Mikhaila Rutherford is an American former paralympic swimmer. She won three gold medals and one silver at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

Early life

Rutherford was born in a small Russian village around 30 kilometers from Chernobyl, which was the site of a nuclear disaster in 1986. As a result of the disaster, Rutherford was born premature and missing limbs. Due to her disability, her parents put her up for adoption where she was taken in by an American woman at the age of four. She began swimming at the age of eight and competed in swimming competitions in high school.

Career

While attending Alameda High School, Rutherford was invited to compete with Team USA's National Swim Team. She qualified for the 2002 IPC World Championships where she set a new world mark in the S10 Women's 100 backstroke. Rutherford later beat her old world record for the Women's 100 metre backstroke S10 at the

, winning gold in the making. She finished the competition with three gold medals and one silver. After graduating from high school in 2006, Rutherford accepted a placement at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

with a major in biomedical engineering. In 2018, Rutherford was inducted into the Alameda High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutherford, Mikhaila Living people Russian adoptees Swimmers from California Sportspeople from Alameda, California Paralympic gold medalists for the United States Paralympic silver medalists for the United States Year of birth missing (living people) Paralympic medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Paralympic swimmers for the United States American female medley swimmers American female butterfly swimmers American female backstroke swimmers Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships 21st-century American women