Olena Akopyan

Who is Olena Akopyan?

Olena Akopyan is a Paralympic swimmer from Ukraine competing mainly in category S5 events. She is also one of the rare sportswomen to have competed in both the summer and winter Paralympics having competed in the biathlon and cross-country skiing in the winter Paralympics.

The majority of Olena's Paralympic success came in the pool where she won thirteen of her fifteen medals including her only gold medal. In 1996 she won three silvers in the 50 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres freestyle each time finishing behind France's Beatrice Hess who set two world records and a paralympic record in the three events, she also finished sixth in the 100m breaststroke. Olena also competed at the 2000 Summer Paralympics where she again finished second behind Beatrice in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle including breaking the Paralympic record in the 50m freestyle first heat only to see Beatrice break it in the second heat and then set a world record in the final, she also finished behind Beatrice in the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke but where as Beatrice swam a world record to win both events, Olena could only manage fourth in both events. At the 2004 Summer Paralympics Olena won a silver in the 50m butterfly behind Teresa Perales of Spain, she also finished second in the 200m freestyle behind her old adversary Beatrice Hess, but did get revenge in the 50m freestyle where she finally won a gold medal beating Beatrice, in the 200m freestyle she ended up with a bronze medal behind both Teresa and Beatrice, she was also part of the Ukrainian 4x50m medley squad that finished fourth. At the 2008 Summer Paralympics she broke the World record in the 50m butterfly only to see both China's Fuying Jiang and Russia's Anastasia Diodorova swim quicker in the final leaving her with the bronze medal, she also ended up with the bronze medal in the 50m and 200m freestyle, Olena also finished fourth in the 100m freestyle.