Yuliia Dzhima

Yuliia Valentynivna Dzhyma (Ukrainian: Юлія Валентинівна Джима; born 19 September 1990) is a Ukrainian World Cup level biathlete. She is Olympic champion in women's relay, multiple World championships medalist. She is one of the most successful Ukrainian biathletes of the 2010s.

Yuliia Dzhyma

Dzhyma in 2017
Personal information
Born	(1990-09-19) 19 September 1990 (age 33) Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	66 kg (146 lb)
Professional information
Club	Skhid Kyiv
World Cup debut	2012
Olympic Games
Teams	2 (2014, 2018)
Medals	1 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	8 (2012–2021)
Medals	5 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	8 (2011/12–)
Individual victories	1
Individual podiums	5
Medal record Women's biathlon Representing  Ukraine Olympic Games 2014 Sochi 4 × 6 km relay World Championships 2013 Nové Město 4 x 6 km relay 2017 Hochfilzen 4 x 6 km relay 2019 Östersund 4 x 6 km relay 2020 Antholz 4 x 6 km relay 2021 Pokljuka 4 x 6 km relay European Championships 2011 Ridanna Relay 2012 Osrblie Relay 2015 Otepää Relay 2017 Duszniki-Zdrój Sprint 2020 Raubichi Mixed relay 2013 Bansko Sprint 2017 Duszniki-Zdrój Pursuit 2023 Lenzerheide Individual 2013 Bansko Relay 2017 Duszniki-Zdrój Mixed relay Junior European Championships 2009 Ufa Individual
Updated on 25 January 2023.

Career

She took up biathlon in Kyiv, where she lives. At the beginning of her sporting career, she wasn't seen as a promising rising athlete. She didn't show good results in skiing, so trainers were doubtful whether she would be a good biathlete.^[1]

In January 2008, she competed in her first international competition, Junior World Championships in German Ruhpolding. Next three years, she was a member of the Ukrainian junior team. Dzhyma had pretty good results, including bronze in the individual race at 2009 Junior European Championships.

On 4 January 2012, she debuted in German Oberhof in the women's relay with a team which later would win Olympic gold. Then they finished 8th. In two days, she had her first race in sprint, finishing 34th. Next season, 2012–13, she had one victory and two podiums in relay races. In 2013–14 season, she had her first podium in pursuit in Austrian Hochfilzen, finishing second. At the 2013 World Championships, she took silver in relay competition.

 

Stamps of Ukraine, 2014. Dzhima is second from right

Together with Vita Semerenko, Valentyna Semerenko and Olena Bilosiuk she won the gold medal in the Women's relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia.

The following two seasons after the Olympics weren't very successful, but she had some Top-10 results. Her performances improved in 2016–17 season: in all World Cup rankings, she achieved her highest rankings, including a place in the Top-10 of the general World Cup classification for the first time in her career. That year she won three medals at 2017 European Championships in Polish Duszniki-Zdrój, which was the most successful European championships for Yuliia. Next month she received her second silver relay World Championships medal.

Pre-Olympic 2017–18 season started very successfully for her since in two opening races in Swedish Östersund, she finished third. On 28 December 2017, she participated in the prestigious commercial competition World Team Challenge, where she placed 5th together with Belgian biathlete Michael Rösch. She qualified to represent Ukraine at the 2018 Winter Olympics.^[2] Due to illness she didn't take part in sprint. Besides, Ukrainian coaches thought she would qualify to mass start, but they were incompetent in rules regarding mass start qualification, so Yuliia participated only in the individual race, where she was 20th.^[3] In relay competitions she was 7th in mixed relay and 11th in the classical relay.

She received the Best Athlete of a Month award from National Olympic Committee of Ukraine in January 2017.

Personal life

Yuliia's father is a former Ukrainian biathlete Valentyn Dzhyma who participated at 1994 Winter Olympics and finished his career the following year. Her mother is also an athlete.

Since childhood, her hobby has been painting.^[4]

Dzhyma studied foreign languages and social communications at Sumy State University.

After 2018 Winter Olympics, there were some rumors that Yuliia Dzyma being younger than 23 years, was dating the head coach of the Ukrainian women's national team Uroš Velepec.^[5]

Biathlon results

Olympic Games

1 medal (1 gold)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay
2014 Sochi	7th	42nd	DNS	22nd	Gold	–
2018 Pyeongchang	20th	–	–	–	11th	7th
2022 Beijing	10th	8th	13th	7th	7th	13th

World Championships

4 medals (2 silver, 3 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay	Single mixed relay
2012 Ruhpolding	–	39th	48th	–	–	–	—
2013 Nové Město	13th	–	–	–	Silver	9th
2015 Kontiolahti	38th	–	–	–	6th	11th
2016 Oslo	22nd	31st	9th	25th	5th	–
2017 Hochfilzen	9th	22nd	23rd	6th	Silver	5th
2019 Östersund	12th	54th	DNS	–	Bronze	–	–
2020 Antholz-Anterselva	27th	22nd	19th	–	Bronze	5th	–
2021 Pokljuka	32nd	37th	25th	–	Bronze	4th	–

World Cup

Individual podiums

Season	Place	Competition	Placement
2013–14	Hochfilzen, Austria	Pursuit	2nd
2017–18	Östersund, Sweden	Individual	3rd
	Östersund, Sweden	Sprint	3rd
	Oslo, Norway	Sprint	3rd
2018–19	Pokljuka, Slovenia	Individual	1st
2019–20	Östersund, Sweden	Individual	2nd
2020–21	Antholz, Italy	Individual	2nd
2020–21	Nové Město, Czech Republic	Sprint	2nd

Relay podiums

Season	Place	Competition	Placement
2012–13	Hochfilzen, Austria	Relay	2nd
	Oberhof, Germany	Relay	1st
	Sochi, Russia	Relay	2nd
2013–14	Hochfilzen, Austria	Relay	1st
	Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France	Relay	2nd
2014–15	Antholz, Italy	Relay	3rd
	Nové Město, Czech Republic	Single mixed relay	3rd
2015–16	Hochfilzen, Austria	Relay	3rd
	Ruhpolding, Germany	Relay	1st
	Presque Isle, United States	Relay	2nd
2016–17	Pokljuka, Slovenia	Relay	3rd
2017–18	Hochfilzen, Austria	Relay	2nd

Positions

Season	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass starts	Overall
2011–12		48	68		60
2012–13	21	20	38	36	30
2013–14	18	28	20	9	18
2014–15	15	34	21	31	24
2015–16	17	15	13	14	13
2016–17	8	13	9	4	8
2017–18	2	12	17	19	11
2018–19	7	50	60	38	37
2019–20	10	41	37	43	36
2020–21	4	16	20	26	17
2021–22	38	35	42	47	41
2022–23

Individual victories

No.	Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Level
1	2018/19	6 December 2018	Pokljuka, Slovenia	15 km Individual	World Cup

*Results are from IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

References

1. "Yuliia Dzhima: "First I cried and wished anything except sport..." (with photos)". Ukrainian Biathlon Federation. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
2. "Ukrainian squad for the 2018 Winter Olympics". Ukrainian Biathlon Federation. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
3. "Yuliia Dzyma may not qualify for mass start at 2018 Winter Olympics due to coaches' mistake". segodnya.ua. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
4. "Yuliia Dzhima: "First I cried and wished anything except sport..." (with photos)". Ukrainian Biathlon Federation. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
5. "Urainian biathlete is dating notorious coach". sport.znaj.ua. Retrieved 26 February 2018.

External links

• Yuliia Dzhima at IBU 
• Yuliia Dzhima at Olympics.com 
• Yuliia Dzhima at Olympedia