Turning the pages back...

February 6, 1998

Four years ago, Ukraine fielded its third Winter Olympic team since independence - the second with its own independent team (as Ukraine's team had been forced by circumstance to compete in 1992 under the aegis of the Unified Team).

On February 6, 1998, 56 of Ukraine's athletes and coaches, trainers and officials filed into Minami Stadium in Nagano, Japan, led by Andriy Deryzemlia, world champion in the biathlon, junior division, who carried the Ukrainian flag during the opening ceremonies.

Ukraine's athletes competed in 10 of the 14 Olympic winter events in Nagano. The head of the delegation, the president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, Valerii Borzov, told The Weekly in 1998 that the team would be happy with a couple of medals.

"Ukraine's potential and traditions in the Summer and Winter Olympics are different. The winter climate in Ukraine is such that it does not allow athletes to realize their full potential in those types of sports," said Mr. Borzov. A former Summer Olympics multiple gold medalist, he said Ukraine nonetheless had medal potential in several events, including figure skating, free-style acrobatic skiing, the luge and Nordic combination (biathlon), but he refrained from naming individual potential medalists.

"Every athlete who goes to the Olympics believes he or she can win the gold. It is not for me to somehow discourage that hope. In the end it is the individual's determination that matters," said Mr. Borzov.

Ukraine's first medal in Nagano came on February 8 courtesy of Olena Petrova, who took silver in the 15-kilometer biathlon.

Sources: "Team Ukraine leaves for Winter Olympics in Nagano" by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, February 1, 1998, Vol. LXVI, No. 5; "Team Ukraine at Nagano Games: biathlete earns first medal, a silver" by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj, The Ukrainian Weekly, February 15, 1998, Vol. LXVI, No. 7.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 3, 2002, No. 5, Vol. LXX

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