Irina’s skates

Irina’s skates

Irina grew up in The Soviet Union; she was a speed skater. Not just any speed skater – Irina was a champion for the USSR and participated in the Junior World Speed Skating Championship in Seoul, Korea. Irina skated for ten years, from the ages of 11-21. It was the privileged life of a Russian athlete, and one that offered income and travel for precious few during the Soviet regime. By the time Irina was fourteen, she was making money; when she was fifteen she left the country for the first time, and traveled to Northern Italy to skate. She was based near Milano, and the experience left her breathless and excited for adventure. Irina says that she “loved it so much,” that in that moment she knew she would eventually leave Russia, where “we didn’t really live, we merely existed.” Sadly, when Irina was nineteen, she suffered a very serious injury to her leg and muscles, and although she tried, she could no longer skate to her top-level performance and eventually quit because “I can’t be bad at something.”

Had that not happened, Irina feels certain that she would have continued skating professionally, and who knows where her life would have led? But it did happen and the course of her life led her to different adventures and an eventual move to The United States, making her the survivor that she is today. But she remained focused and fearless and like any athlete, kept her eyes on her goals – no matter what.

More to come from Irina …