results of the team that won medals – Sports – tsn.ua.
We tell about all the medals of the Winter Olympics in the history of independent Ukraine.
It will begin on Friday, February 4, in Beijing XXIV Winter Olympic Games. For the eighth time in history, Ukraine will be represented at the Winter Olympics as an independent state.
Defend the honor of Ukraine to the capital of China 45 athletes competed in 12 disciplines. Our representatives will not be in only three types: skating, hockey and curling.
In anticipation of the start of competitions in China, Sport remembers who created Ukrainian history at all previous Winter Olympics.
See also: 2022 Olympics: everything you need to know about the world’s main winter competitions
In total, during the years of independence, Ukraine won the Winter Games 8 medals: 3 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze. The “Blue and Yellows” were left without awards at only two Winter Olympics – in 2002 and 2010.
1994 Olympics
The games in Lillehammer, Norway, were the first for Ukraine to be represented by a separate team. Our country sent 37 athletes in 10 disciplines to the debut Winter Olympics. The Blue and Yellows finished the competition with two awards – gold and bronze.
The biathlete won the first medal of the Winter Games in the history of independent Ukraine Valentina Cerbe. She became a bronze medalist in the sprint. The winner of the “gold” – Miriam Bedar from Canada – the Ukrainian lost only 1.2 seconds. And from the silver medal won by the Belarusian Svetlana Paramigina, our biathlete was separated by 0.1 seconds.
In turn, the first “gold” of the Winter Olympics was brought to Ukraine by a figure skater Oksana Bayul. The 16-year-old Ukrainian won the World Championship before the Olympics, but was still not a favorite of the Games.
The Ukrainian woman’s incredible performance impressed everyone, and there was embarrassment at the award ceremony. The organizers did not find the anthem of Ukraine and they proposed to include the anthem of the USSR or the Russian Federation instead.
The Ukrainian side responded with a categorical refusal. Fortunately, one of the delegates of the Ukrainian team brought a cassette with the Ukrainian anthem to Norway. Finally, the Ukrainian national anthem was played for the first time at the Winter Olympics.
- In the medal standings at the Lillehammer Games, our team finished 13th. So far, this is the best result of Ukraine at the Winter Olympics.
1998 Olympics
At the next Winter Olympics, hosted by the Japanese city of Nagano, Ukraine has already sent 56 athletes who competed in ten disciplines.
Already on the first day of competition, the “blue-yellows” won a medal, which eventually became the only one for Ukraine at this Olympics. Biathlete Olena Petrova became the second in the individual race, second only to the representative of Bulgaria Katerina Dafovski.
In an interview sport.ua she said that before the start of the individual race she mixed her sticks with the sticks of her teammates Elena Zubrilova.
“I had to run to the start, I started earlier than Olena Zubrilova. It so happened that I accidentally took Zubrilova’s stick. She is four centimeters lower than me, according to the shorter stick.
I don’t know, of course, how Olena managed then, but after this situation I decided to shorten my sticks to the size that Zubrilova made. I realized that they are comfortable for me. I didn’t even notice how I ran, finished, and then at the end, when the competition was over, I learned that I ran with Zubrilova’s sticks. ” told Petrova.
- Petrova’s “Silver” allowed the Ukrainian national team to finish in the top 20 of the medal standings of the Winter Games for the second time in history. Our team took the 18th place.
2002 Olympics
The games in the American Salt Lake City were the first in which the “blue-yellows” did not manage to win any awards. The Ukrainian national team included 68 athletes in 11 disciplines.
The closest to the medals were Valentina Shevchenko (ski race) and Stanislav Kravchuk (freestyle), who eventually finished fifth.
Note that in Salt Lake City, our country was represented by a record number of athletes for all the Winter Olympics. This was due to the fact that the Ukrainian national hockey team was the only one to qualify for the Games (it took tenth place).
See also: 2022 Olympics: how much will Ukrainian athletes receive for winning medals
2006 Olympics
At the Olympic Games in Turin, Ukrainian athletes rehabilitated in front of fans. The Blue and Yellows brought 52 athletes to Italy and won two medals, both bronze.
Biathlete Lilia Efremova became the third in the sprint race. It arose through the offices of France’s Florence Baverell-Robert and the Swede Anne-Karin Olafsson.
Until 2002, Efremova played for Russia, but due to high competition, she first joined the team of Belarus, and in 2003 began to represent Ukraine. This was made possible by the fact that the current rules have repeatedly allowed to change sports citizenship.
Another bronze medal of the Olympics in Turin Ukraine was brought by a pair in figure skating – Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov. Skaters from Odessa met from an early age, and in 1995 played a wedding. However, shortly after the Olympic bronze, the couple divorced.
- At the Games in Turin, the Ukrainian national team finished 25th in the medal standings.
2010 Olympics
The Vancouver Games in Canada have been a disappointment for Ukraine. 47 athletes in 9 disciplines went to the competition to glorify our country. However, it is not possible for them to bring home at least one award.
The closest to winning the medal was biathlete Andriy Derizemlya, but two free throws prevented him from climbing the podium in the sprint. Following the race, the Ukrainian took 5th place.
See also: Ukrainian athletes banned from standing next to Russians and their symbols at 2022 Olympics – Minister of Sports
2014 Olympics
The 2014 Olympic Games were hosted by the Russian city of Sochi. Competitions against the background of the Revolution in Ukraine and the beginning of the occupation of the Russian Peninsula. Despite a difficult political group, the national team went to Russia with 43 athletes and won two awards – “bronze” and “gold”.
Both medals were won in biathlon. She brought the bronze award to Ukraine Vita Semerenko in the sprint. Anastasia Kuzmina from Slovakia won then. And in the fight for the “silver” Vita lost only 1.8 seconds to Russian Olga Vilukhina.
In 2017, the IOC Babiv Vilukhina “silver” due to doping – her medal was to go to Semerenko. However, later the Russian won the appeal, so Semerenko still remained with the “bronze”.
One of the most memorable medals for Ukraine in the history of the Winter Olympics is the “gold” of the women’s biathlon team in the relay. The “blue-yellow” quartet won a historic victory – Vita Semerenko, Yulia Jima, Valentina Semerenko and Olena Pidgrushna.
In a tense struggle for “gold” Ukraine bypassed Russia. The Russian team financed another, but later deprived the Russians of their awards due to Olga Zaitseva’s doping.
- In Sochi in 2014, the Ukrainian national team closed the top 20 of the medal standings.
2018 Olympics
At the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the Ukrainian national team sent the smallest number of athletes in its history – 33. The “blue and yellow” returned home with a single award – “gold” was won by a freestyler Alexander Abramenko.
In the final of the acrobatics competition, Abramenko was ahead of the Chinese Jia Zunyang and the Russian Ilya Burov.
For Ukraine, this gold medal became historic in freestyle at the Olympic Games.
- Thanks to Abramenko’s efforts, the Ukrainian Olympic team became the 21st in the medal standings.
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