10 days into Olympic competition, Ukraine's team boasts 18 medals
by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau
KYIV - Ukraine continued its surprising performance at the Athens Olympics in the second week of this 16-day affair, capturing an additional three gold medals, while gathering more silver and bronze as well.
Unfortunately, one of those third-place finishes was negated after a member of the Ukrainian women's four-person sculling team, which took bronze on August 22, was found to have a banned substance in her system after taking a medication prescribed by the team physician.
Due to the positive result in a test given to one of the scullers, Olena Olefirenko, the team's bronze medals will be revoked, announced an International Olympic Committee spokesperson on August 26. Australia, which placed fourth in the event, will now take the third medal spot, according to Interfax-Ukraine.
While a setback, the disqualification did not tarnish what has been an unexpectedly successful medals-harvesting affair for Ukraine's National Olympic Team.
After taking five gold medals, a silver and a bronze in the first five days of Olympic competition in Athens - led by swimmer Yana Klochkova's two gold medals - the Ukrainians have followed with three more gold, three more silver and five additional bronze for a 10-day total of 18 medals The team remained in the 10th spot in the gold medal count for most of the week, just ahead of perennial Olympic leaders Great Britain and South Korea, and 12th in the overall medal count.
Following a double gold for Ukraine on August 18, when Yurii Bilonoh and Natalia Skakun took first place in the shot put and 63 kg weightlifting, respectively, the country achieved more gold on August 20 when 26-year-old Yurii Nikitin took first place in the trampoline.
Gymnast Valerii Honcharov soon followed when he took the top spot in individual competition on the parallel bars. His win made him another in a long line of Ukrainian gymnasts to win the event, most recently Rustam Sharipov, who took gold in the event in Atlanta in 1996.
Mr. Honcharov's gold came only a couple of hours after Lviv resident Iryna Melnyk Merleni took the first-ever gold medal awarded in Olympic competition for women's freestyle wrestling. This was the sport's first appearance in the Olympic Games. To a large degree, Ms. Merleni's victory was no surprise because she is a three-time world champion in the sport.
What was much more unexpected was the silver medal that Olena Krasovska ran away with in the 100-meter hurdles, outdistancing everybody but gold medalist Joannie Hayes of the U.S.
In sailing, the Ukrainian women's trio of Ruslana Taran, Hanna Kalinina and Svitlana Matausheva also won silver in the yngling event, even though some experts had them slated for gold. Not to be outdone, the men's duet of Rodion Luka and Heorhii Leonchyk followed with their own silver in the 49er class on August 26.
Ukraine's bronze medalists of the last week included weightlifter Ihor Razorionov, who finally won a medal in the 105 kg category after unsuccessfully competing in both Sydney and Atlanta, as well as Tetiana Tereschuk-Antypova, who placed third on August 26 in the 400-meter hurdles.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 29, 2004, No. 35, Vol. LXXII
| Home Page |