A luxurious Subaru pulled up to the side of the road. A pretty young woman smiled from behind the wheel. I look at her, compare with the photo I saw once - of course, it is she, Elena Yurkovskaya, four-time champion of the Paralympic Games in Turin-2006 in cross-country skiing and biathlon. I hurry to the car - the place that Elena chose for our interview. At home, in Kryukovshchina, where she now lives with her sisters and her mother, it is impossible: the eldest Tatyana has a baby, and the moment of the show has not yet come. Her personal apartment in Vishnevoe is in a state of repair. And what difference does it make where to communicate? In addition, the Subaru, bought for the Paralympic prize money, is a spacious car. In her, Elena is a real queen. And once again to demonstrate what it is like to move on prostheses or in a wheelchair, who wants to?

- The most offensive, - the champion admits, - when a person in a wheelchair is perceived as a beggar. We are returning from the qualifying competitions. I was on prostheses, but while I was waiting for the car, I got into a stroller. And here I am sitting at the exit from the station, next to my branded bags. A guy walks over and throws a handful of change into my lap. I immediately brushed it off with both hands, and a lump rolled up to my throat. Now a car insures me against such cases.
If the guy who tried to give alms without five minutes of national pride would have known - the future Hero of Ukraine!

It all started with volleyball

What happened to Elena when she was 2.5 years old, she was not yet able to understand. Only the parents were horrified - what is the prospect in life for their baby without both legs? But it was necessary to choose - life or death from gangrene, which developed in the girl after secondary chickenpox. They amputated one leg up to the knee, the other above the knee. They made prostheses.

Elena did not complex about her dissimilarity from others. Climbed trees, roofs, stairs - when in prostheses, when not.

The first blow is at school. They teased the girl so that one day, after returning home, she flatly refused to go to school. It was in the 3rd grade. Mom did not insist, and the classes continued with the visiting teachers.

What did you dream about? About the career of a fashion designer. Mom worked in a sewing factory, sewed on an old typewriter at home. The girl, imitating her, spent days making outfits for dolls.

Mom herself violated her life plans. Once I came and told about my acquaintance with a sit volleyball coach. "Go and see, maybe you will like it?" - began to persuade her daughter. That in any. Then the coach himself came to persuade. But the decision was still scary.

“Adolescence began, and with it the suffering that I was not what a young attractive girl should be,” Elena recalls. - I communicated easily with my friends, even went to the disco in the park with them, but at the very thought of new acquaintances, I was gripped by a terrible fear. Then a friend suggested: "Do you want me to go with you?"

There were only men in the team. Lena sat down to try. The guys supported her both morally and in the game - they tried to take strong blows on themselves. In general, she liked it. Very. And finally, the first serious test of strength: the junior tournament in Holland.

- At the age of 14 I went abroad for the first time. After the competition we were taken on excursions, rode a motor ship. When they left, I cried bitterly, it seemed to me that such happiness in my life would never happen again, ”Lena recalls with a smile.

Skiing without touching the snow

- You are offered to try yourself in skiing, - the coach once said to a 16-year-old girl after classes.

What it is - to ski without legs - Elena had no idea. But, having already entered the taste of sports life, she agreed immediately. Everything new began to provoke her. Painful shyness disappeared somewhere, I wanted new acquaintances, sensations, impressions. At the very first training camp in Tisovets I took a camera. She clacked the Transcarpathian views avidly, until the coach Orest Stefanishin shouted: “Why did you come here? Either you ski seriously, or you don’t even have to start, ”and took the camera.

And Elena took up the "taming" of the bob (this is how the seat for the athlete is called in invasport, to which the skis are attached). But special admiration was caused by the real weapon, which was given out for training to future biathletes.

- The first pancake was lumpy, - says Elena. - At the stage of the World Cup in Sweden, I “blunted” - I didn't get to know the track well before the competition, and when the competition began, I was confused and instead of two lines, I went to the fourth. They took me off the track.

In honor of the head coach himself - mother

They say correctly: there are no victories without defeats. Two years later, Elena Yurkovskaya at the Paralympics in Salt Lake City-2002 nevertheless climbed the winner's step, but not one. Among her achievements are one silver and three bronzes. Before the Paralympics in Turin 2006, I was even more worried. Although she was already a more experienced skier and biathlete, she kept repeating: "Lord, help me win the gold medal." She really needed her. Lena promised to dedicate this award to her mother - Natalya Dmitrievna.

“The fact that I have never had thoughts of suicide, that I have never stopped dreaming, believing is my mother’s merit,” says Lena.

In Turin, the Ukrainian skier became a real sensation - four gold, one bronze and one silver medals. The organizing committee recognized Elena as the best sportswoman of the games and presented her with a special medal - 75 g of pure gold. And then the titles rained down on her - Hero of Ukraine, Hero of the Sports Year in the nomination "Strong in Spirit", Woman of the III Millennium-2006. Elena brought from Switzerland a special award from the International Olympic Committee - the "Sports Stars" statuette. In general, there is something to be proud of her coaches - Valery Kazakov and Nikolai Varchak.

Has ceased to be afraid of life

Elena didn’t get sick with “stardom” from such honor. Another acquisition is much more important for her: "I have ceased to be afraid of life."

- They didn't take care of me at home, but what it was like to pay the rent or go to the clinic myself, I didn't know. Lost in public. Making a purchase in a supermarket is still nothing, but ordering something from a seller is a guard! I get out of the car (Lyudmila Kuchma handed the keys to the first car - "Tavria" - to Elena after Salt Lake City at the airport. - Author), I limp, it seems to me that everyone is looking at me, hands are starting to tremble ...

Sport has changed me. I have ceased to be ashamed that I am on prostheses, to be afraid of people. Now I am privatizing the apartment that I was given after Salk Lake City, I decided to buy everything in it myself, to make the repair I want.

Sport showed me my self. It turns out that I am an extreme in spirit. I wanted to jump with a parachute. And she jumped.

After graduating from the physical education faculty at the Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky Pedagogical Institute (4th year) and a sports career (ahead, at least, the Paralympics in Vancouver), Elena is going to become a coach.

Very personal plans

Sergey Khizhnyak joined the skiers team in 2003. And they "saw" each other only two years later. For a long time they just talked, not rushing to confess.

- Sergei is reliable, and therefore I am with him. And he won me over by the fact that he looked after me very beautifully. Well, for example, we were in Evpatoria. He went, bought a very beautiful shell and gave it to me. Somewhere in an unusual place will invite you for a walk. Sergey is also without legs. At the age of 17, he was hit by a train. I respect those people who found the strength to forget who they were. It's easier for me, I don’t remember myself. Baby? Of course we do. But now I saw how my sister takes care of her baby - no, I'm not ready for such responsibility yet! After Vancouver, I'll definitely make up my mind.