Julia was brought to water skiing by her father, Anatoliy Gromyko, who  was the national coach of the Belarusian freestyle wrestling team for a  long time and wanted to steer the irrepressible energy of his 8-year-old  daughter in the right direction, namely in sports.  Her father took her to his friend Victor Novozhilov, the founder, and  head coach of water skiing in Belarus. Thus began Julia's wonderful  journey as a water skier in 1979, which lasted for 40 years (1979 to  2019).  1982-1984 was the most important period for her sporting breakthrough.  She stayed with her grandmother and Viktor Novozhilov began to train her  intensively and in 1985 Julia won her first gold medal at the Junior  European Championships.  In 1989, Cable Waterski came into Julia's life. The Belarus waterski  team traveled to Slovakia for the first time and took part in an  international competition. After successful participation and admission  to the European Championship, the Belarus team went to the European  Championship in the same city a month later. The success was terrific: a  new European record, gold in Tricks. From that moment, Julia's career  in Cableski began.  In 1998 Julia married the German Marc-André Meier, one of the world's  best slalom skiers. Their daughter Jana-Chathreen was born in May 1998.  Three months later, Julia competed with her husband in the first Cable  World Championships and won her first of ten World Championship gold  medals.  For 30 years Julia competed for Belarus, won medals, and set new  European and world records. She has represented the interests of all  cable skiers as an athlete’s representative at the Cableski Council; she  qualified as a Level One Judge, was voted the best athlete of the year  at IWWF and EAME several times. In addition she coached German athletes  and looked after the national teams at multiple championships around the  world.  Julia has been a permanent national trainer for the German Waterski and  Wakeboard Association since 2019.  Julia has been part of all the stages of development and changes that  have happened in the Cableski area over the last 30 years: new rules  (several times), World Cups in China, European Tour.  From her first jump record of 35.0 m, to her last at 48.9 m. From her  conception of new tricks to her consistency, we cannot imagine Cableski  without this woman's presence, her endless love for waterskiing, her  professionalism in all levels of society, her family, and her optimism.  In 2019, Julia ended her sports career in Minsk, on her home lake, by  taking part in the European Championships for the last time. This ended  her sporting career for her; a symbolic circle lasting 40 years.