Ukrainian athletes have left for Salt Lake City for 2001 Games
Ukraine has sent 70 athletes to Salt Lake City ,where they will compete in eight events during the Winter Olympics Feb 8-24.
Ukrainians will participate in bobsledding, alpine skiing, ski jumping, figure skating, the luge, the biathlon, speed skating and hockey.
According to the head of the State Committee for Physical Training and Sport, Maria Bulatova, only the athletes who got into the top 15 during the world championships go to the Olympic Games.
Initially, only 60 Ukrainians were slated to travel to Salt Lake City, but 10 were added to the list at the last minute.
“A promising figure-skating pair, Yulia Holovina and Oleh Voiko from Kharkiv were added to the Ukrainian Olympic team this time,” Ivan Fedorenko, president of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee said. “Halyna Manyachenko, ladies singles, was accepted to the team after the European Cup, where she showed good results.”
In skiing, Valentyna Shevchenko and Iryna Terelya are considered to have the best chance at winning a medal.
“These girls showed very good results at the World Cup and, of course, are the first in Ukraine,” said Tetyana Solovey, an administrator for the Ukrainian Skiing Association.
All eyes will be on Ukraine’s ice hockey team, which will be competing for the first time in the Olympics. The team earned the right to play in Salt Lake after winning at the World Championship in Germany last year.
The Ukrainian Hockey Federation arranged for Dmytro Khristych, a forward currently playing for the Washington Capitals, to join Ukraine’s Olympic squad.
Ukraine’s biathletes also have a good chance, according to Fedorenko.
Olena Zubrilova is one of the standouts for the biathlon.
“Zubrilova has a lot of potential,” Solovey said. “She is very strong emotionally and has a rich experience in international competition. This will be the third time the team will participate in the Olympics.”
Fedorenko said the government finances the athletes’ training.
Ukraine has a reputation for expecting the best from its Olympians.
“It is hard to predict [how many medals the Winter Olympics team will win],” Fedorenko said. “During the Sydney Olympic Games we were very optimistic. We took 11 world champions there, but only one, Yana Klochkova, fulfilled our expectations.”
Ukraine’s Olympic athletes claimed 23 medals, including three gold, in Sydney. Of the 199 participating nations, only 20 scored higher than Ukraine in the Sydney medal ranking.
Despite the Olympic philosophy that competing is more important than winning, Fedorenko said Ukrainians demand winners. He said he hoped the nation’s Olympians would earn more medals than the team the country sent to the Nagamo Winter Games in 1998.
“It would be perfect if Ukraine placed in the top 20,” he added, referring to the overall medal rankings.
Solovey said she didn’t know how the ski team would fare in the medal competition. She said spotty state funding for the team’s training made it hard to tell how they would perform.
“We receive sporadic financing,” Solovey said. “[The government] finances one event and then does nothing, then finances it again. It all results in lower results for the team.”
Medal hopes aside, Ukrainians will be able to follow the games on UT-1, the national TV channel, which plans to provide 135 hours of Olympics coverage.
The Salt Lake Olympics are expected to be the most elaborate Winter Games ever. In all, 165 competitions will take place in 15 events held in 10 venues, resulting in the presentation of 234 medals set.
The games will open with the women’s 15-kilometer cross-country ski competition, and conclude with the hockey final.
For Ukraine’s athletes medals mean cash: The government will make a tax-free award of $50,000 for each gold medal. Silver medallists will receive $30,000 and $20,000 will be paid for each bronze medal. Winning coaches will be awarded a sum equivalent to half of what the athletes win.
