Sergey Punko (also spelled Sergei, born 10 January 1981 in

Navapolatsk Novopolotsk or Navapolatsk (, ; , ) is a city in Vitebsk Oblast, Belarus. Founded in 1958, it is located close to the city of Polotsk and the name literally means "New Polotsk". In 2008, its population was 107,458. As of 2025, it has a population ...

) is a formerly

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian, now Russian, Paralympic swimmer. He was born with a progressive eye disease, but had normal sight as a child. He started swimming at age 10, and competed nationally and internationally in able-bodied competition until he was 21. By that time, he had less than 5% vision. Classified S12, he began swimming in disability meets in 2002. He quickly broke long-standing world records, and was named World Disabled Swimmer of the Year in 2003. Up to the 2012 Paralympic Games he has won four gold, six silver and three bronze medals. At the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

, he won a gold and silver medals for Russia. In February 2013, Punko held S12

long course An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Champion ...

world records in 200, 400 and 800 metre freestyle and 200 metre butterfly events.IPC Swimming World Records - Long Course
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* Paralympic swimmers for Russia Paralympic gold medalists for Russia Paralympic gold medalists for Belarus Paralympic silver medalists for Belarus Paralympic silver medalists for Russia Paralympic bronze medalists for Belarus Paralympic bronze medalists for Russia Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Novopolotsk World record holders in paralympic swimming Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics S12-classified para swimmers Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Paralympic medalists in swimming {{Russia-Paralympic-medalist-stub Belarus State Economic University alumni