Paralympic swimmer Olesya Vladykina

Olesya Vladykina
on day 7 of the London 2012 Paralympic Games at Aquatics Centre on September 5, 2012 in London, England.

Meet a real fighter, and a person with an incredible, unbending will – Olesya Vladykina. Within five months after the terrible accident, she has won the “gold” of the Paralympic Games. Olesya was born in Moscow in 1988. Very beautiful and talented girl from childhood did sports, music and ballet, and when it’s time to study, she enrolled at the Moscow State University of Railways.

Olesya Vladykina

She also worked in a trendy boutique and entirely plunged into a new world – the world of fashion.

In Thailand, Olesya was just on her birthday – February 14, 2008. She was on vacation with her best girl friend Sasha. On that day, they went to a two-storey tourist bus which was driving on the highway 120 km / h. And suddenly blow …

Olesya did not understand what was happening. She opened her eyes – just around the wreckage were the overturned seats of crumpled bus in which they were traveling to Bangkok. And the people, crying, screaming to the sound of the rain that did not stop that morning. “Stop! It is necessary to think logically. The left arm is squeezed, first it is necessary to get out. I’ll try. Time after time. It does not work. Finally, I am shocked, goosebumps all over my body: I do not have an arm!!! Only the shoulder. And blood. How will I live without the arm? It is simply impossible! I can’t stand it. I want to scream and cry”.

Later, she said in an interview that after going through all stages of panic, appeared the desire to live, and then she said to herself: ‘Well, Olesya, you do not have arm, be quiet, because the worst has not happened, you’re not dead.” Olesya’s best friend, Alexandra, died.

Rehabilitation of Olesya Vladykina

And then it was the rehabilitation – Olesya recovered very quickly, and even then she knew that she would return to the sport. Her former coach called her when she was still in hospital in Thailand – and a week after returning home, Olesya was in the pool.

It was still the same in 2008, and it soon became clear that Olesya got into the Russian Paralympic Team. In China, in the final 100-meter breaststroke swim she took the gold, setting a world record – 1 min. 20, 58 seconds.

Later, Olesya Vladykina said that it all happened very quickly – Just recently there was an accident that changed her entire previous life, and now she stands on the podium with the gold medal. Her victory Olesya dedicated to her deceased friend Alexandra …

Another Olympic gold – in the 100m breaststroke at the Summer Paralympic Games in London Vladykina took in 2012, again setting a record – 1 min.17,17.
A little later Olesya won a bronze medal in the 100m at the back.
And in 2014 Olesya Vladykina became ambassador of the Olympics in Sochi.