| In the third century BCE,
the era of the ancient Olympics, Greek colonists who had settled on lands which are now in
southern Ukraine began establishing gymnasiums. At these establishments, professional
trainers provided expert guidance to a populace very conscious of physical development and
fitness. |
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General Alexander Boutovski, born
in the Poltava province of Ukraine, was tsarist Russia’s representative at the 1894
Paris conference at which the International Olympic Committee was founded, and also at the
first modern Olympic Games held at Athens in 1896. |
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| M. Ritter of Kyiv
travelled at his own expense to Athens in 1896 to compete in shooting and wrestling at the
first modern Olympic Games. Failing to understand the rules of competition, which
unfortunately varied significantly among countries, Ritter had to cancel his entry in the
events. |
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| Gymnast Larysa Latynina
won 18 Olympic medals (nine gold, five silver and four bronze) at three Olympiads. The
total is unsurpassed by any athlete, in ancient Greece or in the modern era. |
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At the 1960 Olympic Games, Larysa
Latynina and Borys Shakhlin won the all-around titles in gymnastics. It was the
first time in history that a male and female athlete, both members of the same sports club
(Kyiv Burevisnyk) and coached by the same person (O. Mishakov) won the
all-around titles. |
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At the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympic
Games, gymnasts from Ukraine won 17 gold medals in 36 events and 41 out of 111 medals
awarded in gymnastics. Among the athletes contributing to the total were Larysa
Latynina, Borys Shakhlin, Yuri Titov (later president of the
International Gymnastics Federation), Viktor Chukarin, Polina Astakhova and Marharyty
Nikolayeva. |
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Valeriy Borzov was the first
European athlete to win both the 100m and 200m titles at one Olympic Games. He attained
the feat in 1972. |
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Pole vaulter Serhiy Bubka is the
only athlete to win a gold medal at all five World Track and Field Championships. |
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Oleh Blokhin, formerly a striker
with the Kyiv Dynamo soccer club, is the only Ukrainian player (born in Kyiv on
November 11, 1952) to have reached the 100 career appearances in international competition
(CAPS) milestone. Blokhin is one of about 25 soccer players worldwide to have attained the
milestone. He amassed 107 CAPS playing during the Soviet era. |
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| Between the years 1969 and
1988, Ihor Turchyn coached the Kyiv Spartak women's handball team to 20 USSR
championships and an unprecedented 13 European Champions' Cups. In addition, Turchyn
coached the USSR women's selects to gold medals at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and a bronze
in 1988. His wife Zinaida Turchyn played on all of these teams. |
