Seventy Ukrainians to vie for Olympic gold

Seventy Ukrainian athletes will vie for medals at the XIX Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, on February 8-24, 2002. As National Olympic Committee President Ivan Fedorenko told a press conference, eleven biathletes, six bobsledders, two downhill skiers, two speed skaters, six cross-country skiers, four sledders, one ski jumper, eleven figure skaters, three figure freestyle skaters, twenty-three ice hockey players, and one sprinter will represent Ukraine in events. It has been released that the Ukrainian Olympic delegation includes 140 persons. As Mr. Fedorenko stated, the Ukrainian team’s biggest hopefuls are women, among others biathlete Olena Zubrylova, a winner of world championships. The ceremony of hoisting the Ukrainian flag will be held on February 7 in Salt Lake City. According to Ukrainian Hockey Federation General Secretary Serhiy Koval, talks are underway with the manager of US professional hockey leaguer Dmytro Khrystych about his playing on the Ukrainian side. The hockey player has accepted the proposal, though he will not be on the Ukrainian team in their February 9 match with the national team of Belarus. Most probability, Dmytro Khrystych will miss the match with the Swiss team and will play only on February 13 against France. According to Mr. Koval, three more Ukrainian “Americans,” Serhiy Varlamov, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Oleksiy Panikarovsky, will be on the Ukrainian team. Mariya Bulatova, head of Ukraine’s State Committee for Sports and Physical Education, said that Ukrainian athletes to participate in the Salt Lake City Olympics have successfully passed the second doping test. Mr. Fedorenko also reminded listeners that the Ukrainian government has earmarked $50,000 US for each golden medal winner, $30,000 for silver, and $20,000 for bronze. He stressed that this money is an item in the state budget, as well as the costs of athletes’ preparation and their participation in the Olympics. The prize money is tax-exempt and coaches are entitled to 50% of it, reports Interfax-Ukraine. The national team’s sportswear, light blue track suits sporting Ukrainian national symbols and black caps, have been made, it seems, according to the principle of avoiding everything extraneous and for maximum freedom of movement. Meanwhile the parade outfits were suggestive of the hereafter rather than evoking happy thoughts of Ukrainian athletes mounting the Olympic pedestal. Women in gray and men in black overcoats, with all the team donned in black suits, would be more appropriate at a funeral. It will be recalled that elsewhere leading fashion designers toil over the parade outfits of their national sports pride. Obviously, in Ukraine those who dress the sportsmen are guided by the Vince Lombardi principle of winning is the only thing.