For the first time ever, Ukraine ‘s athletes topped the table in Para Biathlon at the Paralympic Winter Games, with 22 medals: eight gold, nine silver and five bronze. Ukrainian athletes, throwing off emotions in the face of the ongoing invasion by Russia, won a total of 29 medals in the biathlon and cross-country skiing events, the only two sporting events it entered. Russia had topped the medal count in Para Biathlon for the previous 16 years.
At the Bird’s Nest stadium in the capital, China handed the Paralympics flag to Italy’s Milano-Cortina which is gearing up to stage the Games in four years. In his closing ceremony speech, International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons hailed the athletes as “beacons of hope, and champions for peace”.
And in the closing ceremony on March 13, not all of his speech was translated into Chinese for the domestic audience, with phrases including “champions for peace” and “hopes for peace” omitted.
After an arduous journey to the Chinese capital, Ukraine’s athletes came a remarkable second in the medals table after their best ever performance at the Winter Paralympics.
One athlete learned her soldier father had been taken prisoner by Russian troops during the Games while another won a gold medal after discovering her home in Kharkiv had been bombed.
The team, which dominated in biathlon and cross-country skiing, claimed 11 gold medals and 29 podium finishes, four more medals than the country’s previous best at Turin in 2006. The squad took their final gold in the open cross-country relay on Sunday, ahead of France and Norway.
Team veteran Vitaliy Lukyanenko, 43, who won double gold and a silver in the biathlon, carried the Ukrainian flag at the closing ceremony.
Parsons paid a glowing tribute to the Ukraine team on Saturday.
“To compete here at such a high level knowing their family and nation is under attack is just incredible,” he said. “It’s one of the most incredible displays of resilience I’ve ever seen in my life, in or outside of sport,” Parsons underlined.
