Elena Filatova

Elena Filatova

Elena Vladimirovna Filatova (Russian: Елена Филатова, Ukrainian: Олена Володимирівна Філатова; born 1974 in Ukraine, Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian motorcyclist and photographer who uses the online nickname "KiddOfSpeed". Her website, containing a photo-essay of her purported solo motorcycle rides through Chernobyl's zone of alienation, gained her internet fame. Her website gained popularity due to its mention on Slashdot and other online news sources. A guide who brings disaster tourists to the region has claimed that Filatova's account of adventurous lone travel is fictional —and that she simply wore biker clothing and posed for pictures while in a group tour. Filatova has also made photo-documentary websites of Kiev-area history about the Orange Revolution and about the city's historic "Serpent's Wall" defensive earthworks and their role in the fighting there during World War II.