Nina Tibilashvili

Member of Georgia’s wheelchair fencing team

World champion in group fencing (2021)

World champion (2017, 2018, 2020)

Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, silver medal (2021)

European championship, silver medal (2018)

World championship, silver medal (2019)

"Every time I stand under the Georgian flag to be awarded a medal, I tear up. Now I understand what patriotism means – I had never experienced this feeling so strongly before joining Parasport. It brings me happiness to be able to remind the whole world of the name of a small country with my achievements.

I became interested in parafencing completely by accident, when I was 19. Given my condition, I had never imagined that I would be an athlete – I’ve been wearing prosthetic leg since the age of 2. Besides, I was studying architecture at the Academy of Arts and I wanted to pursue this field, but everything is possible. Parafencing has enriched my life so much that I am already addicted to this sport.

People using prostheses and wheelchairs, as well as people with other health problems can compete in parafencing. In order for everyone to have an equal opportunity to fight, in parafencing athletes can compete only in wheelchairs that are fixed and they can only move their waist and hands. At first, I was scared of getting in a wheelchair, but I tried and realized that this new experience is not difficult at all.

In the beginning there were many defeats, which gave me a motivation to win. As a result, I’ve been awarded 36 medals throughout my career. I also hold the title of the best female fencer in the world.

Recently, when the Georgian wheelchair fencing team became the world champion and we brought home the medal, I saw tears in my father's eyes for the first time and realized that my parents are very proud of me. In general, my family, friends and those around me have always stood by me and never made me feel that anything was unattainable to me. However, I also know parents who try to hide their children with disabilities, which is not right. I too felt surprised looks in the streets, heard pitiful expressions. I was angry at first about it but then I realized that the only right way is to communicate with these people. We won’t show our strength to anyone by locking ourselves up at home but if we communicate more, we can provide more people with the right information about us to change their attitudes. As para-athletes, in addition to achieving success in the name of our country, we are also serving an importaant cause – we show people that we may not have the same capabilities as others, but we can achieve very good results that we can be proud of.“