Vick Wilde is a Russian American-born snowboarder who gained fame after a resounding victory at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The change of American citizenship to Russian prompted him to meet with a Russian athlete, whom he later married. The love story of Vick Wilde and Alena Zavarzina became a favorite topic for romantic sports fans.
Start
A simple American guy, Victor, was born in 1986 in White Salmon, in the state of Washington. He began to engage in snowboarding from the age of seven, he seemed a promising athlete. Already at the age of 14, he entered the U.S. youth team, and then became a member of the adult team, for which he played until 2011.
The greatest success was achieved by the snowboarder Vick Wilde in parallel slalom, concentrating on this type of program. At the stages of the World Cup, he began to speak since 2005. In his first season, a White Salmon native entered the hundred strongest in the overall standings, ranking sixty-second.
Coaches expected the young athlete to progress, and at first the guy lived up to their expectations. In the next season, he began to fall into the top twenty at the World Cup stages more often and rose twenty positions up compared to last year.
Dead end
Mentors of the American team made a discount on the athlete’s inexperience and expected a breakthrough from him in his third season, because by then Vick Wilde had gained enough competitive experience, matured and even managed to win silver at the US Championship. However, in the 2009/2010 season, the American still could not get into the fight for the highest places.
Only twice in a season did Vic Wilde make it to the top ten, which could not but cause disappointment among his fans. Despite the fact that the final result was much higher than last year, the twenty-first place in the overall standings could not be considered a satisfactory result.
Season 2010/2011 was a mirror image of the previous one for Vic. Only two times he was among the ten strongest, and according to the results of the World Cup, he was in nineteenth place in the overall standings.
The poor results of Vick Wilde became the reason for the cool attitude towards him from the national snowboard federation. He had to search for sponsors on his own, to carry out maintenance work on his sports equipment with his own hands.
A meeting
Alena Zavarzina and Vick Wilde met each other in 2009 at one of the stages of the World Cup. The Russian beauty instantly won the heart of a smiling American, and he began to look for reasons to meet more often with Alena.
At that time, the girl was more successful than her future groom, from time to time she won victories at the stages of the Grand Prix, became the world champion. In the shadow of Zavarzina, the American did not feel too confident and dreamed of breaking into the elite of the world snowboard to amaze the girl’s imagination.
Nevertheless, no one could take a decisive step, for two years the guys just talked to each other, looking closely at each other.
Double fracture
The story of how Vick Wilde got to Russia begins in 2011. Then Alena Zavarzina received a serious knee injury, was recovering from injuries and did not participate in competitions. Nevertheless, she found the opportunity to watch the Moscow stage of the World Cup from the stands, supporting her American friend. Things were not going very well with him, he did not even have his own coach and was preparing for the starts on his own.
Being a kind girl, Alena undertook to provide methodological support to her friend and became his personal trainer during the Moscow tournament. As the girl herself recalls, it was incredibly difficult for her to maintain her balance without crutches, she barely kept her feet, but she passionately sought to help her friend.
Nothing brings together so closely as teamwork, so progress in the relationship between Alena and Vika has become a matter of time. They started dating, becoming a very spectacular couple in the world of snowboarding. According to Vick, he strove to spend as much time as possible with Alena and hardly endured constant separation.
Wedding
Looking at the tender relationship between the two snowboarders, the leaders (coaches) of the Russian team began to think about dragging the American into their ranks. Moreover, in the native team they finally waved his hand, writing off from the accounts as unpromising.
Vick Wilde directly made a tempting offer to fly the Russian flag, promising him financial support, logistics and ideal conditions for training. All that was required was to accept Russian citizenship.
However, by law, an athlete has the right to accelerated citizenship of the Russian Federation only if he has on his account the awards of the World Championships or the Olympic Games. The unlucky Vic was not spoiled with medals, so this path was closed to him.
There was only one option - a wedding with a citizen of the country. This is not to say that this was an ordeal for the American, since he himself sought to tie Alain to himself as much as possible.
The wedding of Alena Zavarzina and Vick Wilde took place in Novosibirsk. Ready for anything for the sake of love, Vic courageously endured all the circles of a traditional Russian wedding, having performed the bride’s ransom ceremony for Alenka chocolate and other feats. After the wedding, the guys left for the United States, where they lived for some time, but shortly before the Sochi Olympics they returned to Russia and settled in Moscow.
New Vic
Becoming the wife of a Russian woman, Vick Wilde soon received the coveted red passport, becoming Victor. Due to the quarantine for changing sports citizenship, the athlete was forced to miss the 2011/2012 season.
Devoting a year to training and self-improvement, Vick Wilde triumphantly began his first performances under the Russian flag. At the first stage of the World Cup, the former American entered the top three, giving the highest achievement in his career.
Apparently, the powerful influx of endorphins after the wedding with Alena did his job, and Vick literally soared on his board, famously overtaking rivals.
At the World Cup in Austria, Wilde took first place, after which he made experts speak about himself, who called him one of the favorites of the upcoming Olympics.
