IRENA AVBELJ (Slovenia) began jumping in 1986 and became a member of the former Yugoslavian National Parachuting Team in 1988. After Slovenian independency in 1991, she became a member of the Slovenian National Team. She joined the Slovenian Army in 1992 and became commander of the Parachute Training Unit until 2011 when she retired. In 2006, she received the Blovdek Award, the most prestigious Slovenian sports award. Irena has 11,093 jumps and has competed all over the world in various world championships— European Championships, Paraski Championships and CISM Championships. She has placed first overall, first in style or first in accuracy in over 20 championships.