Kaija Parve

Kaija Helinurm until 1990 Kaija Parve, (Russian Кайя Ахтовна Парве; born June 14, 1964 in Tallinn) is a former biathlete from the former Estonian Soviet Republic, now the Republic of Estonia. She started to her active time for the Soviet Union, today it is Estonian citizen. With seven world titles she is one of the most successful female biathlete ever.

Career

Parve began in 1971 with the Nordic skiing and biathlon moved to when the first Biathlon World Championships for women were planned in 1984. She was among the first successful in this sport athletes. In 1984, she finished seventh in the sprint and fourth in the 10 km competition. In the season they won with Wenera Chernyshova and Ludmilla Sabolotnjana her first title at the World Championships, after which they took up in 1988 the fifth consecutive gold with the Soviet relay. Even in the individual disciplines Parve was successful: in 1985 she became world champion in singles, 1986 at Sprint. In addition, she won the sprint in 1985 and 1987 in a single two silver medals.

Your best season in the World Cup had Parve 1984/85 third in the overall standings. She was thus the first and up to the 1988/89 season, the only Soviet athlete who achieved a place in the top three athletes of the overall World Cup.

In addition to the sports career

As early as 1982 she had begun at the Tallinn Pedagogical University training as a physical education teacher and this completed later. The first of her three daughters came in 1989 to the world. In 1990 she married the Estonian athletes Marek Helinurm and took the name of her husband. After the end of their sports career, she took a job with the Estonian unemployment insurance.