Anastasiia Vladislavovna Gontar (russian: Анастасия Владиславовна Гонтарь; born 11 May 2001) is a Russian
para swimmer. She won gold in the
2020 Summer Paralympics
The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...
.
Early life
Anastasiia Gontar was born in
Surgut
Surgut ( rus, Сургу́т, p=sʊrˈgut; Khanty: Сәрханӆ, ''Sərhanł'') is a city in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on the Ob River near its junction with the Irtysh River. It is one of the few cities in Russia to be lar ...
. Her mother, a Master of Sports in swimming, brought her to the pool after Anastasiia tried singing and gymnastics.
She started swimming at the age of five in the sports school Olimp.
[ When she was 10 years old her parents detected a curvature of her spine, and two years later she was diagnosed with an ]idiopathic
An idiopathic disease is any disease with an unknown cause or mechanism of apparent wikt:spontaneous, spontaneous origin. From Ancient Greek, Greek ἴδιος ''idios'' "one's own" and πάθος ''pathos'' "suffering", ''idiopathy'' means approxi ...
2nd grade scoliosis
Scoliosis is a condition in which a person's spine has a sideways curve. The curve is usually "S"- or "C"-shaped over three dimensions. In some, the degree of curve is stable, while in others, it increases over time. Mild scoliosis does not t ...
. After several months the disease progressed to a 4th, critical grade in which she developed a hump, which she hid wearing clothes two or three sizes larger than her size. The curved spine pressed her right lung and her kidney, which led to breathing difficulties; twenty minutes walking gave her severe back pain.physiotherapy
Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...
, electrophoresis
Electrophoresis, from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, "amber") and φόρησις (phórēsis, "the act of bearing"), is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric fie ...
, manual
Manual may refer to:
Instructions
* User guide
* Owner's manual
* Instruction manual (gaming)
* Online help
Other uses
* Manual (music), a keyboard, as for an organ
* Manual (band)
* Manual transmission
* Manual, a bicycle technique similar to ...
and laser therapy
Laser medicine consists in the use of lasers in medical diagnosis, treatments, or therapies, such as laser photodynamic therapy, photorejuvenation, and laser surgery.
Lasers
Lasers used in medicine include in principle any type of laser, but ...
, hydro massage Hydromassage is a massage technique which uses water pressure to help alleviate muscle and soft tissue injuries caused by lower back pain, arthritis, chronic and acute pain, neck injuries, TMJD, sports injuries, pregnancy discomforts, Crohn’s dis ...
, putting her in a corset
A corset is a support garment commonly worn to hold and train the torso into a desired shape, traditionally a smaller waist or larger bottom, for aesthetic or medical purposes (either for the duration of wearing it or with a more lasting effe ...
, and even consulted quacks and witch doctors in the hope to heal her. She finally underwent surgery in a children's hospital in Moscow. The doctors corrected her spine, mounting two plates and 18 screws. After years she still feels pain in her neck, head, rump and feet, but she is able to swim, among other activities. Apart from swimming, Gontar regularly attends classical massage, medical gymnastics, acupuncture
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientifi ...
and vacuum massage sessions.[
In 2016 she won six medals at the National Paralympics Championships in ]Bashkortostan
The Republic of Bashkortostan or Bashkortostan ( ba, Башҡортостан Республикаһы, Bashqortostan Respublikahy; russian: Республика Башкортостан, Respublika Bashkortostan),; russian: Респу́блик ...
, and a year later she entered the national Paralympic team.[
]
Personal life
Gontar studies in the medical institute of the Surgut State University, and plans to become a physician. Her first and current coach is Sergey Nikolayevich Gramatikopolo, who was the only one in the sports school who agreed to coach Gontar after surgery. About eighteen months after the surgery, she was sent to the Adaptive Sports Center in Surgut, where she was coached by adaptive sports specialist Natalia Afanevich.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gontar, Anastasiia
2001 births
Living people
Paralympic swimmers of Russia
Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
Paralympic gold medalists for the Russian Paralympic Committee athletes
Paralympic silver medalists for the Russian Paralympic Committee athletes
Russian female freestyle swimmers
S9-classified Paralympic swimmers
Sportspeople from Surgut
21st-century Russian women