Andrey Viktorovich Smirnov (russian: Андре́й Ви́кторович Смирно́в; born 28 August 1973) is a Russian wheelchair curler playing as

skip Skip or Skips may refer to: Acronyms * SKIP (Skeletal muscle and kidney enriched inositol phosphatase), a human gene * Simple Key-Management for Internet Protocol * SKIP of New York (Sick Kids need Involved People), a non-profit agency aidi ...

for the Russian wheelchair curling team. He and his team won the silver medal at the 2014 Paralympic Games and gold medals at the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and 2015 World Championships.

Biography

As a child Smirnov did

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skatin ...

, but after an accident at the age of 12, when he fell into an elevator pit on a building site, he performed sports including

arm wrestling Arm wrestling (also spelled armwrestling) is a sport with two opponents who face each other with their bent elbows placed on a table and hands firmly gripped, who then attempt to force the opponent's hand down to the table top ("pin" them). The s ...

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. Besides his success in international tournaments Smirnov won bronze at the 2011-12 Russian National Championships. He is a member of the local sports club "Rodnik" in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

Awards

Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (russian: Медаль ордена «За заслуги перед Отечеством») was established on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree No.442. Its award criteria were modified on 6 ...

I class (17 March 2014) – ''for the huge contribution to the development of physical culture and sports, and for the high athletic performances at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi''Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 17 марта 2014 года № 144 «О награждении государственными наградами Российской Федерации»
* Merited Master of Sports of Russia

References

External links

*
Profile
at the International Paralympic Committee's website 1973 births Living people Russian male curlers Sportspeople from Yekaterinburg Russian wheelchair curlers Paralympic silver medalists for Russia Wheelchair curlers at the 2014 Winter Paralympics World wheelchair curling champions Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" I class Paralympic medalists in wheelchair curling Medalists at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Paralympic wheelchair curlers of Russia 21st-century Russian people {{Russia-Paralympic-medalist-stub