Denis Tarasov (born 31 July 1993) is a Paralympic swimmer from Russia competing mainly in category S8 events. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London he won five medals, including gold in the 50 metre freestyle S8 event. He has represented Russia at two IPC World Championships with a total of 12 medals. At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow he set four world records, two as part of Russian relay teams and two individual records, in the 50m and 100m freestyle S8 events.
Tarasov was born with a congenital cerebral palsy. His father is a reired boxer, and his brother competed in swimming. [1] [2] [3] He attends Saratov State University where he studies economics. [2]
Tarasov began swimming at the age of six, after his parents took him to the local pool to improve his general health. [2] He progressed to swimming competitively, joining the Youth Adaptive Sports School Rehabilitation and Physical Education Club in Saratov. Before 2012 Tarasov was officially categorized as a S8 (freestyle, butterfly and backstroke) and SB7 (breaststroke) swimmer. [2]
In 2012 Tasarov competed in his first major international competition when he was selected for the Russian team at the Summer Paralympics in London. Tarasov entered six events, winning medals in five of them. The highlight of his Games was his gold in the 50 m freestyle – S8, where in the heats he posted a time of 25.92, a world record. [4] In the final Tarasov beat his own world record when he finished in 25.82, beating Maurice Deelen of the Netherlands by almost half a second. [5] Along with his gold he left London with three silver medals, 100 m freestyle S8, 100 m backstroke S8, 4 × 100 m medley relay 34pts and a bronze in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34pts. [2]
The following year Tarasov was reselected to represent his country at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal. There he successfully defended his place as the world's 50m freestyle champion posting a further world record of 25.81 in the final. [6] He also added the 100m freestyle title and won three silvers in the 100m backstroke S8, 100m butterfly S8 and the 4x100 m medley relay (34pts) along with two bronze in the 4x50 m medley relay (20pts) and 4x100 m freestyle relay (34pts). [7]
At the 2014 IPC Swimming European Championships held in Eindhoven, Tarasov was entered for seven events, winning medals in each. In the 50m freestyle S8 he bettered his world record set in Montreal by almost half a second, recording a time of 25.32. [8] He won gold and set a further world record in the 100m freestyle S8 (56.27) and added a further two gold medals in the team relays. [2] [9] Tasarov added two silvers in the 100m butterfly and 400m freestyle and a bronze in the 100m backstroke. [2]
In 2015 Tasarov travelled to Glasgow to participate in his second IPC Swimming World Championships and defend his world titles in the 50m and 100m freestyle events. He entered six events, winning five gold medals and ended as the tournament's third most successful competitor behind Brazil's Daniel Dias (7 gold, 1 silver) and Belarusian Ihar Boki (6 gold, 1 silver). [10] In his favoured 50m freestyle S8, he took gold setting a Championship record of 25.34, just outside his own world best. In three of his other medals world records were broken. [11] He swam a time of 55.84 in the 100m freestyle S8 beating his own record set in Eindhoven, and he was part of two world record breaking team relay teams, the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and the 4 × 100 m medley relay. [12] [13] [14] He completed his medal haul with gold in the 100m butterfly S8. [2]
Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at five Paralympic Games, winning 29 medals. She has also won over 50 world championship medals.
Stephanie Slater, is a British Paralympic swimmer competing in S8 classification events. Slater began her sporting career as an able bodied athlete, but after suffering nerve damage to her left arm she switched to parasport. In 2013, she qualified for the Swimming World Championships in Montreal.
Ellie Victoria Cole, is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progressed more rapidly than instructors had predicted. She began competitive swimming in 2003 and first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, where she won a silver medal. Since then, she has won medals in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympic Games, the IPC Swimming World Championships, and various national championships. Following the 2012 London Paralympics, where she won four gold and two bronze medals, Cole underwent two shoulder reconstructions and made a successful return to swimming at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, winning five medals, including three golds. She subsequently represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. In claiming her seventeenth Paralympic medal in Tokyo, Cole became Australia's most decorated female Paralympian with six gold, five silver and six bronze medals from four Paralympic Games.
Brenden Hall, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics where he won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal. He competed at 2020 Summer Paralympics, his fourth games.
Matthew John Levy, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals.
Blake Cochrane, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, two gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics, a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and a silver and one bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Michael Anderson, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who has won gold, silver and bronze medals at the three Paralympics from 2008 to 2016.
Sean Russo is an Australian swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Stephanie Millward, is a British Paralympic swimmer.
Alexander "Alec" Robert Elliot is a Canadian competitive Paralympic swimmer.
The 2014 IPC Swimming European Championships was an international swimming competition held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, from the 4th to the 10th of August. Around 375 athletes from 35 different countries attended. The venue, the Pieter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium, also held the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships.
Jesse Aungles is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics
Alice Tai, is a British paralympic swimmer. Tai competes in the SB8, SM8 and S8. She has represented Great Britain at European and World Championships and at the Commonwealth and Paralympic Games, gold medals at all levels.
Thomas Young is a British Paralympic swimmer. He represented Britain at the 2012 London Paralympics and has won medals at both the long course and short course World Championships.
Timothy Hodge is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 and the 2020 Summer Paralympics, where he won two silver and one bronze medals.
The 2016 IPC Swimming European Championships was an international swimming competition. It was held in Funchal, Madeira running from 30 April to 7 May. Around 450 athletes from 50 different countries attended the competition. This was the last major swimming tournament for disabled athletes prior to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, and acted as a qualifying event for the Rio Games. To increase the possibility of qualification for top swimmers, the championships was made an Open tournament allowing competitors from countries outside Europe to compete.
McKenzie Coan is an American swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she swam the 400m Freestyle in the S8 category. Coan was one of four S8 category swimmers chosen to compete for Team USA at the games. She later had her breakout games in the 2016 Summer Paralympics, where she would go on to win 3 gold medals in the category S7 50, 100, and 400M Freestyle races, with an additional silver medal in the 34-point women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle relay. In the process of getting her gold medal in the 50M Freestyle she also set a new Paralympic Record.
Dimosthenis 'Dimos' Michalentzakis is a Greek Paralympic swimmer who competes in S9 and S8 classification events. He won Paralympic gold in the 100m butterfly S9 at 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro and Paralympic bronze in the 100m freestyle S8 at 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo. He was born in Alexandroupoli in 19/10/1998 and he has origin from Feres. He holds the world record in 200 meters freestyle in his category with a performance of 2:07:16. The Municipal Swimming Pool of Alexandroupoli has his name.