August 5, 2021

Beleniuk wrestling for equality

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Zhan Beleniuk celebrates his gold medal win in men’s 87-kg Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

There is nothing new about Ukrainian sports stars transitioning into politics. Current Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, who entered the political arena in 2006 upon retiring from the ring, may be the most notable. Reigning Greco-Roman wrestling world champion Zhan Beleniuk, however, is blazing a new trail in his homeland. In July 2019 he became the first person of mixed race to be elected to Ukraine’s parliament. Unlike Klitschko, Beleniuk continues his sports career.

Beleniuk won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. He hopes to go one better in this year’s 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics before, in all probability, stepping away from the mat for good at age 30. He’s not quite 100 percent certain that he will retire because so many athletes retire and un-retire days/months or years after they initially announce their retirement.

Encountering racism at an early age
Beleniuk was born in 1991, the year Ukraine broke free from the Soviet Union and declared its independence. His father was a Rwandan pilot and his mother was a Ukrainian dressmaker. His father died fighting in Rwanda’s civil war, leaving him to be raised by his Ukrainian family in a one-room apartment in Kyiv. He encountered racist abuse as a child, which sometimes turned physical back in the 1990s, when Kyiv was a much more homogenous city than it is today. He claims the abuse did not bother him too much, although he said he was “too light for Africa, too dark for Ukraine” with his mixed heritage. Beleniuk admitted he faced discriminatory attitudes within his own family. In an interview with Newsweek several years ago, he remarked, “People always fear things that are new and unknown.” He recalled his grandmother being afraid of taking the tram with a black person.

At the age of 9, young Zhan took up the sport of Greco-Roman wrestling, in part because of his early experiences with racism. He had a notion of utilizing success in sports as a means of tackling prejudice. At 19, in 2010, he went the professional route, winning his first international medal (bronze) at the 2012 European Champion­ships in Belgrade, Serbia.

The bronze medal victory in 2012 got him on his way to the top. The next seven years saw Beleniuk pin down three European Championships, a gold and silver medal in the European Games, and two gold medals, a silver and a bronze medal at the World Championships.

As his success grew on the wrestling mat, so too did his displays of patriotism. He was often photographed wearing traditional embroidered Ukrainian shirts, and began to celebrate his victories with a traditional Ukrainian dance, the Hopak. In 2017 he joined the Ukrainian army as a junior lieutenant, and a year later was awarded an apartment in Kyiv by Ukrainian authorities in recognition of his sporting achievements.

Speaking out
Beleniuk has been graciously accepted into Ukrainian society, in part thanks to the overt pride he has shown in his homeland. Nonetheless, the soft-spoken wrestler became opinionated with his displeasure at the national team’s training facilities. His personal message was that more could and should be done to help Ukraine be more competitive, which would bring its citizens pleasure at a time when joy is very much needed. Whether suffering through many months of a pandemic, or living everyday life in today’s Ukraine, successful performances of athletes can brighten up daily realities. Wrestlers require little equipment for training, basically a mat. He recognized great potential in the wrestling field if the Ukrainian government constructed more modern training centers for these athletes.

Beleniuk’s public outcry did not go unnoticed by foreign wrestling superpowers, which quickly made offers to lure the proud Ukrainian into their programs. Unfortunately, they were all a waste of time for the man who considers himself 100 percent Ukrainian. He received serious offers from China, Azerbaijan and other nations where the government’s financial support is more generous for the sport of wrestling. Zhan’s reasoning was not because he is such a big Ukrainian patriot, but more that he belongs in Ukraine and with Ukraine. Anywhere else, he would run the risk of not being totally accepted. He recognizes and appreciates that all of his supporters are in Ukraine, and he chooses not to betray them. He believes, sooner or later, positive changes will happen.

A louder voice for change through politics
When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Beleniuk to join his political party, the two-time wrestling world champion immediately agreed. He reasoned that this opportunity would provide him a louder voice in the country, and a more direct platform from which to put a stop to racial prejudice, while also improving sports infrastructure. Beleniuk assumed the new president saw qualities in him which would assist in promoting the development of Ukrainian sports.

The wrestler recognized politics will not be as comfortable as training, but was most ready, willing and able for the challenge of entering a new arena. He relished the chance to influence the situation and set out to meet the challenge. His election into parliament demonstrated, at least to some degree, that Ukraine is a more modern country that is capable of treating all races and ethnic groups equally.

A goal of winning gold
Having attained all wrestling honors except one, Beleniuk readily concedes his one remaining unfulfilled goal is to win a gold medal at Tokyo 2020. To give himself the optimum chance of improving on his Rio 2016 silver, he has proposed taking a temporary unpaid leave from his political office to allow him to focus completely on competing in Japan.

Now 30 years old, there is the potential of switching sports after the Olympic Games, with the lucrative world of professional mixed martial arts a possibility. A transition from wrestling to MMA is a popular move for many in the field. Beleniuk questions how effective and appropriate such a move would be for himself. He currently views the two as distinctly different sports, leery of his first Octagon appearance destroying all of his positive impressions from his prior career.

If he does proceed to see potential and concludes something can positively work out for himself, the possibility remains open. He’s quick to quip that there have not yet been any MPs (Members of Parliament) who went on to become MMA champions.

Whether the future is a concentration in politics, or becoming an MMA fighter, Beleniuk’s talents are seemingly limitless. Whichever path he selects, together with his personal mission to eliminate prejudice from today’s world, mean he is a definitive role model for all Ukrainians.

Ihor Stelmach may be reached at [email protected].

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