Ukrainian School

The achievements of representatives of the Ukrainian, not Soviet, boxing school, who won 5 out of the 14 Olympic medals for Ukraine, “saved” the overall national ranking of this country in London. In no other events did the Ukrainian athletes clinch so many awards at the 30th Summer Olympic Games. Ukraine’s national boxing team has already won 5 Olympic medals before – in Sydney in 2000, – but there were no gold ones among them.

The Day interviewed Oleksandr Usyk, the Olympic champion and captain of the national boxing team, who showed himself in London not only as a top-class professional, but also as an active citizen by flaunting a Cossack-style topknot and dancing a victorious hopak on the ring, at Boryspil Airport as soon as the athletes came back home.

“It was extremely hard to defend Ukraine’s sporting honor in the ring, no matter what our boxers are saying today, because each of us not only confronted physically strong rivals, but also felt a tremendous burden of responsibility. As for me, I was uneasy until after I had felt a medal on my neck. Then I relaxed. Tension gave way to a great feeling of joy. Once I came into my room I immediately Skype-phoned to my wife. It was about 4 a.m., Ukrainian time. In general, fame came very fast, you know. The next day after the victory, a crowd of almost a hundred unknown people surrounded me in downtown London. They were literally demanding an autograph. I told them I was not the Olympic champion named Usyk and advised them to look for him in the Olympic village, but they didn’t believe me” (laughs).

You said after your final victory in London that you had promised your two-year-old daughter to bring home the Olympic gold…

“Yes, I dedicated the medal to my daughter Liza. When I was in England, I spoke to her on the phone and explained where I was and what I was doing. ‘But why are you doing this?’ Liza asked. ‘I want to win a gold medal for Ukraine,’ I answered, ‘Then bring me this gold medal,’ the little girl asked me naively. Fortunately, I kept my promise.”

The Day is awarding you the photo album “A Living History” as an audience prize. As our newspaper’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna said, you are the example of not only a top-class athlete, but also a conscientious citizen.

“Thank you. I am sure to read the book. I want you to know that the Cossack-style topknot and the hopak are not a mere caper. It is a small tribute to the history of my country. We must know where the Cossack Sich came from, what its history was, and what the Cossacks fought for! This haircut is sort of a symbol of Ukraine. I will confess that not only Berinchyk and I were to have a hair cut like this. Sashko Hvozdyk and Taras Shelestiuk were also going to bare their heads. But they just lacked time to do so. That’s all. As for Denys and me, we planned this long ago and did it.”

Are you planning to change this haircut in the near future?

“Of course not.”

There were rather short intervals between the boxing bouts. How did you manage to regain your physical and mental shape?

“We did it, that’s all. We just had no other option. What saved us was, above all, a sound sleep. But, in general, I think it is God who helped us. I am a believer and go to church with my family every week. You will perhaps not believe me, but I found an Orthodox church in London and went there to pray together with my teammates. We attended several services there.”

Who did you go with?

“With the whole boxing team. We would go to pray before the decisive bouts.”

It is sometimes difficult to impartially find the winner in amateur boxing. And it is utterly impossible when umpires make a controversial decision. Do you think it is time to change the rules in the ring?

“It is high time. But we, boxers, are not in a position to do so. We fight by the existing rules. The necessity of this is being widely discussed, with no results so far. But, whatever the rules may be, you must train actively, enter the ring, and prove your advantage instead of moaning that you were judged unfairly. Yes, unfairly. Yes, it is not so pleasant. But some other athletes – not only the Ukrainians – were also judged unfairly.”

You are the captain of the Ukrainian boxing team at the Olympics. How did you encourage the boxers before the decisive bouts?

“Our guys also maintain a close relationship outside sport. In general, the boxers made a closely-knit team. We supported each other by the very presence at the bouts. We looked, cheered, and were worried. The entire team was always in the competition hall. TV viewers could only see two boxers and the referee in the ring, while, in reality, the whole team worked for every result. During my final bout, Vasyl and Denys shouted at the top of their voices, prompting me what to do. And, naturally, it is a tremendous effort of the coaching staff.”

Ukraine promised athletes a million hryvnias for Olympic gold. Have you decided yet what you will spend this money on?

“I will spend the reward to renovate my apartment. It is high time I did it. Frankly speaking, I have not yet planned anything. I stick to the rule: to plan something, you must have something. We were so far thanked for victory in word only.”

What are your plans for the near future?

“I am not in fact planning anything. I want to get back home and have a good time with my family. Frankly, I am dead tired – the flight, trainings, adaptation to a new climate, and, of course, bouts. Every bout was important in its own way. Yet what I consider the most difficult thing was not even the final bout but my first entry into the ring in London. That was a true ‘baptism of fire.’

“The night before the final bout, I dreamed of dancing in the ring. This is exactly what happened. How could I not dance the hopak after such a result?! Every Olympic athlete felt support from the Ukrainians. We were receiving phone calls and email messages all the time. It is naturally a pleasure. I also know that a big screen was put up on the street in my native city, Simferopol, so that people could watch our bouts. It turned out that some would even take a day off to watch the Olympics and support the Ukrainian athletes. As we knew all this, we felt a tremendous burden of responsibility. I hope we did not let you down.”