For the majority of Ukrainians who brought back medals from Tokyo, this was their first shot at Olympic glory.
Many veterans in their sport lost earlier in the competition or didn’t make it past the qualifying stage, leaving less hope about this year’s Olympic results.
But the medalists, many of them in their early 20s, proved skeptics wrong and brought back more medals than expected.
Even with the smallest-ever Olympic team in its 30-year history, Ukraine made it to the top 20 countries by number of medals. The team of 155 athletes won more medals than in the previous Games in Rio. The 25 winners brought home 19 medals, compared to 11 just five years ago.
Even so, Ukraine finished with an all-time low ranking of 44th because the official team ranking prioritizes the number of gold medals. And this year, Ukraine just claimed just one top prize. The U. S. won with 39 gold medals, followed by China with 38 and Japan with 27.
Regardless, Ukraine’s one gold, six silver and 12 bronze medals in Tokyo inspired national pride.
As the Games came to an end and Tokyo passed the baton to Paris, a vibrant closing ceremony with a final flurry of fireworks, traditional taiko drum rolls and dance moves lowered the curtain on the Pandemic Olympics on Aug. 8.
With the host city in its fourth COVID-19-related state of emergency, most athletes had already gone home because they were obliged to return to their country of origin within 48 hours after their final event. Around a dozen Ukrainian athletes attended the ceremony, with wrestler Elbrus Tedeyev holding the blue-yellow flag high.
The medalists were welcomed home by family, friends and fans at the airport upon their arrival, even though there were no traditional festivities.
The government also congratulated the team and said cash prizes totaling $1.84 million will be handed out to all 25 athletes who earned a medal.
According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, gold medalists will receive a bonus of $125,000, while silver medalists will get $80,000 and bronze medalists $55,000.
These prizes are very high by global standards. U.S. athletes only get $37,500, $22,500 and $15,000, for gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively. The host country of Japan will be giving out awards of $45,000, $18,000 and $9,000. Yet all these countries are still less generous than Singapore, which gives out prizes of $737,000, $369,000 and $184,000, respectively.
In addition, three Olympians from Lviv will receive new apartments from the city.
Zhan Beleniuk
Event: Men’s Greco-Roman 87kg wrestling
Medal: Gold
Age: 30
Ukraine’s Zhan Beleniuk (bottom) and Hungary’s Viktor Lorincz (top) compete for the gold Olympic medal in men’s 87-kilogram Greco-Roman wrestling on Aug. 5, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
Ukrainian Greco Roman wrestler Zhan Beleniuk left the last Olympics in Rio bitter, coming so close to a gold medal but coming home with silver instead. Beleniuk, whose father died fighting in Rwanda’s civil war when he was only 11 years old, came back stronger this year and won the country’s first Olympic gold medal in wrestling in 25 years.
Aside from sports, politics is also a major part of his life. He is Ukraine’s first black member of parliament and serves as the deputy head of the Committee on Youth and Sports in Ukraine’s parliament. The future wrestler was raised by his Ukrainian family in a one-room flat in Kyiv.
Mykhailo Romanchuk
Event: Men’s 1500m and 800m freestyle
Medal: Silver (for 1500m) and Bronze (for 800m)
Age: 25
Ukrainian swimmer Mykhailo Romanchuk, who brought back two Olympic medals from Tokyo, competes in an 800 meter freestyle race at the Olympic Games in Tokyo on July 29, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
Mykhailo Romanchuk broke the Olympic record in the semi-final of the 800-meter race but was disappointed because he couldn’t repeat the result in the final and bring back a gold medal. Nevertheless, the Rivne-born athlete brought Ukraine’s first Olympic medal in swimming in 17 years. Romanchuk, who is also a world cup record holder in the 1,500 meter freestyle race, flew to Tokyo with the same coach that had taught him how to swim when he was six. Almost 20 years later, the two went home carrying two Olympic medals.
Anzhelika Terliuga
Event: Women’s kumite 55kg karate
Medal: Silver
Age: 29
Ukrainian Anzhelika Terliuga competes against Egypt’s Radwa Sayed in the elimination round of women’s kumite 55kg karate at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 5. (NOC Ukraine)
Anzhelika Terliuga dreamt of the day when her name would be engraved in the history of karate. Her long-sought dream came true in this year’s Olympics. Together with Stanislav Horuna, who also earned an Olympic medal in karate, the two became the first-ever Ukrainian karatekas to be called on the podium. Terliuga also works as a fitness director in a sports club at home.
Olena Starikova
Event: Women’s sprint·track cycling
Medal: Silver
Age: 25
Ukraine’s Olena Starikova competes in the women’s track cycling sprint event at the Tokyo Olympics. (NOC Ukraine)
Ukrainian Olena Starikova has left a mark in Ukraine’s cycling history in her first Olympic appearance. She had brought home the first Olympic medal in cycling in the last 17 years. Born in Kharkiv but now a Lviv resident, Starikova began cycling at the age of 13 when she got a bicycle and fell in love with the sport. Her mother soon enrolled her in a cycling club because she was worried that her daughter would end up in the wrong places and that’s how it all started.
Parviz Nasibov
Event: Men’s Greco-Roman 67kg wrestling
Medal: Silver
Age: 22
Ukraine’s Parviz Nasibov competes against Egypt’s Mohamed Ibrahim during the men’s 67kg Greco-Roman wrestling semifinal match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 3, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
Parviz Nasibov is a Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestler from Azerbaijan. Before coming to Tokyo, the youngster stunned Rio Olympic bronze medalist Rasul Chunayev, also from Azerbaijan, in the World Qualifiers. The Tokyo Olympics was his first triumph in the adult category.
Oleksandr Khyzhniak
Event: Men’s middleweight boxing
Medal: Silver
Age: 26
Ukraine’s top-seeded Oleksandr Khyzhniak (L) exchanges punches in the ring with Brazil’s Hebert Sousa (R) during the final fight for the gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 7, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
Oleksandr Khyzhniak left the boxing ring staggered, not knowing why the referee chose to abruptly stop the fight. Under boxing rules, referees can stop the fight when they have reasons to believe that a contestant is in imminent danger.
The Poltava-born boxer had a clear advantage with quick and big punches but lost to Brazilian Hebert Sousa in the Olympic finals because of the referee’s call. He doesn’t agree with the referee’s decision but understanding that nothing can be done now, he waits for the next Games in Paris “to make his medal gold.” Khyzhniak’s father is an ex-boxer and pulled the future Olympian into the sport when he was five.
Anastasiia Chetverikova & Liudmyla Luzan
Event: Women’s canoe double 500m and (Liudmyla Luzan) single 200m
Medal: Silver (for double 500m) and Bronze (for single 200m)
Age: 23 & 24
Liudmyla Luzan (L) and Anastasiia Chetverikova compete in the women’s canoe double 500m race at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 7, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
The two canoeists sealed a silver medal a few days after Liudmyla Luzan saw great success in her individual race. Luzan also earned bronze in the women’s canoe single 200 meter dash. Originally from Ivano-Frankivsk, Luzan had been training artistic gymnastics for 10 years before she became a canoe sprinter. She said that deep down, she knew that gymnastics wasn’t the sport she wanted to be in. Luzan’s partner, Anastasiia Chetverikova, has a different story. The Kherson-born athlete’s brother encouraged her to try the sport when she was 12 and she said it was impossible not to fall in love with it.
Elina Svitolina
Event: Women’s singles tennis
Medal: Bronze
Age: 26
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina reacts after she defeated Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina to bring back a bronze medal in the women’s singles tennis match at the Tokyo Olympics on July 31, 2021. (AFP)
July was an eventful month for Odesa-born Elina Svitolina — from tying the knot with French tennis player Gael Monfils to making history as the first-ever tennis player to win a medal for Ukraine. The World No. 6 had put her honeymoon on hold to focus on the Olympics. Though devastated after losing in the semi-finals, Svitolina defeated Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina winning bronze. In the previous Games in Rio, the Ukrainian knocked 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams out of the competition but then fell in the quarter-finals. Svitolina reached her career-high ranking of World No. 3 in September 2017 and again in September 2019.
Daria Bilodid
Event: Women’s 48kg judo
Medal: Bronze
Age: 20
Israel’s Shira Rishony (white) competes with Ukraine’s Daria Bilodid for judo women’s 48kg bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics on July 24, 2021. (AFP)
Judoka Daria Bilodid already had many fans in Japan prior to the Olympics. At the age of 17, she broke the record for becoming the youngest ever judo world champion and has been a hot topic ever since.
Now a two-time world judo champion, Bilodid also does photo shoots for many well-known brands on the side. She serves as an ambassador of a $7 million Japanese cosmetic company Aesthetic TBC.
Bilodid’s bronze made her the first Ukrainian woman to win a medal at an Olympic judo event.
Alla Cherkasova
Event: Women’s freestyle 68kg wrestling
Medal: Bronze
Age: 32
Ukraine’s Alla Cherkasova competes against Japan’s Sara Dosho during the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 3, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
This year was Lviv-born wrestler Alla Cherkasova’s final shot at the Olympics regardless of the result. She’s already announced that she won’t be going to the next one in Paris. Having promised to her seven-year-old son that she would return with an Olympic medal, Cherkasova was extremely pleased with the result.
Iryna Koliadenko
Event: Women’s freestyle 62 kg wrestling
Medal: Bronze
Age: 22
Ukraine’s Iryna Koliadenko (red) competes against China’s Long Jia in the quarter-final of the women’s freestyle 62 wrestling match at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 3, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
From claiming gold in the European Championships to winning a medal in her first-ever Olympics, 2021 was a breakthrough year for freestyle wrestler Iryna Koliadenko from Kyiv Oblast. She began wrestling at the age of 11 and had her first big win in the 2019 World Championships where she won silver.
Stanislav Horuna
Event: Men’s kumite 75kg
Medal: Bronze
Age: 32
Ukraine’s Stanislav Horuna competes against Japan’s Ken Nishimura in the men’s kumite -75kg elimination round of the karate competition on Aug. 6, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
Growing up, Lviv-born Stanislav Horuna never thought of internationally famous karatekas as idols. For him, they were simply people with great achievements that motivate him to work harder so that he could one day outcompete them. Having won many top-level international competitions staged across Europe and the world, the 32-year-old is now one of the most followed and admired karatekas in the world. He remembers how his friend took him to a karate training session and he immediately knew that this was the only sport he’d want to pursue.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh
Event: Women’s high jump
Medal: Bronze
Age: 19
Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh competes in the women’s high jump final at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on August 7, 2021. (AFP)
Olympian Yaroslava Mahuchikh said she wasn’t always so great at her chosen sport. She began high jumping when she was 13, a late start for a professional sport, and her gift for the high jump wasn’t immediately apparent. But the jumper from Dnipro improved very quickly. After two years of practice, Mahuchikh had a major career breakthrough when she won a gold medal at the junior world championships.
Ihor Reizlin
Event: Men’s individual épée fencing
Medal: Bronze
Age: 36
Ukraine’s Igor Reizlin celebrates after winning against Italy’s Andrea Santarelli in the men’s epee individual bronze medal bout at the Tokyo Olympics on July 25, 2021. (AFP)
The Tokyo Games were Ihor Reizlin’s first Olympics in his long athletic career. Regardless, he made a historic win by becoming the only Ukrainian swordsman to ever return with an Olympic medal. He said that age has only helped him to perform better because it was a lot more difficult to control his emotions while competing when he was younger. As a result, his career in fencing picked up pace in recent years, with Reizlin winning numerous international competitions at the highest level.
Olena Kostevych & Oleh Omelchuk
Event: Mixed 10m air pistol shooting
Medal: Bronze
Age: 36 & 38
Ukrainian shooters Olena Kostevych and Oleh Omelchuk compete in mixed 10m air pistol at the Tokyo Olympics on July 27, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
Shooters Olena Kostevych & Oleh Omelchuk are veterans in their sport. Kostevych has already won numerous Olympic medals before — one gold and two bronze. Born in Russia but having later moved to Ukrainian Chernihiv where she went to a shooting range for the first time, she met her current coach who turned her into an Olympic champion. Omelchuk from Rivne wasn’t decorated with an Olympic medal prior to Tokyo but has won many prestigious international competitions like his shooting partner. Both have been competing in their sport for more than 20 years.
Vladyslava Aleksiiva, Maryna Aleksiiva, Marta Fiedina, Kateryna Reznik, Anastasiya Savchuk, Alina Shynkarenko, Kseniya Sydorenko and Yelyzaveta Yakhno
Event: Women’s artistic swimming team and (Marta Fiedina & Anastasiya Savchuk) artistic swimming duet
Medal: Bronze (for both events)
Age: 19-25
Ukraine performs in the women’s artistic swimming team free routine during the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 7, 2021. (NOC Ukraine)
The Ukrainian artistic swimming team made its first Olympic appearance in Rio in 2016 but missed the bronze medal by less than one point. This year, athletes Anastasiya Savchuk and Kseniya Sydorenko made their comeback with six new swimmers and took third place in the Tokyo competition. Savchuk, 25, also competed in an artistic swimming duet (formerly known as synchronized swimming) with 19-year-old Marta Fiedina and won another bronze medal for Ukraine.
