Nikolae Zurawski
The Ministry of Education and Research bears the bulk of the cost of training five athletes for the Winter Olympics. In 2024, the NOSC submitted the names of five athletes to the Ministry for a monthly stipend of $1,500. They were biathletes Alyona Makarova, Alina Stremous, Pavel Magazeev, Mikhail Usov and skier Julian Lukin. In total, the state has allocated $90 thousand a year to pay them scholarships. The scholarships will be paid before the start of the Winter Olympics. “Biathlon is a sport that requires a lot of expenses. The scholarship is a good incentive for our new achievements. This amount is enough to work fruitfully to achieve our goals,” Alyona Makarova said in an interview with Moldova 1.
At the end of 2024, it was announced an increase in the financing of sports federations whose athletes represent Moldova at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Each federation will receive 200 thousand lei for representation at the main Games of the quadrennium and an additional 100 thousand lei for each athlete. The Biathlon Federation will receive 600 thousand lei, while the Federation of Skiing, Luge and Snowboarding – 400 thousand lei. According to Nicolae Juravski, a seventh participant is also possible – December and January will be decisive, when the World Cup rounds are organized for the athletes who did not qualify on the basis of national quotas. Moldova is among these countries.
Recently, a new Regulation on the payment of monthly scholarships to athletes for achievements in international competitions was approved, which provides for the payment of a monthly scholarship to the participants of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Its minimum amount will amount to 16.1 thousand lei as of January 1, 2026. The scholarship will be paid to athletes who ranked 17th or lower. The gold medal winner will be entitled to 80.5 thousand lei, the silver medalist – to 64.4 thousand lei and the bronze medalist – to 48.3 thousand lei.
The NOSC, in its turn, will cover the costs of equipment during the Olympic Games, accommodation and flights of the athletes. Nicolae Juravski did not name the exact amount of expenses. “Our team is small, so the level of expenses should not be high. I think we will manage within a few million lei. The Ministry of Education and Research pays for everything, except for the athletes’ participation in the Olympics. This issue is the responsibility of our committee,” said the president of the NOSC in a comment for LP.
It is obvious that it will be very difficult for Moldovan athletes to compete for medals in such sports as biathlon and cross-country skiing, where representatives of Norway, Germany, France, Sweden, Italy and other countries with long-standing traditions in winter sports dominate. The best achievement in the history of participation of the national team at the Winter Olympics is still the eighth place of Natalya Levchenkova in 2006 in Turin (Italy). Then the Russian Levchenkova, who represented Moldova on the international arena for the most part of her career, achieved the seemingly impossible, entering the top ten athletes in the 15-kilometer individual race – the most grueling discipline in biathlon. She surpassed even the legendary Ursula “Uschi” Diesl, who won eight medals in five Winter Olympics, two of them gold and four silver.
According to Nicolae Zurawski, 30-year-old Alina Stremous has the best chance to get close to the leaders of the world ranking. The Russian-born athlete has represented Moldova since 2020. At last year’s Biathlon World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland, she finished 15th in the 7.5km sprint, thus achieving her personal best result during her time in the elite. Stremous is also a European champion and vice-champion. Continental championships do not include the world’s strongest biathletes, so the status of the European Championships and the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Cup is much lower compared to the World Cup.
The achievements of Moldovan athletes at the Olympic Games, according to the NOSC president, are directly related to the level of economy. “Naturally, we expect the best results from our athletes, but we realize how serious competition they will face. Every athlete would like to have a medal, but under our conditions and investment in winter sports, thinking about prize medals is akin to a gamble. We always feel the lack of funding, not only in winter sports. We expect the economy to improve, and then investments in sports will increase. We will be very happy if Stremous or another of our athletes wins a medal, both federations and coaches want it, but we understand the real state of affairs,” said Mr. Zurawski.
Already the first stages of the World Cup, IBU Biathlon Cup and Eastern European Cross-Country Skiing Cup will show how well Moldovan athletes have prepared for the season. International competitions in summer biathlon and cross-country skiing were held in the summer. The participants of the Moldovan national team are forced to train exclusively abroad, as the country does not have the necessary conditions for this. The president of the Biathlon Federation, Dmitri Torner, at a meeting with the IBU president Olle Dalin in 2023, expressed interest in the construction of a sports complex in Moldova, which would allow to host summer biathlon competitions. Investors from Austria expressed their willingness to participate in the project, but no progress has been reported for more than two years.
Meanwhile, the NOSC is working hard on technical preparations for Moldova’s participation in the Olympic Games. “We are working on tickets, the location of our delegation in the Olympic Village, accreditations of coaches and technical staff. In biathlon and skiing, service men are important, who are responsible for the preparation of skis and should be assigned to our team. We are doing everything possible to meet the highest international requirements and for our athletes to perform well,” double Olympic champion Nicolae Juravski assured LP.
The athletes themselves have high expectations from the upcoming Olympic season. According to biathlete Alyona Makarova, who will take part in the Olympics for the first time, the situation obliges athletes to be in top form throughout the season. “I don’t want to talk about the Olympics as a competition that is more important compared to the rest. There are the same things to be experienced as during the World Cup or IBU Cup starts. I need to confirm my level to ensure my participation in the Games. There will be a season with difficult challenges, but I expect to qualify and to achieve the best result at the Olympics,” said the athlete.
For her husband Maxim, the Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo will be the second in his career. However, for this he needs to become the owner of one of the two quotas allocated to Moldova. The fight for them will be between Maxim Makarov, Pavel Magazeev and Maxim Usov. At the Beijing 2022 Games, Maxim Makarov took part only in the 10km sprint, which resulted in a penultimate, 93rd place. In order to qualify for the pursuit race, one must be among the top 60.
Pavel Magazeev was also not among the top 60 in the sprint, but entered the individual pursuit and was 26th among 92 competitors, ahead of Olympic silver medalist Sebastian Samuelson (Sweden), as well as notable Lukas Hofer (Italy), Jakob Fak (Slovenia) and Erik Lesser (Germany). For the upcoming Games, the athlete is determined. “Sport is like a business, involving a plan according to which one must act. In biathlon the situation can change in a matter of seconds, it’s hard to predict anything in advance. The best athletes from all over the world come to the Olympics, the competition is incredible. To be among the best is an achievement in itself,” said the 37-year-old Russian native, who has been playing for Moldova since 2018.
The XXV Winter Olympic Games will be the eighth for Moldova. The record holder among Moldovan athletes is biathlete and skier Elena Gorokhova, who has participated in the Games four times (see table). She is followed by luge skier Bogdan Macovei, who qualified for the Olympics three times.
It is hoped that 265 kilometers from Milan, in Antholz-Anterselva, where the biathlon complex is located, it will be possible to break the national record set by Natalya Levchenkova almost 20 years ago. On the eve of the Olympic season, Logos Press sends its best wishes to the athletes, coaches and the NOSC, with which BOMBA signed a four-year strategic partnership agreement in April this year!
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History of Moldovan athletes’ performances at the Winter Olympic Games (1994 – 2022) |
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№ |
Athlete | Place and year of the Olympics |
Type of sport |
| 1 | Elena Gorokhova | Lillehammer (Norway), 1994
Nagano (Japan), 1998 Salt Lake City (USA), 2002 Turin (Italy), 2006 |
Biathlon / Ski Racing |
| 2 | Vasile Gergi | Lillehammer, 1994 |
Biathlon |
| 3 | Ion Buxha | Nagano, 1998
Salt Lake City, 2002 |
Biathlon / Ski Racing |
| 4 | Valentina Churina | Salt Lake City, 2002
Turin, 2006 |
Biathlon |
| 5 | Mikhail Gribushenkov | Salt Lake City, 2002
Turin, 2006 |
Biathlon |
| 6 | Liviu Cepoi | Salt Lake City, 2002 |
Luge |
| 7 | Natalia Levchenkova | Turin, 2006
Vancouver (Canada), 2010 |
Biathlon |
| 8 | Ilie Bria | Turin, 2006 |
Ski racing |
| 9 | Sergiu Balan | Turin, 2006
Vancouver, 2010 |
Ski racing |
| 10 | Bogdan Makovei | Turin, 2006
Vancouver, 2010 Sochi (Russia), 2014 |
Luge |
| 11 | Victor Pynzaru | Vancouver, 2010
Sochi, 2014 |
Biathlon / Ski Racing |
| 12 | Alexandra Kamenshchik | Vancouver, 2010
Sochi, 2014 |
Cross-Country Skiing / Biathlon |
| 13 | Urs Imboden | Vancouver, 2010 |
Alpine skiing |
| 14 | Christopher Roux | Vancouver, 2010 |
Alpine skiing |
| 15 | Georg Lindner | Sochi, 2014 |
Alpine skiing |
| 16 | Nikolae Hajduk | PyeongChang (South Korea), 2018 |
Cross-country skiing |
| 17 | Christopher Hurl | PyeongChang, 2018 |
Alpine skiing |
| 18 | Doina Descaluy | Beijing, China, 2022 |
Luge |
| 18 | Alla Gilenko | Beijing, 2022 |
Biathlon |
| 19 | Alina Stremous | Beijing, 2022 |
Biathlon |
| 20 | Pavel Magazeev | Beijing, 2022 |
Biathlon |
| 21 | Maxim Makarov | Beijing, 2022 |
Biathlon |
