Victor started snowboarding at the age of seven. At age 14, Wilde made the United States junior national team. At the same time, Vic studied well and even managed to graduate from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. But the guy had already fallen in love with snowboarding and planned to connect his life with this sport.
In 2005, Vic Wild made his debut with the US national team in international competitions. A year later, he was in the top twenty in the overall World Cup standings and improved noticeably each year. Journalists and experts promised him a great future, but fate decided otherwise. In 2010, Vic failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Vancouver (Canada). After that, the coaches of the US national team stopped betting on him at less important tournaments, some sponsors left the athlete, which is why Wild even thought about ending his sports career.
Photo source: NBC
Vic was not helped by the position of the US Snowboard Federation, which decided to rely on halfpipe and pentepipe and sponsor athletes who performed in these disciplines. In fact, Wilde was no longer needed by his country. At the start of the 2010/2011 season, Vic did not have a coach and he was looking for money alone to equip himself and go to competitions.
“I was stressed at the time. I had to think of everything. I was my own manager, technical staff, etc. All of this had a very negative impact on my results.Wild recalled later.
In March 2011, Moscow hosted the Snowboard World Cup. Victor arrived in the Russian capital without a coach. In Moscow, young snowboarder Alena Zavarzina volunteered to help. At the time of these competitions, they already knew each other and she decided to help Wild prepare the stage.
After the competition, in which Zavarzina did not participate due to injury, Alena and Vic continued to communicate remotely. However, a few weeks later the American returned to Russia and proposed marriage to Zavarshchina. The wedding took place in the summer of 2011 in Novosibirsk, the snowboarder’s hometown. It is noteworthy that everything at the wedding was in Russian: the bride price, the bread and the competitions to celebrate the event.
Photo source: social networks of Alena Zavarzina
Already in September, the media announced that American athlete Vic Wild had decided to obtain Russian citizenship. Vitya received a passport as a citizen of the Russian Federation in May 2012, after completely missing the World Cup in the 2011/2012 season.
After he started playing for the Russian national team, things got complicated for Wild. In 2013, at the World Championships in Stoneham (Canada), Vic won a bronze medal. He entered the 2014 Olympics in Sochi as one of the favorites.
Athletes have a great advantage during the Olympic Games at home: they have the opportunity to study the course in depth and learn all its advantages and disadvantages. In parallel slalom (giant and regular), this is a very important point. On February 19, Vic Wild, in the final of the Olympic snowboard tournament in giant slalom, overtook Switzerland’s Nevin Galmarini by 2.14 seconds and brought Russia the first Olympic gold medal in the history of snowboarding. It is noteworthy that a few minutes earlier, Alena Zavarzina won the bronze medal among women. The happiness of lovers and the entire country knew no bounds.
Photo source: OKR
On February 22, Vic Wild once again entered the history of Russian sports. This time, the naturalized American became the strongest in the parallel slalom, in the final he managed to perform a miracle and regain 1.5 seconds behind the Slovenian Jean Koshmir.
After his triumph in Sochi, Vic Wild became a national hero. He was invited to various talk shows, comedy programs, concerts and receptions. However, a dark streak began in his career.
After Sochi, Wilde’s results plummeted and health problems began. The double Olympic champion could not help but be taken to the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (South Korea), but he was eliminated there in the 1/8 finals of the parallel giant slalom (at the time, the IOC excluded parallel slalom for snowboarders from the Games program).
In 2019, Victor started having problems with Russian sports officials. So much so that due to his health problems, the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) declared Whyd unfit for sport. For this reason, the snowboarder even thought about returning to the United States, but in the end everything returned to normal.
— If you are interested, I will continue to compete for Russia. Thanks to Pavel Kolobkov (then Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation – Note Athletistic) to solve my problem“,” Wilde commented on rumors about his return to the USA.
Not everything went well for Vic in his personal life. At that time, Alena Zavarzina finished her sports career and went to study as a designer in London (UK). Our Olympians already spent little time together, but now they lived in different places and their interests began to differ noticeably. The logical outcome was divorce, announced by Zavarzina via social networks in the summer of 2021.
— Vic and I divorced, and I want to thank him for 10 wonderful years– this is how Alena announced the divorce.
There were six months left between the time of the divorce and the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing (China). Meanwhile, Vic did not show any incredible results and might not have been able to make it to the capital of the Celestial Empire. However, the coaches of the Russian national team believed in the legendary athlete and included him among the participants in the 2022 Games. Wild did not let them down and, at the age of 36, won a bronze medal.
Photo source: IOC
In February 2022, Vic Wild announced his retirement from the sport. However, despite his departure, in 2023 he participated in the Russian Championships in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and continues to skate at the highest level.
Interestingly, after the start of the SVO, Wilde not only did not leave Russia, but also said that he did not intend to participate in international competitions without a flag and anthem. Today Vic lives in St. Petersburg, where he studies at the Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University. I would like to believe that the IOC will come to its senses and return Russia to the Olympic family. Vic Wild will then be able to participate in his fourth Olympics (Italy 2026). Knowing the courage and character of this athlete, few people will be surprised if he gets on the podium there too.
Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
