Andrey Drachev is a famous Russian athlete, international master of sports in powerlifting. A man whose sports biography is a true example of determination, willpower and desire to win.
Andrey was born on January 18, 1985. According to some sources, the future athlete was born in Khabarovsk, according to others - in the Amur region. Andrei’s father, Konstantin Borisovich, could not imagine life without sports, being a professional powerlifter. It is not surprising that the son, seeing his father’s example before his eyes, chose the same path.
Andrei Drachev’s sports biography began with training with his father, who at that time was already working as a children’s coach. Like dad, Andrei chose not the easiest sport - powerlifting. This is a powerlifting event that requires the athlete to squat with a barbell on their shoulders, lift the barbell off the platform, and lift the barbell from a prone position.
Already at the university (Andrei Drachev studied at the Far Eastern Transport University), the future champion trained with Vladimir Mulin, head of the sports department and a well-known coach. Vladislav himself at one time received the title of Master of Sports of the USSR, so Drachev was undoubtedly lucky with his teacher.
Sport
The real big sport began for Andrei Drachev with competitions in the Czech Republic. The city of Pilsen hosted athletes from 48 countries in 2011. And although the coveted title of world champion did not go to Andrey, the athlete performed more than worthy, winning the silver prize of the championship. Drachev also holds the “authorship” of the world record for the amount of triathlon - 1 t 75 kg 500 g.
Unfortunately, professional sport is cruel: barely having time to begin, the string of high-profile victories of Andrei Drachev ended. In 2012, the athlete had to refuse to participate in the next competition due to a knee injury. The doctors’ verdict was disappointing: Alexey had to leave big sport.
However, the young man found the strength to change his lifestyle without giving up his favorite activity. Andrey continued to train, eliminating extreme loads.
In 2017, Drachev participated in the Primorsky Territory bodybuilding championship. This turned out to be another triumph for the athlete: Andrei was recognized as the best in the extreme bodybuilding group. Preparing for the next competition, Drachev worked as an instructor in one of the fitness centers in Khabarovsk.
Personal life
The personal life of Andrei Drachev, which was of interest to the athlete’s fans, is hidden from the public. Perhaps the man did not want to let strangers into his personal space, or perhaps he simply did not have time to meet his fate. It is only known that Andrei did not have a wife or children.
Murder
The tragedy happened on August 20, 2017: Andrei Drachev was killed. On that ill-fated day, the athlete and his friends were relaxing in an establishment called Gallery cafe. Periodically, the company went outside. It was there that a brawl began, ending in a brutal fight, and then in the beating of Andrei Drachev.
According to eyewitnesses, a young man named Anar Allahveranov (who was vacationing in a nearby establishment) was arguing with an unknown guy on the street, and then pushed him to the ground. Andrei Drachev stood up for the victim, entering into an argument with Allahveranov. The scuffle threatened to escalate into a fight: the men spoke in a raised voice, and Allahveranov made threats. Then Andrei suggested that his opponent continue the argument later, in the ring in a fair fight, after sobering up.
Allahveranov (according to preliminary information, this person is currently named as the main suspect in the murder of Andrei Drachev) insisted on clarifying the relationship immediately. The men, heated by the argument, began to fight right in the street.
At some point, Allahveranov managed to knock the athlete onto the asphalt, but this was not enough - the man, enraged by the struggle, continued to beat Drachev with his feet and fists, not paying attention to those around him. It is noteworthy that the fighters were quickly surrounded by a crowd of onlookers, and Gallery cafe security officers were also standing nearby, but there was no one willing to intervene.
Only a few minutes later, when it became obvious that Andrei, who was lying on the ground, was not moving, Allahveranov was pulled away from Drachev. An ambulance called by eyewitnesses of the tragedy took the young man to the hospital, but it was too late. The doctors’ efforts were in vain: a severe traumatic brain injury interrupted Andrei’s life.
The alleged killer of Andrei Drachev immediately fled the scene of the fight. After some time, preliminary information appeared about the name and age of the main suspect: Allahveranov, 25 years old. The young man is also an athlete, seriously involved in kickboxing and sambo. Allahveranov trained at a club called “Master”. It has already become known that this sports club has a bad reputation in Khabarovsk. The founder of the club, Natig Allahveranov, the elder brother of the suspect, according to information from some media, is serving a prison sentence for a similar crime.
The death of Andrei Drachev shocked not only the athlete’s family, but also many people not associated with the world of sports.
The results of a detailed investigation into the death of Andrei Drachev are not advertised, but it is known that a criminal case has already been initiated. Signs of the suspect were transferred to traffic police posts and police officers, and were also brought to the attention of hotel and hostel employees.
The very moment of the fight, as it turned out later, was filmed on several cameras. Videos and photos of the brutal fight quickly spread on Instagram and other social networks. A person who commits such a brutal murder faces up to 15 years in prison.
It also became known that on Monday, August 21, a meeting of athletes and representatives of sports organizations and schools took place in Khabarovsk. Concerned people decided to discuss the problem, as well as discuss options for helping to catch the criminal.
The tragedy did not go unnoticed by the authorities: Mikhail Starshinov, a State Duma deputy and member of the ONF headquarters, has already raised the issue of strengthening control over martial arts schools, emphasizing that the murder of Andrei Drachev is not the first such crime involving professional fighters.
On August 23, on the air of the “Let Them Talk” program, studio guests tried to understand the death of the athlete.
The funeral of Andrei Drachev will take place on August 24, 2017. The athlete will be buried in the central cemetery of Khabarovsk.
Achievements
- 2014 - Champion of Russia in the category up to 120 kg
- 2011 - Silver medalist of the World Championship
- 2010 - Silver medalist of the European Championship
Participant of seven world championships. Four-time world champion.
Participant of the Olympic Games 1994 (silver medal, relay), 1998 (bronze medal, relay) and 2006.
Eight-time world championship medalist:
Gold medal, sprint - 1996
Gold medal, relay - 1996
Gold medal, pursuit - 1998
Gold medal, relay - 2000
Silver medal, individual race - 1996
Silver medal, relay race - 1999
Silver medal, mass start - 1999
Bronze medal, relay race - 2003
Overall World Cup winner in the 1995/96 season. Winner of fifteen World Cup stages, winner of seventeen more.
After the leadership of the Russian team and the National Federation refused to include him in the team for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, he began to seriously consider incoming proposals to move to another team. Drachev’s longtime friend from the USSR national team, Alexander Popov, made an offer on behalf of Belarus to join the team of this country, which Vladimir accepted in 2002.
Until 2002, he served in the Russian Armed Forces and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
In 2006 he stopped performing.
Currently - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the newly created Sportinvestbank (Murino village). On April 25, 2011, "Sportinvestbank" was renamed into the Limited Liability Company "LENOBLBANK", registered at the address: 188662, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Murino village, st. Tsentralnaya, 46, the bank also opened three operational offices in St. Petersburg in March-April 2011.
Awards
Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class (1998)
Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (1994)
Honored Master of Sports of Russia
Medal of the NOC of Belarus “For Outstanding Services” (2006)
Family
Married, son Ilya. His wife and son live in St. Petersburg.
Participant of seven world championships. Four-time world champion.
- Participant of the Olympic Games 1994 (silver medal, relay), 1998 (bronze medal, relay) and 2006.
- Eight-time world championship medalist:
- Gold medal, sprint - 1996
- Gold medal, relay - 1996
- Gold medal, pursuit - 1998
- Gold medal, relay - 2000
- Silver medal, individual race - 1996
- Silver medal, relay race - 1999
- Silver medal, mass start - 1999
- Bronze medal, relay race - 2003
- Overall World Cup winner in the 1995/96 season. Winner of fifteen World Cup stages, winner of seventeen more.
After the leadership of the Russian team and the National Federation refused to include him in the team for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, he began to seriously consider incoming proposals to move to another team. Drachev’s longtime friend from the USSR national team, Alexander Popov, made an offer on behalf of Belarus to join the team of this country, which Vladimir accepted in 2002.
Until 2002, he served in the Russian Armed Forces and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Since 2006 he stopped performing. On August 1, 2006, at the Olympic sports complex "Raubichi" (Belarus), his farewell from the big sport took place along with other famous biathlon masters: Alena Zubrilova, Oleg Ryzhenkov and Vadim Sashurin.
Awards
- Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class (1998)
- Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (1994)
- Honored Master of Sports of Russia
- Medal of the NOC of Belarus “For Outstanding Services” (2006)
Family
Married, son Ilya. His wife and son live in St. Petersburg.
Four-time world champion Vladimir Drachev managed not only to follow his path as an athlete and overcome all the tricky intrigues in the world of sports - he was able to defend his position and did not bow to the trials sent to him by fate.
Drachev Vladimir Petrovich
Born 03/07/1966
Achievements:
- Silver medalist of the 1994 Olympic Games in the relay.
- Bronze medalist at the 1998 Olympic Games in the relay.
- Four-time world champion (1996 - sprint and relay, 1998 - pursuit, 2000 - relay).
- Five-time silver medalist at the World Championships (1994, 1996 - team race, 1996 - individual race, 1999 - mass start and relay).
- Two-time bronze medalist at the World Championships (1998 - team race, 2003 - relay).
- World Cup winner 1995/1996.
- Silver medalist of the World Cup 2002/2003.
- World Cup stages: 15 victories, 10 second and 7 third places.
Path to glory
Vladimir Petrovich Drachev was born in Petrozavodsk. In his childhood memories, Vladimir devotes a special place to the village on one of the islands of the Kizhi nature reserve, where his mother is from. It was in this area that little Vova became attached to one of his main hobbies in life - fishing.
Vladimir’s acquaintance with skiing took place in his native Petrozavodsk. Then the standards that Drachev wanted to emulate were Zimyatov and Zavyalov. After getting into the same team with his childhood idols, he will understand that in sports he can and should achieve more than them. Vladimir linked his fate with biathlon in 1980.
Leader of the Russian team
The career of any successful athlete is a great ordeal. Sport forces you to give your best, and if you make a mistake, there may not be a second attempt.
Drachev passed his test, and the first serious award in his career was silver at the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer. This silver relay for the Russian team and for Vladimir himself was hard work. Drachev also showed excellent performance in the sprint race - only 1.5 seconds separated him from Sergei Tarasov, who won bronze.
After the Olympics, Vladimir reserved his place in the main roster of our national team. A distinctive feature of Drachev was his phenomenal speed. He often experienced shooting glitches, which were especially unacceptable in the individual race. But if “just” one target missed, it was almost a guarantee of finishing in the top three.
The peak of Drachev's career came at the 1996 World Championships in Ruhpolding. At this start, the favorite of the competition already added two gold (sprint and relay) and silver (individual and team race) medals of the world championship to his treasury.
The 1995/1996 season gave Vladimir another triumph - he became the second domestic biathlete after , who was able to win the overall World Cup. Since then, no Russian athletes have won this prestigious trophy.
1998 brought him another Olympic medal, which every athlete dreams of - in Nagano, Drachev won bronze in the relay. The long-awaited personal Olympic medal could have appeared in Vladimir’s piggy bank, but the results of the sprint race were canceled due to weather conditions, and the next day Vladimir was no longer in the best condition.
But still that season he managed to climb to the top step of the podium at a major start. Pursuit races became part of the Olympic Games program only four years later, so the IBU management decided to hold the World Pursuit Championships as part of the stage in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Drachev was able to show composure in shooting, but on the track he was, as usual, inaccessible to the rest.
At such moments, many people come to the realization that there is nothing left to go to, the goal has been accomplished, but Drachev did not stop there and lower the bar of demands on himself, fighting to the end in every race. In the next two years, he will add three more world championship medals to his collection of awards, one of which will be gold.
Belarus
What happened next, no one can explain for sure. Preparing for the next Olympics in his career, which was to be held in Salt Lake City, Vladimir Drachev received a refusal from the leadership of the Russian team and the leadership of the National Biathlon Federation to include him in the main roster of the national team.
The biathlete later commented on the events that took place at that time in an interview: “I always say what I think. And not everyone likes this. Today, at the helm of the Russian men's team are strangers who once survived Khavantsev. The most talented coach with whom we won everything possible. I did not remain silent at a critical moment and as a result I lost two years. Despite the fact that I was in good athletic shape, they didn’t take me anywhere. But I didn’t sit idly by, I kept in shape, and having met with an old acquaintance Alexander Popov, I offered my services. And I don’t regret it.”
Drachev left the Russian national team and went to defend his sporting interests in Belarus. In the new team, he received all the conditions to prepare for the upcoming battles. The main help for normal work was the friendly atmosphere in which the eminent athlete was received, and Drachev was again extremely fast on the track and collected on the shooting range.
In 2003, in Khanty-Mansiysk, as part of the relay four, Vladimir won bronze at the World Championships, proving to all skeptics what his character is capable of. Having had an overall strong season, Drachev finished second in the overall World Cup standings, behind.
Post-sports life
At the end of the 2005/2006 season, Vladimir Drachev left the sport. In total, during his career he won fifteen World Cup races and was a medalist in seventeen more. At the end of his career, Drachev was the coach of the Belarusian youth team and a consultant to the Russian national team.
The coaching burden is no less difficult than the life of an athlete. Fortunately, Vladimir has reliable support in life - his wife and son. The younger Drachev did not follow in his father’s footsteps, but biathlon also became a component of his life, in which he was taught wisely by the brightest biathlete of the 90s.
Now Vladimir Petrovich is a deputy of the State Duma. Despite the fact that political activity takes up a lot of time, Drachev continued to follow biathlon, regularly giving sharp and insightful comments in the press. It cannot be otherwise - biathlon will forever remain more than just a sport for Drachev.
And in May 2018, Drachev returned to big biathlon, becoming president of the Russian Biathlon Union.
The new head of the Russian Biathlon Union will most likely become a four-time world champion
Russian biathlon is facing dramatic changes. They will begin with the election of a new president of the Russian Biathlon Union, which will take place after the end of the current season. According to SE, the current head of the SBR, who has headed our biathlon since 2014, will leave his post. And the main candidate for this position is Vladimir Drachev.
LOSING TWO MONTHS IS DISTERNAL
It is clear that nothing can be stated, because everything can change at the very last moment, but the issue with the election Dracheva, according to SE, has been resolved by 99 percent. The formerly famous Russian and Belarusian biathlete has already announced that he will definitely nominate his candidacy for the position of president of the RBU. And there are no other people interested yet. Currently, Drachev is a member of the RBU Council from the Leningrad Region, as well as a deputy of the State Duma.
The whole question is when the election will take place. By law, after the end of the Olympics, each sports federation is required to hold a reporting and election conference. The RBU is in no rush to do this and wants to finish the season first, and then decide everything in May.
Drachev insists that the conference be held as quickly as possible.
I very much hope that the reporting and election conference will take place much earlier. We can’t wait until May; fundamental changes are needed in biathlon. Losing two months is disastrous for our sport, which is in the deepest crisis, they quote Dracheva"News".
ATHLETE AND OWNER
The new president will bring with him a new team. This has happened more than once or twice. And every time with some hope that this is it, now something will begin to change. You shouldn't expect instant improvements from anyone. When the oligarch was replaced by the head of the Sports Training Center of the Ministry of Sports after the Games in Sochi Alexander Kravtsov, many words were said and many promises were made.
But in the end we got absolutely the worst results in the entire history of Russian biathlon. World Championships and Olympics without a single medal and conflicts in the national team. There are no miracles. Success comes only from hard work - the country's main skier can confirm. Are you ready for this? Vladimir Drachev? Are you ready to fight a system that chews up presidents and head coaches, and at the same time continues to live?
Drachev understands perfectly well the burden he puts on his shoulders. He has extensive experience not only as an athlete, but also as a manager. And not a sports functionary, but a business executive. He led the Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region for three years, that is, he perfectly understands how a large structure is organized. True, opinions about his work as head of the district administration were mixed.
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE PERSON IS NOT INTERFERED WITH
I remember how biathlon veterans were against the arrival of Prokhorov and his “basketball” team, blaming them for not knowing the sport. Drachev lacks this disadvantage. He is deeply immersed in biathlon along with all its problems and pitfalls.
And how can he not be immersed in his native sport? Drachev- the last owner of a large Crystal Globe in Russian history. He has won silver and bronze at the Olympic Games, four world titles (and a total of 11 medals from world championships), three dozen podiums at the World Cup and 15 victories.
Drachev is not afraid to make harsh statements and commit equally harsh actions. In 2002, he changed his sports citizenship and began playing for the Belarusian national team. The reason was the non-inclusion of the then 35-year-old athlete into the Russian team for the Olympics in Salt Lake City. Four years later, Vladimir Drachev ended his sports career and then returned to his homeland.
The success of a business very often depends not only on coaching abilities, he said Drachev in an interview with SE in 2015 after his appointment. - It is very important that a person is not disturbed or interfered with. Otherwise, not even the most talented mentor will be able to reveal himself.
The same is true of Drachev himself. There will be a lot of obstacles in the wheels of the RBU President.
