The Games of the 33rd Summer Olympiad in Paris are over. Amidst the war in Ukraine, the full-blown phase of which started just a few days after the conclusion of the last Winter Olympics, the Ukrainian sports delegation has done remarkably well: 3 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze medals.
We know that these Olympics have been one of the most difficult for the Ukrainian team. 487 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed following russia’s invasion, and more than 500 sport facilities have been destroyed.
Ukrainian sportsmen and sportswomen did not simply compete against other athletes in Paris 2024: their priorities and motivation were about fighting aggression through sport; about drawing the world’s attention to Ukraine and showing their true Ukrainian spirit to the world. The psychological burden of training through air raid sirens and russian attacks, seeing their friends fighting and dying at the front lines, justifying the very essence of competing in such circumstances, made Ukrainian athletes realise that the Olympics for them was no longer just a personal matter.
It is worth applauding and praising all 140 Ukrainian athletes participating in these Games, as well as their coaches and staff. Below are some of the most important achievements of Team Ukraine:
- 140 athletes competed in these Games for Ukraine (the lowest number in the history of Ukraine’s Olympic participation) in 22 different sports (out of 32): 72 men and 68 women competed in Archery, Artistic swimming, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Breaking, Canoeing, Cycling, Diving, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Judo, Modern pentathlon, Rowing, Shooting, Sport climbing, Swimming, Table tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting, and Wrestling.
- 🥇Gold medallists included:
- Olga Kharlan (🥇🥈🥉🥉 from previous Games), Alina Komanchuk (🥈), Olena Kravatska (🥈), Yulia Bakastova in Women’s team sabre (Fencing)
- Yaroslava Mahuchikh (🥉) in Women’s high jump (Athletics)
- Oleksandr Khyzhniak (🥈) Men’s middleweight (Boxing)
- 🥈Silver medallists included:
- Serhiy Kulish (🥈) in Men’s 50m air rifle three positions (Shooting)
- Illia Kovtun in Men’s parallel bars (Gymnastics)
- Parviz Nasibov (🥈) in Men’s Greco-Roman 67kg (Wrestling)
- Liudmila Luzan (🥈🥉), Anastaliia Rybachok (🥈) in Women’s C-2 500m (Canoeing)
- Iryna Koliadenko (🥉) in Women’s freestyle 62kg (Wrestling)
- 🥉Bronze medallists included:
- Olga Kharlan (most decorated Olympian in Ukraine’s history) in Women’s sabre (Fencing)
- Iryna Herashchenko in Women’s high jump (Athletics)
- Mykhaylo Kokhan in Men’s hammer throw (Athletics)
- Zhan Beleniuk (🥇🥈) in Men’s Greco-Roman 87kg (Wrestling)
Among the achievers also were:
- 4th place – Men’s canoeing team in Men’s K-4 500m team (Canoeing) andIllia Kovtun in All-around and Floor (Artistic gymnastics)
- 5th place
- Maryna Aleksiiva, Vladyslava Aleksiiva in Duets (Artistic swimming)
- Kiril Boliukh, Oleksii Sereda in Men’s 10m synchronised platform (Diving)
- Oleh Verniaiev in Pommel horse (Artistic gymnastics)
- Men’s gymnastics team in Men teams competition (Artistic gymnastics)
- Women’s rowing team in Women’s quadruple sculls (Rowing)
- Pavlo Korostylov in Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol (Shooting)
- (Equal 5th place)
- Murazi Mchedlidze (Men’s 97kg), Oksana Livach (Women’s 50kg) in Wrestling
- Marta Kostyuk (Women’s singles), Lyudmila Kichenok & Nadiia Kichenok (Women’s doubles) – quarter-finalists in Tennis
- 6th place
- Oleh Doroshchuk in Men’s high jump (Athletics)
- Women’s team épée in Women teams competition (Fencing)
- Nazar Chepurnyi in Vault (Artistic gymnastics)
The next Summer Olympic Games will be held in Los Angeles in 2028. They will see the addition of five new sports: Baseball/Softball, Cricket, Flag Football, Lacrosse, and Squash, with Breaking being dropped and Boxing in question due to federation governance issues. There will also be some changes to Rowing and Modern pentathlon.
What is in store for Ukraine in Los Angeles-2028? We all hope that by then the war is truly over and Ukraine prevails. However, according to a famous Ukrainian former tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky things won’t be easy:
“We have a current decline in all kinds of sports. There is no continuity of sports generations, and everything overall is extremely difficult due to the fact that there is a war going on. For men it will be even more difficult than for ladies. Our sport, especially for men, will further decline due to a lack of personnel and coaches who have been mobilised…”
But whatever happens, we know that the flame of Ukrainian pride will never fade and that our sportspeople will rise again to the challenge of showing the world what it means to be Ukrainian.
Enormous thanks to all Ukrainian athletes for representing Ukraine and fighting for our common cause!
SLAVA UKRAINI!
Photo source: noc-ukr.org
#Paris2024 #Olympics #TeamUkraine
P. S. Below is a sample of artwork conducted by Ukrainian students Australia-wide and sent to Ukrainian athletes in Paris, as a show of solidarity and support. A total of 107 pieces were sent. This was a great initiative by Elvira Pyrczak (Ukrainian School Council Australia) and Linda Sydor-Petkovic (Ukrainian School Council Victoria).
