Team Ukraine at Nagano Games: biathlete earns first medal, a silver (02/15/98)

Team Ukraine at Nagano Games: biathlete earns first medal, a silver

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - Team Ukraine is now competing at this millenium's final Olympiad - the third since Kyiv regained its independence, the second with its own separate contingent. On February 6, the day of opening ceremonies, 56 of Ukraine's athletes and various coaches, trainers and officials filed into Minami Stadium in Nagano, Japan, led by Chernihiv's Andriy Deryzemlia, world champion in the biathlon, junior division, who carried the azure-and-yellow flag.

Stan Haba, president of the Canadian Friends of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOC-U), was invited to march in with the Ukrainian delegation dressed in the official blue overcoat, reflecting Kyiv's gratitude for the diaspora's ongoing financial, logistical and moral support of Ukraine's sporting efforts.

The next day, Ukraine was already dramatically in the medal hunt. In the women's 15-kilometer cross-country event, Iryna Taranenko Terelia surprised the Norwegians with a strong showing. When the 31-year-old veteran crossed the finish line after 48 minutes, 10.2 seconds of strain and toil, it put her into second place behind Russian pacesetter Larissa Lazutina. Russia's Olga Danilova then denied her compatriot the gold with an impressive sprint, dropping Ms. Terelia to the bronze position.

However, in the final moments, Norway's Anita Moen Guidon powered home and knocked the Ukrainian off the podium. Valentyna Shevchenko turned in a creditable performance in a strong field, placing 11th, while Maryna Pestriakova finished 23rd.

The first medal

On Sunday, Team Ukraine struck for its first medal. In the women's 15-kilometer biathlon, Olena Petrova, 26, of Sumy stormed up from 14th in the early stages to a silver medal finish, only 17.8 seconds behind Bulgarian Ekaterina Dafovska. Lillehammer medalist Valentyna Tserbe-Nesina was fighting the flu and finished 47th, over seven minutes behind the leaders. Tetiana Vodopianova came in 24th, Olena Zubrilova, 28th.

In the women's 5-kilometer cross country, Ms. Terelia was up with the leaders again, finishing 11th. Ms. Shevchenko was 19th, Ms. Pestriakova 40th, with Olena Haiasova right behind at 41st.

In the women's 10K, Ms. Terelia garnered her second fourth-place finish - just 2.9 seconds out of the bronze slot. Her teammates Ms. Shevchenko and Ms. Haiasova came in, respectively, at 20th and 30th.

Things look good for a team medal in the cross-country later in the week.

At least in cross-country skiing, Ukraine is still a matriarchy. In the men's 30-kilometer event, only one competitor from the Black Sea country cracked the top 30: Mykhailo Artiukhov was 29th; Gennadii Nikon was 38th, Oleksander Zarovnyi was 44th.

In the men's 20-kilometer biathlon, Viacheslav Derkach was 50th, Mykola Krupnyk, 63rd.

Far more promising was the outstanding outing of Mykola Skriabin. On February 10, he posted a 16th place after two runs of the slalom in the men's alpine combined. Given that prior to the Games, Sports Minister Valerii Borzov was grousing about the Carpathian facilities available to his nation's competitors, cracking the top 20 of a field with names like Kjetil Aamodt (Norway), Christian Maier (Austria) and Kristian Ghedina (Italy) is just short of miraculous. No doubt Mr. Skriabin's determination, grit and talent had much to do with it.

The men's 90K ski jump was won, not surprisingly, by a Flying Finn - Jani Soininen. Ukraine's Ivan Kozlov came in 31st; Volodymyr Hlyvka, 47th; Liubym Kohan, 56th.

Games on ice

Ski jumping is very good if you need to face hair-raising challenges to feel alive. Then again, try shooting down an ice-lined tube on a body-length skate. It's the luge! Ukraine's Natalia Yakushenko placed with the elite, in 11th place, in an event that measures changes in hundredths. Lilia Ludan's performance put her in 16th.

In a less hair-raising, but definitely grueling event, the men's 5,000-meter speed skate, Serhii Pryz finished 28th. In the women's 3,000-meters Svitlana Konstantinova was 30th.

In the men's 500-meters speed skating, Oleh Kostromitin's time put him in 35th, far behind the heroics of Japan's Little Giant, Hiroyasu Shimizu, who sent his home-crowd into Beethoven-like flights of joy as he set a new Olympic record of 35.59 seconds.

Figure skating

The figure skating competitions began on February 9 with the pairs event and, as CBC-TV announcer Paul Martini (a former world champion with Barbara Underhill) commented, "inconsistency was the hallmark." Missed jumps were rife, as were falls, two-footed landings, skaters wildly out of sync - even the gold medalists garnered opprobrium from the critics. New York Times's Jere Longman wrote: "[Russians Artur] Dmitriev and his partner, Oksana Kazakova - did an atrocious death spiral that left Kazakova wobbling like a top and unable to lower her head near the ice."

In the most bizarre incident, European Champion and pre-Olympic favorite Anton Sikharulidze tripped up and pulled partner Yelena Berezhnaya down on top of him as they moved into their final pose. They ended up in a heap as the audience gasped. The pair then got up, brushed off some ice shavings and collected the bronze medal.

Ukrainians Yevhenia Filonenko and Ihor Marchenko took advantage of the silliness and disarray at the top. Thirteenth after the short program, they finished with an 11th place performance. This we know from newspaper listings only, because it seems that the U.S. and Canadian TV networks did not consider them worthy of attention.

Ukraine's standings at Nagano Games

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