YANA KLOCHKOVA STRIKES GOLD TWICE
Last Tuesday the Ukrainian Olympic national team substantially increased its baggage of medals. It has grabbed two gold and three silver ones.
Our swimmer Yana Klochkova, a true heroine of Sydney, has again won a gold medal, this time cruising confidently to victory in the women’s 200 meter medley, clocking 2:10.68, a new Olympic record. Yana outdistanced runner-up Nicoleta Caslaru from Romania by almost 2 seconds! And on September 22 she won the silver in the 800 meter freestyle.
A little earlier, Ukrainian swimmer Denis Sylantiev won his first medal, so far silver, in the men’s 200 meter butterfly clocking 1:55.76. Tom Malchow of the USA won with 1:55.35.
A most dramatic scramble for medals occurred in the men’s four kilometer team pursuit cycling event. In the semifinals, the Ukrainian team (Oleksandr Fedenko, Oleksandr Symonenko, Serhiy Matveyev, and Serhiy Cherniavsky) set a new world record at 4:00.830, breaking the previous record set by the German team in the Olympic qualifiers. But the Germans took their revenge in the finals, setting the third world record in a row at 3:59.710, thereby taking the gold. Our team has the silver.
