Irina Davydova – European champion in 400 Metres

Hurdles

Serova Daria7 «Б»

School №1Alexandrov

Vladimir region

Irina Davydova was born on the 27th of May 1988 in Alexandrov (Vladimir region).

In 2005 she finished our school №1.

She started running in her hometown, Alexandrov, under the guidance of coach Aleksander Sychev when she was 12.

“I once decided to join my friend at her training sessions. As most of the kids I started from the school version of combined events: running sprint, jumping and throwing a light implement and later I found my specialty in 400m and 400m hurdles”, Irina said. After school Irina entered the Alexandrov branch of the Modern Academy of Humanities to study law, but she decided to choose part-time tuition to keep training and competing.

In 2009 she was the first at the Russian Indoor U23 Championships (Moscow) and at the Russian U23 Championships (Kazan)

In 2011 she won the bronze at the National Championships

Then she won the silver at the World Universiade, in China

And in 2012 she was the first at the European Championship (Helsinki)

Irina took part at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She wasn’t the first but everybody in Alexandrov supported her. “My point is that you should never give up or spend time being sorry for yourself. You should take every result gratefully, because every result gives you a chance to fix your mistakes and to get better,” Davydova explained.

In September 2012 she visited our school to meet the pupils who study here and the teachers who taught her some years ago. She told us a lot about the Olympics and her career. All of us were very glad to meet Irina and we can say that she has always been a perfect example of confidence, optimism and grit.

We love Ira and admire her!

Pictorial and reading matter Local newspaper «Уездный город А»

http://www.alexnews.info/archives/7481http://www.alexnews.info/archives/9186 http://www.alexnews.info/archives/9948http://www.alexnews.info/archives/10248

RusAthletics http://www.rusathletics.com/sbo/athletes.2380.htm

Photo http://www.sportphoto.ru/persons.php?person=353&cat=1&page=5

And from personal archives of Irina Davydova and Elena Sibirina