’m just “carried” by my feet. And sometimes it doesn’t take any effort on my part. It’s like I was born with this ability of running fast without feeling tired. And sometimes I feel surprised that after hours of practicing in takes me only some minutes to regain my energy”.
His coach Viatcheslav Evstratov agrees with his obedient disciple: “It’s his heart that works so well that I have failed to find another example of a middle distance runner who can work so much during practice hours without showing any visible signs of exhaustion”.
Tactical mistakes or lack of experience?
Very often Borzakovskiy has been severely criticised for his unorthodox running tactics, especially his habit of running well off the pace at the rear of the field.
The tactic started very early on in his career. As he was fast for his age group he was usually put in races in which his opponents were not only much older but physically stronger as well. Quite often the result was that Borzakovskiy was barged, kicked and elbowed during the contests, and as such his adopted tactics led to a smoother ride even if it meant leaving his main effort to the very end of the race.
Borzakovskiy confesses that “I’m running with my head. The calculations are being done in my brain without any effort from my part. Yes, sometimes I make mistakes like I did in the final of World Championships in Paris. But these are so called physical mistakes and my head is not to be blamed for them.”
What he really lacked was experience.
At the Sydney Olympics, he made up his mind that he needed to relax before the final and got lost in the huge crowds, and panicked and finally arrived at the track in no time to warm-up properly. In the final itself, which was a slow run race, he got ‘lost’ again, with his 6th place in 1:45.83 providing a severe lesson for Borzakovskiy.
It was after the final that he swore that his only aim and the cherished goal of his career was to win the most important Olympic race of his life, and that all other tournaments including the commercially attractive ones didn’t matter at all until it was achieved.
This is his explanation why he didn’t run the 800 metres at either the 2001 World Championships or the 2002 European Championships, which pundits saw as a bizarre way to plan a career.
Yet it should not be forgotten that before Athens there had been other prominent victories in Borzakovskiy's career, at the 2000 European Indoors and the 2001 World Indoor Championships.
A certain fragility
But to tell the truth Borzakovskiy’s nervous system is and has always been gentle, some would say fragile.
Before the final in Athens when the Russian team leaders, his friends and fans were attempting to inspire him, it was the job of Evstratov to keep these crowds of supporters away from Borzakovskiy. That his pupil won the Olympic title is testament to his success at protecting him.
Borzakovskiy is a private family man. His wife Irina and son Yaroslav mean so much to him that for instance at the national championships in Tula he got on the medal podium with his son in arms. In Greece, he remained in constant contact with them on the phone, and devoted his Olympic victory to Yaroslav.
After giving everything he had to win the title, Borzakovskiy once again showed his amazing powers of recovery. Clearly exhausted from his efforts immediately after the race he passed the journalists in the mixed zone, murmuring “I’ll be back sometime”. Yet he returned in ten minutes and it was clear that he was already at full strength again!
Borzakovskiy confessed that he knew that he was going to win after the first 400 metres was run at a rather slow pace. His sit and kick style worked impeccably this time, and neither Mbulaeni Mulaudzi nor Wilson Kipketer posed any danger to him.
A wonderful home-coming
His return home was glorious. In his native town of Zhukovskiy where he now lives in a nice private flat, he was welcomed home not only by the Mayor of the city and enthusiastic crowds of admirers but also by the Governor of the Moscow Region.
Money awards, prizes of all kinds and one of the biggest presents for all lovers of athletics - the construction of a local stadium for athletics - is in full swing.
More goals – a 1:40 800m!
So Borzakovskiy considers himself to be happy. But not entirely satisfied. He has so many things yet to achieve in his sport's career. His team of advisors is sure that one day he will be able to run each 200 metres of the 800m race distance in 25 seconds. This would mean a final result of 1:40.00!! Yet he has some drawbacks to overcome. For example, he naturally starts a race rather slowly and it takes Yuriy some time to get to full pace.
The target for 2005 is of course self-evident. To win the World Championships in Helsinki. Looking further into the future, it would be wise not to forget that Borzakovskiy’s age means that he has at least one more chance to compete at the Olympics.
courtesy of iaaf
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Yuriy is has great ability and he is now the Olympic Champion but can he do want the greatest 800m runner ever (Wilson Kipketer) could do run sub 1:41? In his prime Wilson Kipketer was unbeatable and had great strength and speed and Yuriy may be his successor but can he truly run sub 1:41, what is your opinion?
VIPAM