On a bicycle blindfolded...

Fans in Vitebsk did not recognize Irina Fedotova from Slutsk on the streets, did not give her flowers or ask for autographs. Meanwhile, like Darya Domracheva, she is a three-time Games champion, albeit of the Paralympic Games.

The unusualness of the situation lies in the fact that a person with residual vision (distinguishing only light and darkness) became the strongest in... cycling. But there is one peculiarity: the steering wheel of the tandem vehicle is controlled by a sighted athlete.

Serious health problems for the future Honored Master of Sports, multiple world and European champion began in childhood. The family lived in a village, and the mother raised five children alone. Irina had to finish a boarding school in Molodechno for visually impaired children.

She came to sports, as often happens, by chance, because before her illness, she dreamed of working as a teacher in the village. As a result, after her studies, she got a job at the specialized enterprise "Yampol-Slutsk". Here, at the age of 19, she became interested in swimming, and then learned about cycling tandems. This technology is still quite exotic today, let alone the late 1980s, when an unusual bicycle was made from an ordinary "Tourist".

After meticulous training, success was not long in coming. At the Sydney Paralympics, paired with Alexander Danilik, they took two

"golds": on the track and in road mass start races. And in 2008 in Beijing, together with Elena Drozdova, they ascended to the top step of the podium, winning the final race. Irina also has Paralympic medals of lesser value in her collection. Her athletic longevity can only be envied, as her last Paralympic starts were in 2012 at the age of 44 (!).

However, our heroine fundamentally does not

"instigator". She says with a smile that she is "married to a bicycle". At home in Slutsk, she has a special bicycle trainer for her favorite activity. She regularly runs in the park and recently learned to skate. She came to Vitebsk, where we met, for a goalball tournament (a competition for the visually impaired indoors). Irina believes that one should never stop developing, complaining about their disability throughout life. One must work on oneself every day. And she herself is the best example of overcoming the barrier that has arisen in her life path.

Ales Byньkov, "Vitebskiye vesti"