Ukraine sends 70 athletes to Winter Olympic Games
by Andrew Nynka
PARSIPPANY, N.J. - When Team Ukraine parades into the opening ceremonies of the 19th Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City on February 8, it will mark the country's third Winter appearance competing under its own national banner (in 1992 Ukraine's athletes competed under the guise of the Equipe Unifiée/Unified Team).
But this time things are a bit different. According to the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOC-U), the delegation will consist of 70 athletes - 14 more athletes than competed in Nagano, Japan, in 1998 and 33 more athletes than in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994.
With a strong showing by the delegation's odds-on medal favorite Olena Zubrylova in the biathlon event, Team Ukraine can begin its medals hunt early in the two-and-a-half week Olympic competition. Ms. Zubrylova, who currently is second in the World Cup Biathlon standings behind Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden, has looked especially strong as of late in the 15-kilometer event leading up to the Games.
Along with Ms. Zubrylova, fans should pay close attention to the biathlon relay squad of Olena Petrova, Nina Lemesh, Tetyiana Vodopianova and Ms. Zubrylova whose World Cup third place, as well as Ms. Zubrylova's personal bronze in the 15-kilometer course, in Pokljuka, Slovenia, on December 14, 2001, could be a strong indicator of the group's prospects for the 2002 Games.
At the 18th Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Ms. Petrova took second in the 15-kilometer race while the biathlon team took fifth in the 4 by 7.5-kilometer relay. Ms. Zubrylova also took gold medals in the 15-kilometer race, mass start and pursuit during the 1999 World Championships.
The group of 70, recently trimmed down from 87 due to economic concerns, will compete in 11 of the 15 Olympic winter sports with a first-time berth in ice hockey (see story on ice hockey, page 11). The team will compete with five National Hockey League players. Veteran Dmitri Khristich of the Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers' up-and-comer Ruslan Fedotenko, Toronto Maple Leafs' fourth-round draft pick Alexei Ponikarovsky, St. Louis Blues' Sergei Varlamov and Chicago Blackhawks prospect Dmitri Tolkunov all are expected to compete barring any last-minute changes.
The Ukrainian ice hockey squad will begin its quest for the medals round by competing against Belarus on February 9, Switzerland on February 11 and France on February 13. If the group can successfully navigate the qualifying round, Team Ukraine will need to face powerhouses Canada, Sweden, the United States and the Russian Federation - not to mention the gold-medal favorite, the Czech Republic - in order to place itself in medal contention.
Team Ukraine gained its Olympic ice hockey berth by placing third at the Olympic Qualification Tournament for the Salt Lake City Games in Oslo, Norway, on August 2, 2001, and followed up this performance with a top-10 finish at the 2001 World Championships in Germany.
Ukraine's hopes in freestyle aerials seem much more realistic but suffered a blow with the loss of Ukrainian-born Alla Tsuper who changed her citizenship to Belarusian midway through the 1998-1999 season. Ms. Tsuper, whose career best 2000-2001 World Cup season placed her second overall, was quoted on the official 2002 Salt Lake City website that she left the Ukrainian team because she didn't work well with the new Ukrainian head coach and wanted to continue working with her old coach in Belarus.
However, with a string of recent top-10 finishes, Tatiana Kozachenko could make things interesting in the women's freestyle aerials. The 21-year-old took 10th place on January 21 in Lake Placid, N.Y., eighth in Mont Tremblant, Quebec on January 13, and second-and-third place finishes at Canada's Fortress Mountain on December 16 and 14, 2001, respectively.
At the 18th Winter Games, Ms. Kozachenko barely missed the medal platform by taking fourth place, one ahead of then teammate Ms. Tsuper. While on the men's side, 23-year-old Stanislav Kravchuk took ninth place in Nagano along with seventh, fifth and third place finishes during the 2001-2002 World Cup season.
Though America's Michelle Kwan and Sarah Hughes, along with Russia's Irina Slutskaya and Maria Butyrskaya, look strong for medal contention in women's figure skating, Ukrainians Olena Liashenko and Halyna Maniachenko could prove very interesting to watch. The pressure will be off the Ukrainians but on the American and Russian skaters - and especially Kwan who has yet to win an Olympic gold medal.
Both Ms. Liashenko and Ms. Maniachenko competed in the 2002 European Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, taking ninth and fourth places, respectively. Ms. Maniachenko's fourth place was especially impressive considering that both Ms. Slutskaya and Ms. Butyrskaya competed in the event, not to mention that Ms. Liashenko is the odds-on favorite in the Ukrainian camp.
It may seem like a surprise, but Ukrainian bobsleders have competed in all of the last three Winter Games and will continue that tradition in Salt Lake City by fielding a four-man and two-man sled. Although they have yet to medal, or for that matter even come close (one cannot help but think of the Cinderella team of Jamaican bobsledders) in any European, World or Olympic races, the squad does have a ninth-place finish in the four-man at the 2001 European Cup in France. The team will also carry 27-year-old veteran Oleh Polyvach who took 23rd place in the two-man at the 1998 Nagano Games.
Although strongest in biathlon with potential in the women's freestyle aerials, women's figure skating and men's ice hockey, the Ukrainian squad will also field competitors in cross-country skiing, luge, alpine skiing, speed skating, ski jumping, figure skating and short track.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 3, 2002, No. 5, Vol. LXX
| Home Page |