Julia Nesterenko (Borzevich)

Sport: Track and field

Born: 15 June 1979; Brest, Byelorussian SSR

Honors:

Honored Master of Sport of the Republic of Belarus, 2005

Order of the Fatherland 3rd Class

Career highlights:

Gold (100m), Olympic Games in Athens, 2004

Bronze (60m), IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2004

Bronze (4x100m relay), World Championships in Athletics, 2005

Biography:

Yulia Bartsevich was born on 15 June 1979 in Brest. Being a fast, agile, and active kid, she caught the attention of PT teacher Sergei Salyamanovich. When she was in the seventh grade, Yulia could perform the program of the candidate for master of sport.

Having recognized Yulia Bartsevich’s attitude and talent, Sergei Salyamanovich referred her to Boris Khatkevich, a more experienced coach from the junior sport school of Olympic reserve. Later, she was transferred to the national school of Olympic reserve at the invitation of coach Viktoria Bozhedarova.

Viktoria Bozhedarova started training Yulia as a heptathlete. Yulia Bartsevich was a diligent student, but she was not that much into heptathlon. Sprint was her passion. However, she only benefited from such a diverse training.

After graduating from the Olympic reserve school, Yulia Bartsevich returned home. She started training with another coach, Viktor Yaroshevich, and finally focused on sprint.

In 2001, she qualified for the 100m final of the European Athletics Junior Championships where she placed sixth. A year later, Yulia was ninth at the European Athletics Championships. However, her result of 11.44 seconds was not enough to impress the world elite sprinters.

On 6 September 2002, Yulia married Dmitry Nestsiarenka. Two years later, she confessed that she had considered quitting sport, devoting herself to family and choosing another profession. Yet, she did not want her hard many-year work to go in vain.

Yulia asked her coach Viktor Yaroshevich to intensify the training process. The coach was known for his careful and cautious approach to training female athletes as he wanted them to stay healthy afterwards. However, Yulia insisted on the new techniques to train for major competitions. Finally, Viktor Yaroshevich caved in and gave the ambitious young athlete the opportunity to train for her favorite 100m and 200m. In the run-up to the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Yulia started training individually.

Yulia Nestsiarenka started the Olympic season on a good note. She won the 60m event with 7.13 seconds at the Belarusian indoor championships. She equaled that result in the final of the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, snatching a bronze medal. Yulia was bested only by four-time Olympic champion Gail Devers (7.08) from the USA and Belgium’s Kim Gevaert (7.12).

After that event Yulia believed in herself. She realized that she could compete with other athletes at the Olympic Games as an equal.

In June-July 2004, the Belarusian athlete earned a string of international wins. She set Belarus’ national 100m  record (11.02 seconds) at the competitions in Heraklion, Greece. Then she won gold at the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Gateshead, the UK, covering the distance in 11.32 seconds against the wind. At IAAF Golden League in Rome, she came to the finish at 11.13 seconds. Finally, a month before the Olympic Games, she picked up another gold in Greece with the time of 11.06 seconds.

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Yulia performed well from the start, clocking 10.94 seconds in Round 1 and finishing at 10.99 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Yulia set Belarus’ national record of 10.92 seconds, edging past Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell by a hundredth of a second.

In the final, Yulia Nestsiarenka’s rivals had a clear lead on her until seventy meters into the race when she pulled even with them and eventually gained the advantage in the waning moments to capture her nation’s third athletics Olympic gold medal with 10.93.

This was not an accidental result. Prior to Athens Yulia Nestsiarenka had a phenomenal and consistent four race series to cap it with the Olympic gold. Her achievement became an international sensation as she won the crown in one of the most prestigious Olympic events, the 100 meters, beating the strongest athletes from the USA, Jamaica, France, and the Bahamas.

The following years were not very successful for the Belarusian athlete.

At the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Yulia Nestsiarenka qualified for the 100m final, where she placed eighth with the result of 11.13 seconds. Team Belarus made up for the poor individual results by winning a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay.

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Yulia made it only to the semifinals.

In 2012, the athlete suffered a serious foot injury, which made her skip the Olympic Games in London.

In 2017, Yulia Nestsiarenka retired from sport and became a coach.


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