Natallia Tsylinskaya

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Medal record
Olympic Games
Bronze	2004 Athens	500 m Time Trial
World Championship
Gold	2000 Manchester	Sprint
Gold	2000 Manchester	500 m Time Trial
Gold	2002 Copenhagen	Sprint
Gold	2002 Copenhagen	500 m Time Trial
Gold	2003 Stuttgart	500 m Time Trial
Gold	2005 Los Angeles	500 m Time Trial
Gold	2006 Bordeaux	Sprint
Gold	2006 Bordeaux	500 m Time Trial
Silver	2003 Stuttgart	Sprint

Natallia Tsylinskaya (Russian: Наталья Цилинская, born August 30, 1975 in Minsk Belarus) is an internationally renowned eight time World Champion Track cyclist.

1 Early life
2 Family Life
3 Return to cycling
4 Championships from 2002 to 2004
5 Season 2005 - Season 2006
6 Season 2007 - Present
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Early life

The journey to become Belarus' Queen of Sports and one of track cycling's greatest ever riders was no simple task for Natallia Tsylinskaya. She first began cycling when a trainer visited her school, Minsk School No. 1, and taught the art of road cycling. It wasn't until her one of her friends suggested Natallia try track cycling that she discovered her love for high speed "sprinting".

Early on Natallia showed true talent and determination^[1]. Under the direction of her trainer Alexander Beljatsky (who rode for Russia's premier road racing team Dynamo), Natallia won the Youth USSR Championship at the age of 14^[2]. At age 16 Natallia became a Master of Sports (International Class)^[2] and in 1993 travelled to Sydney, Australia to participate in the Junior World Championships, where she won a bronze medal^[3].

[edit] Family Life

It was through cycling that Natallia met her first husband, Alexander Markovnichenko, a famous Ukrainian bicycle racer who at the time was a World Champion in the combined team of the USSR^[4]. They married in the mid 1990's, moved to Donbass, Ukraine, and Natallia gave birth to their daughter, Masha, in May of 1996^[3]. During this time Natallia had no intentions of returning to competitive cycling, and her husband did not encourage such thoughts. She only returned to Minsk occasionally to attend the Academy of Physical Training and Sports, where she studied in absentia and which she completed in 1998^[2].

[edit] Return to cycling

During the winter of 1998, Belarusian authorities convinced Natallia to return to competitive cycling. Natallia's husband did not support this idea, and this most likely led to their separation and subsequent divorce in 2001^[5]. As Minsk does not have a track or adequate training facilities, Natallia was forced to move to Moscow, where she trains at Krylatskom (Russian: Крылатском) velodrome.

Natallia first gained international notice at the 2000 World Championships in Manchester, England where she won gold in both the 500mTT and the Sprint^[6], yet these results alone were not sufficient for a qualification for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In 2001, she teamed up with Russian trainer Stanislav Solovyev (Станислав Соловьев), who has remained her coach throughout her career. She won gold for both the sprint and 500mTT events at three of the four world cups but failed to gain a medal at the 2001 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium^[7]. She also suffered a severe crash during the sprint qualification rounds, where she broke her collarbone^[7].

[edit] Championships from 2002 to 2004

Riding for the first time in international competition under her maiden name of Tsylinskaya, Natallia began the 2002 season by winning both the sprint and 500mTT events at the World Cup races in Mexico City and Moscow. She followed this by avenging her deceptive performance at the 2001 World Championships by winning gold in both the 500mTT and sprint events at the 2002 World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark^[4]. With her professional career soaring to new heights, Natallia had also found happiness in the form of Russian bicycle racer Andrey Minashkin. The couple wed on October 18, 2002 in a ceremony in Minsk^[3].

In the World Championships of 2003 in Stuttgart, Germany, she won gold in the 500mTT event, posting a time of 34.078 seconds which still remains Natallia’s personal best time^[5]. However, in the sprint event, Natallia met her main rival, Russian track cyclist and good friend Svetlana Grankovskaya, in the final and lost in two straight heats, thus relegating Natallia to the silver medal^[5].

In 2004 the focus was on the Athens Olympics which took place in August. After victories in Wold Cup races earlier that year, expectations ran high. But at the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia in May 2004, she collided with British rider Victoria Pendleton’s wheel in the sprint and bruised her right hip in the crash^[5]. In the following 500mTT competition, she finished eighth, Australian Anna Meares winning this event^[6].

At the Olympics in Athens on August 20, 2004, Natallia started as the tenth of 18 cyclists in the 500mTT event, posting a time of 34.167 seconds, only a fraction of a second slower than her own personal best and enough to put her into gold medal place^[5]. Still, she was overtaken by two others: Chinese rider and World Record holder Yonghua Jiang raced a time of 34.112 seconds, slightly slower than her personal best time (and Olympic Record time) of 34.00 seconds, and then Australian rider and newly crowned 500mTT World Champion Anna Meare, who started last, took the gold medal in the new World Record time of 33.952 seconds, thus leaving Natallia only bronze^[4]. Natallia was quoted after the race saying "I am very happy to have a medal even if I am not very satisfied with my results. I feel really great, it is my first Olympic medal and I am very happy. I believe that I had a great performance."^[8]

Her subsequent performance in the sprint competition came as a deception. She lost in the quarterfinals to Russian cyclist Svetlana Grankovskaya and finished by taking the 5th place only^[5]. She has been quoted as saying she "bawled her eyes out when she got back to the locker room and howled for three days after that" because she was so disappointed with her performance^[1].

[edit] Season 2005 - Season 2006

Natallia Tsylinskaya and her daughter Masha with their dog Adidasa and pet cat

Due to scheduling changes in the track cycling season there was barely a two-month break between the end of the Athens Olympics and the beginning of the new season. During this time, Natallia decided to expand her training routine to incorporate Keirin racing. She began the season by appearing at the Los Angeles World Cup where she won gold in the 500mTT and in the sprint and also won bronze in the Keirin, losing out to Victoria Pendleton and Anna Meares^[5]. One month later in January of 2005 Natallia rode at the Manchester World Cup where she won gold in the Keirin event^[5]. The World Championships were held in Los Angeles and proved to be a very mixed event for Natallia. She won gold in the 500mTT race over Anna Meares of Australia by just .014 seconds^[9], but was beaten in the sprint by the Australian Kerrie Meares after being relegated and subsequently disqualified in the quarterfinals for performing a dangerous maneuver. The Keirin event was equally as dramatic as the sprints, when in the second round, Natallia fell whilst trying to muscle her way into the lead^[10]. Luckily Natallia only sustained mild superficial injuries as well as a moderate concussion.

The 2006 season began at the Moscow World Cup where her daughter Masha (then 9 years old) accompanied her. Having family near by proved good luck for Natallia as she won gold in both the 500mTT event and the sprint^[4]. Then Natallia moved on to the Manchester World Cup where she consolidated her season dominance in the 500mTT by taking gold on the first day^[5]. A day later, Natallia came second in the sprints losing out to Victoria Pendleton after being relegated in the final^[5]. In an unusual move, Natallia opted to partake in three World Cup events in preparation for the World Championships. In the Los Angeles World Cup Natallia again won the 500mTT and the sprint events ^[5]. The 2006 World Championships were held in Bordeaux, France, where Natallia won gold in the 500mTT event, posting a time of 34.152 seconds – her fastest time since the 2003 World Championships in Stuttgart^[10]. A couple of days later, Natallia also took the gold in the sprint event, beating Victoria Pendleton in the final^[4].

[edit] Season 2007 - Present

The 2007 track cycling season kicked off in Sydney Australia where Round 1 of the World Cup series was held from the 17-19th of November 2006. On the first day of competition, Natallia participated in the Sprints competition where she posted a qualifying time of 11.475 seconds which was fifth fastest for the day^[11]. Natallia then went on to ride successfully against Anna Meares of Australia in the quarterfinals and Clara Sanchez from France in the semi-finals. In the final Natallia met Great Britain champion Victoria Pendleton and was pushed to a deciding third ride before taking the Gold medal. The next day Natallia participated in the 500mTT where she scored a disappointing time of 35.023 seconds^[11]. It was in this event that Anna Meares broke her own world record attained in Athens by .008seconds^[11]. On the last day Natallia was unable to advance to the final of the keirin event after being knocked out in the second round.

The second round of the world cup series was held in Moscow, Russia on the 15-17th December. As in Sydney, the first event for Natallia was the sprints where she recorded a qualifying time of 10.984^[11]. Natallia backed up her success in Sydney by once again making it through to the final where she met an up and coming 19 year old Cuban Lizandra Guerra. Natallia needed only two rides to defeat her opponent, however the first ride needed to be determined by a photofinish showing Natallia crossing the line first by the barest of margins^[11]. On December 16th the 500mTT was held with Natallia having to settle for second place behind Cuban Lizandra Guerra with a time of 34.802 seconds^[11]. On the final day of competition Natallia rode in the Keirin event where she improved on her performance in Sydney by making it to the final, where she finished in fifth place^[11].

Natallia intends to continue track cycling till at least the 2008 Beijing Olympics.