Alena’s Bird’s Eye View
Alena Popchanka is born on July 28, 1979 in Gomel, Belarus. Her cup of tea is freestyle and butterfly swimming.
Alena started swimming when she was picked out at the age of nine to attend a special sports school in Belarus. Alena also tried dancing and gymnastics but soon she just started to concentrate on swimming.
Alena went to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta as part of the relay squad; she was blessed to make it to the semifinals in Sydney, Australia.
Swimming the Way to Fame
The big highlight was in 2003, when she won a gold medal in the 200m freestyle at the world championships in Barcelona, Spain, the 2003 World Aquatics Championships, and the 200m Freestyle again at the European SC Championships 2006.
Since November 2005, she has also already competed for France, her husband’s country, but Alena currently lives and trains in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Falling in Love and the Wedding Bells
Alena moved to France in 2002 because she felt she needed a change in training style; more variety. In France, she met Fred, her coach, but soon became her friend and partner, and Alena made the decision to become French herself.
Alena fell in love with husband Frederic Vergnoux, 31 years old, and has been Head Coach at CS Clichy 92 in Paris for the last two years. Clichy is France’stop club and has adopted a strategy of coaching swimmers from a variety of countries outside of France, including swimmers from South Africa, and Belarus, Alena’s hometown. Alena’s husband, Fred was appointed as the national coach for Belarus in 2002. Fred and Alena got married in that same year after three weeks of Fred’s stay and settled in Edinburgh, Scotland where they currently live.
Alena first competed for Belarus at the 2004 Olympics (reaching finals in freestyle and the butterfly) in Athens before going ahead with her decision to switch citizenship. |
