Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) Weight 58 kg (128 lb) | Name Iryna Amshennikova | |
Born 19 May 1986 (age 37) ( 1986-05-19 ) Komsomolsk, Ukraine | ||
Iryna Vitaliïvna Amshennikova (Ukrainian: Ірина Віталіївна Амшеннікова, born 19 May 1986) is a Ukrainian backstroke swimmer. She had her best achievements in short course competitions, where she won bronze at the 2002 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in the 200 m backstroke and six medals, including one gold, at the European Short Course Swimming Championships. She also competed at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics in several events, but was eliminated in the preliminaries. During her career she set 29 national records in the 50–200 m backstroke and various relay events.
Biography
Amshennikova was born in Komsomolsk, Ukraine, to Olga Oleksandrovna (Ukrainian: Ольга Олександрівна), a competitive swimmer, and Vitali Alekseevich (Ukrainian: Віталій Олексійович), an amateur track and orienteering athlete. Her brother Eugene (Ukrainian: Женя) started with swimming but then became a competitive shooter. In 1997, her local pool was closed for reparations and Iryna moved to Kiev, where she studied and trained in a boarding school. In 2004, she relocated to Zaporizhia to train with the coach Anatoly Zhuravlev. She graduated from the National University of Physical Education and Sports of Ukraine.