Today a very unique delegation arrived in Vancouver for the X Paralympic Games. With the support of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee and MegaFon, National Partner of the Sochi 2014 Games, Alina Mozhikova, a 15-year-old poetess from Krasnodar was given an opportunity to see the Paralympic Games.

Alina came to Vancouver by winning a contest of the newspaper, “Solnyshko” a Krasnodar publication whose authors are orphaned children and children with a disability who send their works, drawings, puzzles, crosswords, and original fairy tales to editors. The newspaper is distributed only by a free subscription. This year, “Solnyshko” celebrates its 18th birthday.

Alina suffers from a locomotor apparatus disability since early childhood. From her earliest years, she has been writing poems which have won in several city and regional contests. A collection of her poems, “Sunny Smile”, has recently been released.

Chief Editor and founder of the “Solnyshko” newspaper Nikolay Zamkovoy said:

“At the Paralympic Games in Vancouver, dreams come true not only for Russian athletes, who add medals to our team on a daily basis. They also come true for those people who, until recently, never even dreamed that they would cross the ocean to personally support our athletes at the greatest sports forum in the world among people with a disability.”

During their stay in Canada, the guests from Krasnodar will visit biathlon competitions in Whistler Paralympic Park as well as curling competitions. They will also be introduced with Sochi 2014 volunteers and members of the Russian Paralympic team. Like all guests of the 2010 Paralympic Winter games, they will of course be able to enjoy the accessible conditions of Vancouver and Whistler, which have been created by Canadian organizers for all guests of the Games.