Paralympic National Champion Victoria Beelner Thriving at Emmanuel
This is the continuation of a series of Body, Mind & Soul stories that highlights member student-athletes, coaches and administrators of Conference Carolinas.
FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. – Aaron Beelner is a veteran motion picture actor of some repute.
He was the lead in the 2013 film,
The Little Tin Man, in which he played a struggling actor who sets out to be cast as the Tin Man in Martin Scorsese’s remake of
The Wizard of Oz.
He also appeared in the 2020 movie,
Boss Level, which starred Mel Gibson and Naomi Watts, and the 2021 television series,
Loki, featuring Owen Wilson. Currently, he is involved in a new project headed by Tyler Perry.
Yet, Beelner may not even be the biggest star in his own family. That title may belong to his 20-year-old daughter, Victoria (Vica), a freshman at Emmanuel College who holds two American records in the International Swimming Paralympics.
Like both her parents, Vica (vik-UH) is of small stature, measuring only 3-foot, 9-inches tall. But there is nothing small about the Lions’ aqua phenom, both in terms of personality and accomplishments.
“Vica is very focused and goal-oriented,” says her coach, Allen Gilchrest. “She works very hard, sometimes even too hard. I have to tell her to take her foot off the pedal every once in a while. But she has only one speed.”
Beelner, who has participated in the 2016 National Paralympic Trials and 2017 World Trials, is a two-time S5 American record holder in the 400 Individual Medley and 200 Fly. She also was crowned U.S. National Champion in the 200 IM in 2018 and 50 Fly, both in the S5 division (4-9 height or shorter).
“I describe her as a
firecracker,” says Gilchrest with a chuckle. “She’s always running around the (swim) deck, encouraging others and always with a smile on her face. She’s just so positive with a bubbly personality. But like any other college student, she’ll have her hard days. But I think that’s a good, normal thing.”
There was nothing normal about Vica’s first years on earth. In fact, it’s a wonder she’s attending college and setting records in America.
She was born in Ivanovo, Russia, five hours northeast of Moscow, to parents who chose not to keep an infant of small stature. Consequently, Vica spent her first four years in an orphanage. A heartless local law requires all orphans to be released in public if they are not adopted by their fourth birthday.
“When you turn four years old, you’re let go on the street,” said Beelner. “If that had happened to me, I would have died soon from hunger.”
Vica’s mother, Crystal Perry, is an attorney managing a grant from the Social Security Administration at the National Disability Rights Network. She leads a team providing technical assistance to 57 protection and advocacy systems nationwide. Their program monitors representative payees' financial management of the most vulnerable Americans’ funds.
Perry and Aaron Beelner adopted her from the Russian Federation in the nick of time. They brought her to live in the Atlanta area in 2005 and a year later moved to Decatur, Georgia when her sister, Sienna (Vica's biggest fan), was born.
“I was so lucky that my parents had the wherewithal to adopt me,” Vica adds. “They were part of a network of other little people, almost a family. You know everybody.”
Her father knew some of the actors on the reality-documentary TV series,
7 Little Johnstons, on The Learning Channel who knew of a Russian child up for adoption. They helped him file adoption papers and gain entrance into the United States for little Vica.
With no early education or many social skills when she arrived, Beelner was considered a child with learning disabilities.
“I was really behind in my language skills when I was adopted,” she recalled. “I could barely say my R’s and W’s and really had to work on my speech to catch up with the other kids.”
Vica also faced the inherent challenges of being undersized – challenges she still grapples with today.
“Being a dwarf, it just takes longer to do things,” she points out. “One example is in a grocery store. How are you going to reach something on the top shelf? You have to swallow your pride and ask people to help you.”
She still remembers the immediate reminders she confronted during her first years at a public school in Decatur.
“When I was younger and first went to school, I noticed the water fountains were taller than me. I needed a stool. Now when I drive a car, I need a special pedal for the gas and brakes. That’s the biggest thing.”
And as one might imagine, kids can be cruel when you look different than your classmates.
“When I go out in public, people are going to take pictures, call you names,” Vica says, with a hint of sorrow. “One thing I’ve learned, people will always ask questions on how I can do certain things. I tell them, ‘just watch.’”
Early on in her childhood, Beelner’s parents did not sugarcoat the realistic message to their daughter.
“They told me, ‘This is how life is going to be. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be harder for you.”
Then, with no hesitation, Vica adds with a wink: “But I’m pretty good at hide and seek. I’m a really good
hider.”
Swimming soon became Vica’s passion, her escape from every-day life. At age eight, she joined the Dynamo Swim Club outside of Atlanta and continued to excel into her teenage years.
With Perry's experience and the help of her colleagues, Vica has gone on to have access to the US Paralympics, equal participation in her community club in Decatur, Georgia and the accommodations needed to graduate from high school with a diploma that eventually landed her at Emmanuel.
Beyond her excellent swim times, Vica will also remember something that happened outside the pool at the 2017 World Paralympics Series in Indianapolis.
“There were seven or eight of us crossing the street when a car came and the people inside said some really ugly things to us,” she said. “Our coach (Sam Mashburn) from Dynamo Swim Club was with us, and he stood up and (challenged) them. He stepped between us and the car and told the driver and others that it was not okay to say those things.”
It was a revelation for Vica.
“I thought to myself, ‘Is this normal?’ Wow. I was surprised that he would do that.’”
It only deepened her relationship with Mashburn, who is still considered one of her mentors.
A year after that incident in Indianapolis, Beelner dominated the 2018 Paralympic Nationals, winning the 200 IM, finishing second in the 50 Fly and placing third in the 50 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle and 50 Backstroke. In 2019, her Dynamo Swim Club captured the national title at the Paralympic Nationals and Vica claimed first in the 50 Fly, second in the 100 Breaststroke, third in the 50 Backstroke and fourth in the 100 Freestyle.
Beelner’s transition to Emmanuel and college swimming has been remarkably smooth, considering she attended Tapestry Public Charter School from sixth through 12th grades, whose student body consists of children with learning disabilities and autism. She is now the only person of small stature on her college campus.
“The first thing I told Vica when she came to campus was she would be treated like anybody on the team,” said Coach Gilchrest. “However, we did have to provide a couple of accommodations because of her small size.”
While other backstroke swimmers grab a hold of handles at the edge of the pool for their starting position, Vica is provided ropes attached to the handles she cannot reach.
“The school has done a great job, too, making sure she can open certain doors in buildings on campus,” Gilchrist added.
He also said Beelner must train differently, too.
“She does half the work that others do because we need to protect her shoulders and joints.”
Beyond her height and weight limitations, Vica also was strapped with another physical abnormality. Due to complications at birth, she eventually discovered that one of her arms is longer than the other one.
“Just something else to overcome,” she said with a smile.
Gilchrest, a devout Christian who previously served as a church pastor, actually prayed that someday he might coach a person of small stature at Emmanuel.
“I prayed for quite a few years, hoping that God might open the door,” he said. “So when Vica and her mother first visited our campus, I knew my prayers had been answered.”
For Gilchrest, the physically-challenged athletes provided inspiration to him and he wanted to share their incredible exploits with his Emmanuel swimmers.
“I would watch the Paralympics swimming and just be amazed at some of the athletes without arms or people who showed so much courage in competition,” he said. “I had talked to coaches at other schools like Queens who had fielded teams with Paralympic athletes and they all said it was a really great experience for everyone.”
The Lions’ coach makes a point to make a video presentation featuring many of these Paralympic swimmers a week prior to the Conference Carolinas Meet each February, in hopes of providing motivation and inspirations for his troops.
“We won’t have to this year,” he says. “We’ll just let Vica talk to the team instead.”
Maybe what impresses Gilchrest the most about Beelner as a swimmer is her willingness to enter in the most demanding and grueling events.
“Doing events like the 200 and 400 IM are some of the hardest events there are,” said Gilchrest. “Many of our swimmers would refuse to even try them. Vica sends a great message that everybody is important and everybody counts. She’s going to score points for the team at the conference meet, so we’re really excited about that.”
Gilchrest also said Beelner has been accepted well by her teammates and is just one of the members of Emmanuel’s swim team.
“I haven’t noticed anything difficult for her. She’s adjusted really well. Part of that is the swim culture, because from age five to 18, you're with kids of all abilities and heights and weights, male and female. She’s just another swimmer.”
Well, anyone who knows Vica knows she’s
not just another swimmer. In fact, she stood out in her very first meet.
“We had the Fall Frenzy Invite in November,” recalls the coach. “Vica dropped 42 seconds off her best 200 fly time. When she touched the wall, she gave a fist pump in the air and literally jumped out of the water. It was an awesome moment, just to see her that happy. She kind of made a spectacle of herself. It just told me that she’s really loving it here. I was so glad.”
While she has three years left at Emmanuel, Beelner is already planning for life after college.
“I’m a business management major and want to get a Master’s degree in construction management.”
One might think that’s a rather unusual career for the diminutive swimmer, but Vica begs to differ.
“My high school counselor told me about a summer camp at Auburn University that was for construction management just for women,” she shared. “You had to apply for a spot in the camp. I had the grades and recommendations, and wrote an essay, so I got in.”
She became hooked. Now, she’s all in.
“I want to get stuff done,” she says. “I want to change the world!”
Judging by her swimming exploits, irrepressible attitude and humble beginning in a Russian orphanage, Victoria Beelner may already have.
Bob Rose is a longtime sports public relations executive who has worked for the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, the NFL Cardinals, Cal, Stanford and other organizations. Bob works with Assistant Commissioner for External Relations Brian Hand and the entire Conference Carolinas office to help tell the stories of the tremendous student-athletes, coaches and administrators in Conference Carolinas.
