Q:Valentin Olegovich Parinov (Russian: ; born 16 June 1959) is a retired Russian swimmer who won a silver medal in the 1500 m freestyle at the 1977 European Aquatics Championships behind Vladimir Salnikov. He also competed in the same event at the 1976 Summer Olympics but did not reach the finals.In 1973 aged 14 Parinov won two gold medals in the 400 m and 1500 m freestyle at Junior European Championships. Given a list of categories: company, educational institution, artist, athlete, office holder, mean of transportation, building, natural place, village, animal, plant, album, film or written work, what category does the paragraph belong to?
A:
Athlete