Athletes have not taken rest yet after the triumphal performances in London, but are starting preparations for the next Games. For the sake of joining the national team, they will have to go through four years of persistent training and compete at international competitions. Only the strongest will be selected. Two-time Paralympic swimming champion Olesya Vladykina believes that despite her having won gold, silver and bronze medals, she will have to compete with young but potentially strong swimmers if she wants to join the national team once again. There will be no concessions, she says.

“If I make this mad choice, it will be my third Paralympics. I will take part only in basic events. I would like to go to Rio de Janeiro which is a very beautiful city. I have already been there. The selection of athletes has become tougher. The key task of the experienced and the young sportsmen is to join the national team. We are competing for a place on the team at the same level,” Olesya Vladykina said.

Sportsmen have requested not to make concessions for them at the selection. This is real sport and the strongest must win. Russian athletes hope for pressing away Chinese sportsmen at the podium. Practically, every Russian athlete who won gold set a world record, says Sergei Punko who won a full set of medals in London in different swimming events.

“We will hardly be able to top the list in the quantity of medals but in quality we can. There is a need to do a lot of work and promote Paralympic sports in the regions. If we can do this we will win more medals,” Sergei Punko said.

Victory is not the main thing for Paralympic athletes. In every event, they showed the world that they have unlimited capabilities. In the past years, the attitude towards them has significantly improved. And this is the main victory. At present, advertisements are made with the participation of some of these athletes, says Olesya Vladykina who lost a hand in a car accident.

“Before the London Games, I was offered to be photographed for glamour magazines, a project which was not accessible for Paralympic sportsmen in the past. People receive us, understand us and are ready to see us, and we are respected and admired. This is great. Paralympic sportsmen have many things to teach people and make them think. I would like to see that people do not turn away from us,” Olesya Vladykina added.

People do not turn away from them, of course. At the London Games, practically all stadiums were full of fans. Thousands of people came to support athletes to the fan-zones. Sportsmen say that they have never seen such an attitude. Such an active support shocked the athletes in the beginning, but later, it helped them to win medals.