birth_place article_title name birth_date
oskemen , kazakh ssr , soviet union valeriya tsoy
 valeriya tsoy 8 july 1988
valeriya tsoy

valeriya tsoy -lrb- born in oskemen -rrb- is a kazakhstani snowboarder , specializing in alpine snowboarding .
in 2014 , she became the first snowboarder to represent kazakhstan in the winter olympics .
tsoy competed at the 2014 winter olympics for kazakhstan .
she was 23rd in the qualifying run of the parallel giant slalom and 32nd in the qualifying of the parallel slalom , not advancing in either event .
as of september 2014 , her best showing at the world championships is 19th , in the 2013 parallel giant slalom .
tsoy made her world cup debut in march 2011 .
as of september 2014 , her best finish is 4th , in a parallel giant slalom at sochi in 2012 -- 13 .
her best overall finish is 12th , in 2013 -- 14 .
