Yulia Zaripova’s double winning
On July 10 at the Central Stadium, Yuliya Zaripova was awarded a special prize from the International Fair Play Committee for furthering the ideas of honesty and honour in sports.
Today, Yulia Zaripova became Universiade champion in the 3000m hurdles, winning over Gulcan Mingir (Turkey) and Svitlana Shmidt (Ukraine). Yulia's gold medal was awarded by the Deputy General Director of ANO Executive Directorate 'Kazan 2013' Azat Kadyrov, and her flowers were presented by the advisor to the General Director in matters of sports and trainer of Olympic and Universiade medalists Olga Pavlova. However, Yulia's evening of surprises did not end there. The awards ceremony continued with president of the International Committee Jeno Kamuti awarding Yulia the Fair Play prize.
After the awards ceremony, the Russian runner shared her thoughts on the 2 awards, 'I wanted to test myself at this distance today. Titles aside, it was hard for me to get ready. There is always that dark horse, and you can never underestimate your opponent. This competition was harder than London for me in terms of being nervous. But thanks to my fans, I received a lot of positive energy, after all, they didn't just cheer for 'Russia', they shouted my name.'
Yulia's new gold medal from the 27th Summer Universiade seemed to be one of the more unique medals among her collection.
Yulia Zaripova had this to say about the unexpected surprise from Fair Play: 'The award from Fair Play is a big step for me. Of course, I did not even think about receiving it. I think that people need to do good deeds without expecting something in return. I did a good deed. The award from the International Fair Play Committee together with the gold from the 27th Summer Universiade will have a special place in my list of awards.'
The President of the International Fair Play Committee Jeno Kamuti congratulated Yulia Zaripova on her gold medal and told us a little bit about the special award: 'I wanted to congratulate Yulia with her win today at the Universiade. I understand her completely because I also competed in 4 Universiades myself, and when the competition was held back home, in Brussels, everyone was expecting me to win. And I did. We were preparing the Fair Play award even before the Universiade, we have been watching Yulia's career because she drew our attention. Yulia Zaripova is a shining example not only as an athlete, but also as a kind human being. There are many champions in the world, but among them only a rare few are truly honourable. For us, Yulia Zaripova is not just a great example for Tatarstan, but for the entire world. In my opinion, the youth of today need beautiful heroes like Yulia Zaripova. Sport is not created purely for the body, but also for the spirit, for ethics."
Olympic Champion Yulia Zaripova does not like to talk about her good deeds and philanthropy, but it is important to note that after the London Olympics Yulia gave all her earnings away to a children's home in Chistopol. A part of her earnings was also given to the 'Rebirth' Fund.
Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate
kazan2013.ru/en/news_items/8708
