Ukraine's second Winter Olympics: one medal, some good performances (03/01/98)

Ukraine's second Winter Olympics: one medal, some good performances

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - The sparks and fireworks of the XVIII Winter Olympiad's closing ceremonies rained down on Ukraine's athletes on February 22 in Nagano, and only one of its athletes was going home with hardware - silver-medal biathlete Olena Petrova.

While this is less than the Baiul and Tserbe gold and bronze achieved at the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994, and despite the dire predictions of Ukrainian National Olympic Committee chief Valeriy Borzov, Ukraine's athletes by and large maintained their position in the world's top echelon of sport.

Biathlon and cross-country skiing

As they had in the early going, in the closing moments of the games, Ukraine's biathlon and cross-country matriarchy provided the best performances.

Rain had forced a day's delay in the women's biathlon 4 x 7.5-kilometer relay, and on February 19 the wet conditions proved rough on Lillehammer bronze medalist Valentyna Tserbe-Nesina, and she dropped the team into 13th spot after the start. Surprisingly, Ms. Petrova was unable to improve on this, but a stellar effort by Tetiana Vodopianova vaulted Ukraine back up, into sixth position. Olena Zubrilova fought her way past the Czech Republic's skier to a top-five finish, for a total time of 1 hour, 42 minutes, 32.6 seconds, with no misses along the way.

Germany, Russia and Norway claimed the medals, and fourth spot was claimed by Slovakia, who led over the first two legs but then got into penalty trouble, missing two targets.

In the women's cross-country 30-kilometer event, Iryna Taranenko Terelia proved again that she was the class of the Ukrainian contingent. She crossed the finish line in 1:25.22.3, which put her into fourth position; but she was forced to settle into a familiar agony of waiting as other skiers arrived and knocked her further down the rankings. In the end she was eighth, commendable by any measure.

A creditable performance was turned in by Valentyna Shevchenko, who gave several Russians and Slovaks a go in the middle sections, and finished 14th with a time of 1:28.20. Olena Haiasova was 27th and Anna Slipenko was unable to finish.

The men did not manage to hold their own with the leaders. In the cross-country 50-kilometer free pursuit event, Oleksandr Zarovnyi finished 43rd, Mykhailo Artiukhov was 46th, Mykola Popovych 50th and Oleksandr Ushkalenko 57th.

For the men's biathlon team, the 4 x 7.5-kilometer relay on February 21 was nothing short of a disaster. They finished an embarrassing 7 minutes, 20.9 seconds behind gold medalists Germany, 18th and last in the field.

Flag-bearer's jinx was embarrassingly in evidence. Although Viacheslav Derkach, Ruslan Lysenko and Mykola Krupnyk hardly tore up the track, wallowing in 15th and a full minute behind the leaders, it all fell apart for Andrii Deryzemlia (who carried Ukraine's flag in both the opening and closing ceremonies). He missed four targets and seemed lost in the fog.

Speed skating

On a more upbeat note, in the men's short track 500-meter event, Yevhen Yakovlev demonstrated that he has a future in this hurly-burly tactical sport. Although the young Kharkivite was eliminated in the first round, he finished only 0.142 seconds behind U.S. skater Andrew Gable, who qualified by finishing second in their heat.

In some sense it was an unfortunate draw, as Mr. Yakovlev's time of 44.041 seconds would have put him first in Heat 3. Strategy is obviously paramount, as semifinal and quarterfinal times were faster than those posted in the medal round, so if the Ukrainian gets his time under 44 seconds (well within reach), he'll be a threat.

In the women's short track 500 meters Nataliia Sverchkova continued to struggle, posting a time of 46.976 seconds, which left her fourth in her heat, although this was an improvement over her 1:45.279 time in the 1,000 meters event where she was outclassed.

In women's long track 1,000-meter competition Lesia Bilozub finished 28th out of a field of 40 with a time of 1:21.84.

Figure skating blackout

It is safe to say that nobody expected Ukraine's figure skaters, Kyivans Olena Liashenko and Yuliia Lavrenchuk, to break the lock on the top two spots placed by Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski of the U.S., but there was a possibility for a bronze, since they do compete with Europe's elite.

In the end, the comeback grace and beauty of China's Lu Chen fittingly rounded out the podium.

The Ukrainians were also bested by a cast of Russian characters made familiar by generous media coverage. Neither Ukrainian was ever seen on our TV screens.

Ms. Liashenko came in ninth, Ms. Lavrenchuk, 11th, one behind the defiant Surya Bonaly of France, who showed her disdain for the judges with whom she has long feuded - executing a perfect one-footed landing off a backflip.

Ms. Lavrenchuk was the only Ukrainian athlete about whom a news release was included on the Nagano Olympics' official website. It mentioned the fame that her bronze medal performance at the 1997 Europeans brought her, and the difficulties she faces in training on a hockey rink ("where the ice is like a ploughed field") since Kyiv's figure skating facility fell into disrepair.

The item offered this quote from the 19-year-old: "When I am on the ice during competitions, there is a feeling. You know you like doing this, but at the same time you are afraid to get out there. These are feelings that it is impossible to describe. At the same time it is very joyous the moment you get to the starting point. And after the start it is immense joy, that you are doing this, especially when you skate well."

Ms. Lavrenchuk was also featured in an IBM TV advertisement. In sepia tones, the graceful 19-year-old was shown traveling on a trolley to the hockey rink and closes with a wistful shot of her twirling on a cracked Kyivan sidewalk, luxuriating at this, her first chance to go to the Olympics. "Look for me," the voice-over said. Unfortunately, none of the networks (neither the much-belabored CBS, nor Canada's CBC, English or French) gave us that chance.

Ukraine's final results at Nagano Games