SPORTSLINE
Soccer
- Prior to the playoff qualifier between the national squads of Germany
and Ukraine on November 10 and 14, Rudi Voeller, former German national
team striker, 1990 World Cup finalist and current national team coach,
was quoted by Reuters on November 4, about the pressure facing him before
the start of a home-at-home series between the two sides, saying: "The
pressure is different from the World Cup final. It's much bigger when you
alone carry the can. I'm thinking 24 hours a day about Ukraine." The
newswire also quoted the German national as saying " ... I'm watching
football videos the whole time to get ready. ... This is not about entertainment
for the players, this [is] about German football. Everything, absolutely
everything else, comes second."
- Ukrainian national team and Dynamo Kyiv club team coach Valeriy Lobanovsky
will most likely be removed from one of his positions according to Reuters
reports on October 9. "We're still fully trusting Valeriy Vasyliovych
(Lobanovsky), but he'll have to chose between the national team and his
club," Reuters quoted Hryhori Surkis, president of the Ukrainian Football
Federation, as saying. Mr. Surkis added that "It will be up to Lobanovsky
to make a decision where he wants to coach, but he will not be doing both,
that's for sure."
Boxing
- According to an article published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel
on October 21, the USA Boxing federation withdrew a team from a world championship
competition as well as "two other dual meets in Ukraine." According
to Michael Stone, executive director of USA Boxing, who was quoted by the
Sun Sentinel, "There have apparently been a number of racially motivated
assaults and incidents of harassment reported in Ukraine." USA Boxing
released a statement on September 24 saying that "The withdrawal from
the [sic] Ukraine event comes after the United States Olympic Committee's
International Relations Division advised USA Boxing of recent hostility
toward American citizens in that country."
Gymnastics
- Ukrainians Oleksander Beresh and Andrei Lipski finished in second and
fifth place, respectively, in the men's high bar event at the gymnastics
world championships on November 4 in Ghent, Belgium. Vlasios Maras of Greece
took first place, with Philippe Rizzo of Australia taking the bronze medal.
Hockey
- On November 12 the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted National Hockey League
great and Ukrainian Canadian Dale Hawerchuk into the hall of fame. According
to the Hockey Hall of Fame's website Hawerchuk, 38, was working on his
horse farm when he got the call telling him that he was chosen for the
Hall of Fame. "I got a message from somebody while I was working in
the barn shoveling you-know-what," said Hawerchuk. "I found myself
going down memory lane, thinking about all of my old teammates, coaches
and trainers I met throughout my career. It was a very exciting moment."
The following is an excerpt on Hawerchuk taken from the
NHL's website: "During an era dominated by Gretzky and Lemieux, Hawerchuk
recorded more than a point-per-game for 13 consecutive seasons. In a poll
of NHL general managers during the mid-1980s asking them to select the
player they would start a franchise with, Hawerchuk was voted third behind
only Gretzky and Paul Coffey. He was the 23rd player to reach the 500-goal
plateau in 1995-96 and the 31st player to record 1,000 points in 1990-91.
His final career totals included 518 goals, 891 assists and 1,409 points,
placing him 13th on the career NHL points list."
Weightlifting
- The New York Times reported on November 11 that Ihor Razorionov of
Ukraine took the bronze medal in the snatch event at the world weightlifting
championships in Antalya, Turkey, with a combined weight of 918.5 pounds
behind Turkey's Bunyamin Sudas, who lifted 924 pounds to take the silver
medal, and Vladimir Smortchkov of Russia who took the gold medal and a
new world record in the event with a combined lift of 928.4 pounds.
Figure skating
- Dmitry Dmitrenko of Ukraine came in fourth place in the men's program
at the Zagreb Golden Spin figure skating competition on November 10 in
Croatia behind first-place finisher Sergei Davydov of Belarus. Also placing
were Kevin Van der Perren of Belgium and Vakhtang Murvanidze of Georgia
who took second and third place, respectively.
- At the Nations Cup, held on November 10 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany,
Vitali Danilchenko of Ukraine came in ninth place overall in the men's
competition with Russian Yevgeny Plushchenko capturing first place followed
by American Tim Goebel and China's Li Chinangjiang.
- Ukraine's Galina Maniachenko came in sixth place behind 16-year-old
first-place finisher Sarah Hughes of the United States at the Skate Canada
figure skating competition in Saskatoon on November 3. Irina Slutskaya
took the silver medal for Russia, followed by third-place finisher Michelle
Kwan of the United States.
Basketball
- The Los Angeles Lakers recently acquired free agent Stanislav (Slava)
Medvedenko from Ukraine. Born in Budivelnyk-Horda, Medvedenko, the 6-10,
250-pound Ukrainian, played, according to The Sporting News, "39 minutes
(total) in his first NBA season and showed some scoring potential. But
it's his rebounding and defending the Lakers need and he has yet to demonstrate
those skills." Playing against the Memphis Grizzlies on November 9,
Medvedenko went eight for 12 from the floor scoring 17 points, second only
to Shaquille O'Neal's 20.
- Compiled by Andrew Nynka
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November
25, 2001, No. 47, Vol. LXIX
| Home Page |