Ukrainian contender eliminated from 'American Idol' competition

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Anthony Fedorov, the 20-year-old Ukrainian who had been competing on the hit television show "American Idol," was eliminated from the competition on May 11.

Mr. Fedorov, who underwent a series of surgeries when he was four months old, was one of the last four contestants vying for the title of this year's "American Idol" and was ousted with only two weeks left in the show.

According to the Associated Press, Mr. Fedorov was diagnosed with a growth in his throat when he was a toddler. Doctors in Moscow performed a series of surgeries, one of which left him in a coma and required an emergency tracheotomy. Doctors said Mr. Fedorov would never be able to talk again.

"It's just amazing," Mr. Fedorov's girlfriend, Iryna Gleyzer, told the AP. "He walked around with a tube for a couple years of his life." And though he's overcome that hurdle, Mr. Fedorov still carries a scar from the surgical procedure.

In 1994 Mr. Fedorov, older brother Denis and their parents, Vladimir and Natalia, moved to the United States from Ukraine. Mr. Fedorov says he was named Anatoliy after his grandfather, but now goes by the name Anthony because it's easier to pronounce, the AP reported.

The Fedorov family lives in Trevose, Pa.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 22, 2005, No. 21, Vol. LXXIII

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