Ukraine ranks 11th at the Beijing Olympics
This year’s 29th Olympic Games in China brought Ukraine unexpected success: we won a record 27 medals instead of the projected 14 and ranked 11th, occupying 10th place until the final days of the games. These excellent results mean that our athletes are true heroes, who have brought great honor to Ukraine.
But once the euphoria abated, it became clear that the 2008 Olympics had exposed a number of problems in Ukrainian sports, such as lack of training facilities, insufficient funding, outdated sports equipment, and the lack of professional coaches, to name a few. In point of fact, our athletes compete and win thanks to enthusiasm alone.
What pluses and minuses of the Beijing Olympics should Ukraine take into account? How can we ensure that sports will be a prestigious profession not just during the Olympic Games? The Day‘s reporter addressed these and other questions to Serhii MISHCHENKO, president of the Ukrainian Fencing Federation.
Ukraine’s national team ranked high at this year’s Olympics. On the one hand, this is an honor, but on the other, our wins revealed a host of problems. What lessons should Ukraine draw from the Olympics?
“Ukraine achieved excellent results. First of all, our athletes demonstrated their prowess. Frankly, nobody was expecting such a high ranking. We would have been happy even if Ukraine were among the top 20. But the games surpassed our expectations. On the other hand, we should remember that Ukraine will have to maintain this high standing at the next Olympics. If we don’t address the problems that are afflicting sports now, if we don’t create a state-sponsored program and invest in it, no one will hand us the same results at the next Olympics and we won’t be able to achieve them.
“What helped Ukraine win a record number of medals this year is the fact that the best results were achieved by the very athletes who were not expected to do so. High results were achieved mostly in those sports where individual prowess and moral and psychological conditioning are very important. The situation was the exact opposite with the athletes who were expected to win based on their previous results. The point is that many sports that had been neglected and not considered top priority showed high results. Maybe this happened because the athletes trained calmly, without being reminded that they have to win and bring home a prestigious medal. If an athlete enters a competition knowing that he is expected only to win, this creates a lot of pressure. It is very difficult to compete in conditions like this.”
Ukraine’s first gold medal was won by the women’s saber fencing team, consisting of Olha Kharlan, Olena Khomrova, Olha Zhovnir, and Halyna Pundyk. Did their coaches expect them to win?
“The saber fencers knew that they were only expected to win a medal. This was the goal that the coaches outlined to the women’s fencing team. On the other hand, everybody was aware that they were facing such serious rivals as the Russian, US, and Chinese teams. No one told them to win the gold, but the girls achieved a brilliant tour de force. They managed to reach a psychological condition that helped them beat the world’s strongest national teams and gain the coveted and long-awaited gold medal.”
What difficulties did these female athletes encounter during the Olympics?
“The selection process was the main obstacle. As you know, only a few dozen of the strongest teams that take part in world and European championships are selected for the Olympics. Second, Ukraine’s national and Olympic teams do not have their own permanent training base. Even at the Koncha Zaspa base they have to train together with entirely different sportsmen, and this considerably complicates the training process: they just get in each other’s way. The psychological condition of athletes is also important because no training sessions can help here: they have to rely only on their own strength and control their emotions. Our women fencers fully coped with this task.”
What is the future for our female fencers?
“All they have to do now is fence a lot and work hard in order to be able to perform well at the next Olympics in London. In general, we have optimistic plans to work, maintain leadership, and become repeat champions and winners.”
What are the crucial principles of fencing?
“The No. 1 thing in fencing is a good coaching school and athletic competition. Only in these conditions can true champions be born.”
What is the most important task to ensure that our athletes finally get a training base?
“First of all, the authorities should issue a decision about special premises – either at the Olympic base or on a special plot of land where sports facilities can be built with the help of investors, who have yet to be found. This should be a self-financing complex that will fully meet the needs of our national team. When the fencing team came home, Yurii Pavlenko, Minister for Families, Youth and Sport, promised to solve this problem as soon as possible. I hope this problem is raised frequently during meetings and festivities dedicated to our team’s Olympic performance.
“The situation is improving slightly, at least in fencing. In recent times the state has been adequately funding athletic training, which enables them to travel to various domestic and international competitions in order to win the necessary number of licenses, ratings, and points. So there are no acute problems as far as current funding is concerned.
“But investing in the construction of a base and acquisition of new, high-quality equipment is a problem. The Fencing Federation was lucky because Ukraine hosted the European fencing championship in early July (Ukraine had been seeking this right too hard and too long). Thanks to these competitions, we managed to purchase fencing equipment kits that were left behind in Ukraine and will be used in domestic tournaments. So, in order to achieve a proper technical level, every sports federation should work hard instead of sitting around twiddling their thumbs. There should also be state-sponsored programs and private investments.
“It is gratifying that all the Beijing Olympics medal winners are going to receive cash awards; many countries don’t have this tradition. Yet I am sure they would be much more pleased if they got a well-equipped training base and if state-of-the-art technologies and the latest scientific research were incorporated into sport. This is very important in terms of physical and psychological training.”
After the scandal that erupted when Liudmyla Blonska was disqualified, Ukraine is planning to set up a new anti-doping center. Is this a precautionary measure before the next Olympics?
“If this center is set up, it will definitely be easier to control these processes and test athletes for drug use. This will also have a positive effect on our country’s sports image. For this center to function effectively, Ukraine should have highly-skilled specialists: we should have our doctors trained abroad, where they could obtain proper licenses. As for Blonska, I think that if she has been caught for doping, she has to answer for this: the rules are the same for everyone.”
What were some of the advantages and drawbacks of Ukraine’s participation in the Beijing Olympics?
“The first advantage is the unity of Ukrainians, who were closely following the performance of their team for two weeks. The team did not let its fans down and achieved great results. The downside is that the Olympics exposed our material and technical problems. We must learn from this drawback and make certain conclusions. Apart from this problem, we should address the problem of coaches, i.e., raise their salaries. Banal as it may sound, nobody wants to study and then work as a coach for a mere pittance. So it is time to raise the prestige of the coaching profession and improve the system of training such specialists at institutes and universities that specialize in physical culture.”
Is it prestigious to be an athlete?
“Yes, while there is still a stir over the Olympic Games. In a year or two, this prestige may be forgotten.”
What does participation in the Olympics mean for an athlete?
“It is an extremely great achievement in life because, before going to the Olympics, athletes must win several competitions and obtain the coveted license. Participation in the Olympics goes down in the country’s history because there are no ex-champions – they are heroes forever.”
The Day's FACTFILE
In each of the previous Olympic Games Ukrainians won 23 medals, while in Beijing they netted 27. Here are the names of the 2008 Olympic medal winners.
Gold: Halyna Pundyk, Olha Kharlan, Olena Khomrova, and Olha Zhovnir – fencing, saber, team; Arthur Aivazian – 50m prone rifle shooting; Viktor Ruban – archery; Oleksandr Petriv – 25m rapid-fire pistol shooting; Natalia Dobrynska – heptathlon; Inna Osypenko-Radomska – kayak single 500m; and Vasyl Lomachenko – boxing, 57 kg.
Silver: Olha Korobka – weightlifting, 75 kg: Yurii Sukhorukov – 50m rifle shooting, 3 positions; Vasyl Fedoryshyn – free-style wrestling, 60 kg; Andrii Stadnyk – free-style wrestling, 66 kg; and Iryna Lishchynska – 1,500m run.
Bronze: Roman Hontiuk – judo, 81 kg; Illia Kvasha/Oleksii Pryhorov – synchronized diving; Natalia Davydova – weightlifting, 69 kg; Armen Vardanian – Greco-Roman wrestling, 66 kg; Irini Merleni – free-style wrestling, 48 kg; Lesia Kalytovska – track cycling, individual pursuit; Oleksandr Vorobiov – artistic gymnastics, rings; Olena Antonova – discus throw; Taras Danko – free-style wrestling, 84 kg; Viktoria Tereshchuk – modern pentathlon; Denys Yurchenko – pole vault; Viacheslav Hlazkov – boxing, super heavy; Yurii Cheban – canoe single, 500m; Natalia Tobias – 1,500m run; and Hanna Bessonova – rhythmic gymnastics, individual all-around.
