The Paralympics ended in London. The Russian national team gathered 102 medals: 36 gold medals, 38 silver, and 28 bronze. In the team competition it took second place – between China and the UK. In Beijing in 2008 Russia was only the eighth.
Pavel Rozhkov, first vice-president, the head of the board of the Paralympic Committee of Russia
The main thing is that the guys managed to implement everything they prepared for 4 years after Beijing. Speaking about certain teams, our Paralympic track and field athletes failed in Beijing, only three gold medals were won – Alexei Ashapatov won 2 gold medals and Artyom Arefyev won one gold medal. For us track and field athletics is a crucial kind of sport, as in swimming and track and field athletics more than 300 medal sets (out of 502) are held. The countries which perform in these disciplines successfully usually dominate in the team competition. That is why after Beijing we had to change the head coach and implement a complex of organizational measures for turning the situation for the best. We succeeded, as far as the results of the London Games show. In the world championship two years ago our athletes won 18 gold medals in track and field athletics. After New Zealand we were aimed at accumulation of sporting professionalism and maintenance of our potential. We managed to do it. You can see what results our athletes demonstrate in track and field athletics. Lena managed to win second medal; first medal was gained by her in Athens.
The other strategic kind of sport is swimming. In Beijing 11 medals out of 18 which were won by our team were gained by our swimmers. We had to preserve the potential and find new athletes who could compete at new levels: and now our swimmers show very high results. Thanks to them we are at the top part of the team competition table. We were pleased by results of archers. We have started to develop this kind of sport ahead of Beijing. Timur Tuchnikov performed in the so-called wild-card for our athletes and coaches could learn more about the Paralympic Games and rules. This lesson wasn’t in vain. Our athletes performed splendidly. They won the team competition and Timur won the individual rivalry. Especially I would like to note our table tennis. In Beijing we had gold medal; and we are happy for Raisa Chebanika who comes to the Paralympics for the second time. She is an experienced table tennis player, but she usually had no luck. And now she prepared very well and won the Games; we congratulate her. We are happy for her. I also want to say special words about the power-lifter Vladimir Balynets. He is from Yakutia. He performed greatly and won silver medal.
Yelena Pautova, track and field athlete, the winner of 1500 m running in the category T12
A lot people supported me. I proved that it is possible to defeat strong rivals. The Paralympics where I won bronze twice passed, but for me and for my coach these bronze medals were like gold, as results of each Paralympics advance. My rivals show outstanding results. Girls sometimes ran faster than men. When I try to consider and think it over, I feel fear about these phenomenal results. These four years of preparation were more difficult than preparations for Athens and Beijing combined. I had problems. Ahead of the Russian championship in Kislovodsk I was injured and didn’t participate. Of course I was upset, as it had to be a rehearsal of the Paralympics. My coach calmed me down and took me to the European championship. I won it. After the Beijing Paralympics I received a new serious rival – my namesake Elena Honhost from Spain. She was my main rival. I would like to thank her for helping me in the final to run fast. No rivals, no medals.
Raisa Chebanika, the table tennis Paralympic winner in the category W6
It was the first time I prepared for competitions in such a serious way. I felt bad for a long time and didn’t train. My rivals defeated me for several times in recent competitions. But Paralympics is a different thing.
Vladimir Balynets, the silver winner of the Paralympics in power-lifting
This is my first Paralympics, I prepared for it for 4 years. I took the 5th place in the rating, but in London I managed to become second. It is a great work for me and for my coach. We did our best and are satisfied.
Timur Tuchinov, twice gold winner of the Paralympics in archery
I participated in the 13th Paralympic Games in Beijing. I was the eleventh there. Unfortunately, we had no team, and I was the only archer from Russia. Last year the license at the world championship was played. We had to be in the top-6, but we won and gained the license for participation in the Paralympics in London. Our team is consolidated: Tuchinov, Oyun, and Shestakov. Since 2010 this squad wasn’t changed. In the European championship we got first place, we won the world championship in 2011. I hoped after I won as individual that we would win as a team. We had to be first and it worked out. We broke Paralympic records in the quarterfinal and semifinal. The first record was 212 points, the second – 214 points.
