SPORTSLINE

Gymnastics

• Ukrainian National Team member Alina Kozych beat out a very strong field to win the all-around title at the European Youth Olympic Days in Murcia, Spain. The 13-year-old Kyiv resident, who plans to compete in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, trains with Serhij Butsul at Children's Sports School No. 20.

Track and field

• The Ukrainian track and field team won four medals at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm at Olympic Stadium, an arena built for the 1912 Summer Games.

Andrei Sokolovski earned a bronze medal in the men's high jump competition, clearing a height of 7 feet, 5 inches. Sweden's Steffan Strand, competing before his home crowd, took gold with a jump of 7-6. The second-place finisher was Mark Boswell of Canada, who tied Sokolovski's 7-5, but had fewer misses than the Ukrainian.

Zhanna Pintusevich-Block finished second behind LaTasha Jenkins of the United States in the women's 200-meters. The Ukrainian sprinter finished in 23.14 seconds, with Jenkins recording a 22.86. Merlene Frazer of Jamaica came in third at 23.43 seconds.

Tatiana Tereschuk-Antipova won a silver medal in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.29 seconds. Tereschuk-Antipova trailed Lonela Tirlea of Romania, who was clocked at 54.65 seconds.

Inga Babakova won gold in the women's high jump after clearing 6 feet, five inches. Babakova out-jumped second- and third-place finishers Kajsa Bergqvist of Sweden and Hestrie Cloete of South Africa.

• Viktoria Palamar took second place in the women's high jump at the Herculis meet in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on July 20, clearing 6 feet, 5 1/2 inches. Bergqvist cleared a height of 6-6 1/4 to win first place, and Cloete took third with a height of 6-5 1/2, out-leaping fourth-place Babakova, who cleared 6-4 3/4.

Tatiana Tereschuk-Antipova won bronze in the womens' 400-meter hurdles, finishing behind Debbie-Ann Parris of Jamaica and Daimi Pernia of Cuba.

Oleksii Lukashevych placed third in the men's long jump, leaping 26-4 1/4, just shy of second-place James Beckford's mark of 26-5. First-place winner Danilo Burkenya of Russia barely edged out the Jamaican Beckford with a jump of 26-5 3/4.

• Ukraine took home three medals at the eighth IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Edmonton, including a gold from Zhanna Pintusevich-Block's stunning .01 second victory over defending champion Marion Jones of the United States in the 100-meters (see The Weekly, August 12).

Inga Babakova, the defending world champion, placed second in the women's high jump on August 12. Hestrie Cloete of South Africa won the event on a countback, with both jumpers ultimately clearing 2 meters.

Vita Pavlysh took bronze in the women's shot put on August 5, with a mark of 19.41 meters. She finished behind Yanina Korolchik of Belarus, 20.61 meters, and Nadine Kleinert-Schmitt of Germany.

Andrii Skvaruk placed fifth in the men's hammer throw on the same day, with a distance of 79.93 meters. Szymon Ziolkowski of Poland won the event with a mark of 83.38 meters.

In the men's shot put on August 4, Yurii Bilonoh took sixth place with 20.83 meters, in a competition won by the United States' John Godina, 21.87 meters.

Oleksii Lukashevych placed sixth in the men's long jump on August 11 with a jump of 8.10 meters. Ivan Pedroso of Cuba won gold with a mark of 8.40 meters.

Olena Hovorova placed 10th in the women's triple jump on August 10 with a jump of 13.85 meters. Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia won the event with a distance of 15.25 meters.

Swimming and diving

• Roman Volodkov and Anton Zakharov of Ukraine took third in the men's synchronized platform diving at the swimming and diving World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, on July 26. The Ukrainians earned a score of 336.06, just behind Eduardo Rueda and Fernando Platas of Mexico, whose 336.63 points earned them second place. Tian Liang and Hu Jia of China won first place with a score of 361.41.

Maggie Bowen of the United States upset Yana Klochkova in the women's 200-meter individual medley on July 28 in Fukuoka. Klochkova, the current Olympic champion in the event, finished in 2:12.30, while Bowen won with a time of 2:11.93. Qi Hui of China finished in 2:12.46, winning a bronze medal.

Klochkova came back, however, with a runaway victory in the 400-meter individual medley, beating second-place Bowen by more than two seconds. The 18-year-old Ukrainian gained the lead in the backstroke leg and kept it for the remainder of the race, finishing in time of 4:36.98. Bowen finished in 4:39.06, while bronze medalist Beatrice Caslaru of Romania finished in 4:39.33.

Klochkova won her second gold medal of the championships on July 30 in the 400-meter freestyle in 4:07.30. She was trailed by Claudia Poll of Costa Rica, who finished in 4:09.15. Hannah Stockbauer of Germany placed third, finishing in 4:09.36.

Oleh Lysohor of Ukraine won the talent-laden men's 50-meter breaststroke in 27.52 seconds, beating out Roman Sloudnov of Russia, who was a close second at 27.60. Domenico Fioravanti of Italy won a bronze medal, finishing in 27.72.

• Ukrainian swimmer Ihor Snitko won gold in the 400-meter freestyle at the World University Games in Beijing, China, on August 26. He edged out American Kevin Clements by .01 seconds, with a winning time of 3:51.94.

Sailing

• Atlanta '96 gold medalists Yevhen Braslavets and Ihor Matvienko are the new European champions after winning the Bord Gais 470 European Sailing Championship at Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, on July 19. The Ukrainians snatched the gold medal from the leading Israeli boat during the last day of competition, a calm day in which the Ukrainian team's patience and consistency paid off. The Israelis had built a sizable lead during high winds in the first few days of competition.

Rowing

• Germany made waves on Sunday, July 15, by winning the rowing World Cup for the fifth straight year in Munich. Germany finished with 172 points, followed by Great Britain second at 142 points and Belarus third at 78. A Ukrainian crew took first place in the men's quadruple scull, but, with no other boats earning medals in the 15 regattas, Ukraine failed to place in the top 10 in overall scoring.
  
  
• No Ukrainian crews medaled at the 2001 Rowing World Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland, on August 18-26, despite a few strong showings. The Ukrainian men's heavyweight quadruple scull finished fourth, with a time of 5:44.98, despite leading at the 1,000-meter mark, with Germany capturing the gold. A Ukrainian crew finished sixth in the women's heavyweight quadruple sculls final, finishing the course in 6:30.78, well behind Germany's gold medal pace. The only other Ukrainian crew to qualify for the grand finals was the open men's coxed pair, which finished sixth overall.

Soccer

• CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Serhii Perkhun, a Ukrainian national, died on Tuesday, August 28, from head trauma. He had been in a coma since August 18, when his head collided with that of an opposing striker in a game against Anji Makhachkala.

Climbing

• Three Ukrainian athletes from Kharkiv swept the women's speed climb event at the 2001 Summer X Games in Philadelphia on August 19, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Elena Repko won gold, setting a time of 15.904 seconds for the 60-foot wall. She was followed by Olha Zakharova, who won silver, and Olena Ostapenko, who took bronze.

In the men's speed climb, Maksym Stenkovoi of Nikopol took gold, with a winning time of 10.43 seconds. Vladimir Zakharov of Kharkiv took second.

- Compiled by Andrew Olesnycky and Peter Steciuk.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 2, 2001, No. 35, Vol. LXIX

| Home Page |