Yuliya Chepalova
Yulia Anatolyevna Chepalova is a former Russian cross-country skier.
Early and current personal life
Daughter of a cross-country skiing coach, Chepalova started to ski as soon as she began to walk. Coached by her father, Anatoly Chepalov, Yulia made her debut in 1986 and continued to move upward through the old Soviet system. Chepalov, a coach of the Russian junior national team, reportedly sold off all of his assets to help finance his daughter's career. Chepalova is currently affiliated with Dynamo Moscow, lives in Syktyvkar with her second husband, Vasily Rochev, and her daughter Olesya, and their daughter Vaselina who was born in February 2007; works as a sports instructor, and speaks, besides her native Russian, also some German.Skiing career
Debuting on the FIS cross-country circuit in the 1995–1996 season, Chepalova has continually ranked in the Top 15 throughout her career, finishing #1 overall in 2000–2001. This includes success at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, with golds in the 4 × 5 km relay and 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit, silvers in the 4 × 5 km relay and 10 km freestyle, and bronzes in the Individual sprint and Team sprint. Additionally, Chepalova has won the women's 30 km at the Holmenkollen ski festival three times, joining fellow Russian cross-country skier Larisa Lazutina as the only three-time winners of the event. She earned the Holmenkollen medal in 2004.At the 1998 Winter Olympics, Chepalova won the women's 30 km freestyle event in her Olympic debut, becoming the youngest winner of that event. Four years later at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Chepalova won a complete set of medals with gold in the individual sprint, silver in the 10 km classical, and bronze in the 15 km freestyle. At the Winter Olympics in Turin, Chepalova would win two more medals with a gold in the 4 × 5 km relay and a silver in the 30 km freestyle mass start.
Chepalova was absent from the cross-country skiing World Cup for the 2006–2007 season due to her pregnancy.
She tested positive for Erythropoietin during an in-competition doping control on 3 January 2009 in Val di Fiemme, Italy. She was banned from competition for two years after this.
Immediately after the EPO test results went public her father and coach Anatoly Chepalov officially announced her retirement. On 29 November 2009, Chepalova addressed IOC President Jacques Rogge where she came down hard on the World Anti-Doping Agency, accusing the organisation of being biased and unscrupulous in general, of unlawful ruling of her case in particular, and of "severing the career" of many good athletes but all the efforts to restore her good name were of no avail. Following this, in December 2009, Chepalova ostracised Russian Olympic Committee President Leonid Tyagachyov and Ski Federation of Russia President Vladimir Loginov for "their inaction in matters of defending the sportsmen whose guilt is not yet proven".
Cross-country skiing results
All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).Olympic Games
- 6 medals –
| Year | Age | 5 km individual | 10 km individual | 15 km | Pursuit | 30 km | Sprint | 4 × 5 km relay | Team sprint |
| [Cross-country skiing at the Cross-country skiing at the 1998 Winter Olympics|1998 Winter Olympics|1998] | 21 | 13 | — | 6 | Gold | — | |||
| 2002 | 25 | Silver | Bronze | 4 | 9 | Gold | [Cross-country skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Women's 4 × 5 kilometre relay|] | ||
| 2006 | 29 | 26 | 9 | Silver | 27 | Gold | — |
World Championships
- 6 medals –
| Year | Age | 10 km individual | 15 km individual | Pursuit | 30 km | Sprint | 4 × 5 km relay | Team sprint |
| 2001 | 24 | — | 10 | 7 | Bronze | Gold | ||
| 2005 | 28 | Silver | Gold | 10 | — | Silver | Bronze | |
| 2009 | 32 | [FIS Nordic World Ski Championships FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009|2009 – Women's 10 kilometre classical|—] | — | — |
World Cup
Season titles
- 2 titles –
Individual podiums
- 18 victories
- 33 podiums
| No. | Season | Date | Location | Race | Level | Place |
| 1 | 1997–98 | 4 January 1998 |  Team podiums
|