pautova, who is visually impaired, first took to athletics while she attended a specialised boarding school in armavir, russia. she began competing competitively whilst still a teenager, and she competed in both middle and long distance events. at the age of 17 she entered an international meet in quebec, canada and ran in a t13 5000m contest. there she posted an officially recognized time of 17:50.45, a new world record. due to the rarity of official t13 5000m races at major competitions, pautova's record, as of 2013, still stands. pautova then switched to middle-distance events, and at the age of 18 she was selected for her first paralympics, chosen to represent russia at the 2004 summer paralympics in athens. it was an extremely successful competition for pautova, winning the gold medal in the t12 1500m and a bronze medal in the t12 800m.