Quick Facts
Biography
Alexandr Yuryevich Zubkov (Russian: Александр Юрьевич Зубков, born 10 August 1974) is a Russian retired bobsledder who has competed since 1999. Competing in four Winter Olympics, he won four medals with a silver in 2006 (four-man), a bronze in 2010 (two-man), and two golds in 2014 (two-man and four-man).
Career
Zubkov also won four medals at the FIBT World Championships with two silvers (Four-man: 2005, 2008) and two bronzes (Two-man: 2008, Four-man: 2003). He won the Bobsleigh World Cup in the four-man event three times as well (2004-5, 2005–6, 2008–9).
Prior to competing in bobsleigh, he competed in luge. Zubkov finished 20th in the men's singles event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
2014 Winter Olympics
In 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, he was the flag bearer of Russia for the Opening Ceremony. Zubkov won Gold in both Two-Man and Four-Man Bobsleigh. 39-year-old Zubkov is the third-oldest pilot to win two-man gold in Bobsleigh
In the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Zubkov was coached by a former rival, Canadian Pierre Lueders. Zubkov also paid a fee to borrow personal skids from the 2011 World Champion, Germany's Manuel Machata. Machata bought the skids for 29'000 EUR in Switzerland, and had not qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The 2014 Olympics saw Germany failing to win a bobsleigh medal at an Olympics for the first time since Innsbruck 1964. Machata did not inform German Bobsleigh Luge and Skeleton Federation of this loan and received a one-year competitive ban and fine of €5,000 (250,000 rubles) from the Federation.
Zubkov received the The Order For Merit to the Fatherland Award 4th class with Russian President Vladimir Putin handing the state awards.
In October 2014 Zubkov announced his retirement from the sport due to a long-term injury which prevented him from competing at the start of the 2014–15 season.
In May 2016, Zubkov was named in a New York Times investigation of Russian athletic doping during the Sochi Games.
Personal life
His daughter, Elisaveta Zubkova, is a Russian skeleton slider.