Ukrainian contingent competes at Special Olympics in Toronto

by Yuriy Diakunchak

TORONTO - A blaze of fireworks and a crash of rock music signaled the end of the Special Olympics World Winter Games held in Toronto and Collingwood, Ontario. On February 9 the amphitheater at Ontario Place on Toronto's lakefront was packed with hundreds of smiling, light-stick wielding Special Olympians cheering their very own week to a close.

The Special Olympics were established in 1967 and officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1988. Founder and honorary chair Eunice Kennedy Shriver intended that the Special Olympics be a time for athletes with disabilities to strive for personal achievement and have fun doing it.

Though some of the participants were clearly more focused on the competitive nature of sport than others, everyone seemed to take some of the spirit of these games home with them.

At the opening ceremonies in Toronto's Skydome, Mrs. Shriver was joined by international sports headliners such as Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci and Canadian figure skater Brian Orser in an effort to give Special Olympics International an unprecedented high profile. As the founder pointed out, Toronto's Special Winter Olympics were the largest single international sporting meet of 1997.

In his address to the gathering at the closing ceremonies, Special Olympics Board Chairman Sargent Shriver said, "Go home and tell people the stories of this place ... where everyone can make a difference ... tell everyone you have seen the power of the human spirit here in Canada."

Mr. Shriver told the athletes they have a message to carry around the globe: "you can make a difference in the world."

Despite the chilly wind blowing off Lake Ontario, at the closing ceremonies, the Ukrainian team of four women and four men was all smiles. This was a far cry from the long faces they sported when they first arrived in Toronto in mid-January, according to Stan Haba, who coordinated the team's stay in Canada and headed a three-man delegation of volunteers (that included Slavko Tysiak and Volodymyr Sybydlo) which assisted Ukrainian participants around the official venues.

"They didn't just win medals, but also got a morale boost," said Mr. Haba.

The athletes hail from Kharkiv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr oblasts. All but one are orphans.

This was the first time Ukraine fielded a contingent at the Special Winter Olympics, although they followed in the footsteps of the 12 athletes who competed at the Special Summer Olympics in New Haven, Conn., in 1995, and the one athlete who appeared at the summer games in Minneapolis in 1991.

The first Special Summer Olympics were held in Chicago in 1968; the first winter games were set in 1977 in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

At this year's competitions, the Ukrainian team's eight cross-country skiers won a combined 23 medals and placed ninth in a field of 74 countries.

This came in a competition which featured a celebrated incident that puts all Olympics into perspective. Overcome with joy on the podium, a gold medalist traded his prize for that of the number two man.

Mr. Haba said the fact that the team showed up in Canada two weeks ahead of the February 1 opening day gave them plenty of time to acclimatize and practice.

"This trip is the fulfillment of something the kids have never even dreamed of," said Viktoria Shelkovnikova, President of Special Olympics Ukraine (SOU).

"Only two years ago, the furthest they could hope to go from their orphanage would be a summer camp," she said. "Now they have a chance to travel around Ukraine, to make new friends, to smile."

According to official statistics released by the SOU, 4,600 disabled athletes have a chance to participate in sports programs in Ukraine, assisted by 36 coaches and 30 volunteers.

Comparisons with the programs of other countries highlight the difficulties Kyiv has in providing for its handicapped competitors. Russia's 20,000 athletes are supported by 1,300 coaches and 2,300 volunteers; in the Czech Republic, there are 2,220 athletes, 417 coaches and 450 volunteers; while this year's host country, Canada, has 20,000 athletes helped by 712 coaches and 220 volunteers.

Mr. Haba said two figure skaters slated to attend could not make the trip to Canada because of financial constraints. Ukraine does not have competitors in the Special Winter Olympics' other events: alpine skiing, floor hockey, speed skating, snowshoeing and eisstocksport (a combination of bocce and curling).

Despite economic adversities, Ukraine's effort includes sport programs for aquatics, athletics, basketball, cross-country skiing, soccer, figure skating, gymnastics, table tennis and volleyball.

Ms. Shelkovnikova hopes the stories this year's athletes bring home will encourage more people to participate in the Special Olympics movement.

"We want to thank Mr. Haba, who took us in like his own children," said Andrii Khomenko, 17, of Liubar, Zhytomyr Oblast, a cross-country skier who won three golds and one bronze. "The trails were excellent, we had time to get used to them."

"Super," laughed Olha Kravchuk, 18, also of Liubar, when asked what she thought of the Games. Ms. Kravchuk, also a cross-country skier, won two golds, one silver and one bronze. "I didn't think I would win, but it was great."

"I am very pleased," said Valerii Kazakov of Kharkiv, the team's cross-country head coach. "They showed what they can accomplish and grabbed a bunch of medals." Mr. Kazakov has been coaching Special Olympians for the last two years.

"They need good will, they need attention. I see the results of my work here. I'm very pleased," he said.

Ukraine's other athletes included Nadia Kovinko, 14, Viktor Puzikov, 16, and Olena Matvienko, 16, of Kharkiv; and Olena Prokofieva, 17, Yurii Shvets, 14, and Yaroslav Skrypchuk, 16, of Ternopil oblast. Anatolii Domashenko, first deputy of Ukraine's State Committee on Physical Culture and Sport, and Coach Mykhailo Starko also were members of the visiting delegation.

A few competitors with Ukrainian backgrounds from Canada also made their mark on the Games. "I'm very proud of winning one of each kind of medal," beamed Kris Shewchuk of Kamloops, British Columbia. He won his gold, silver and bronze in down hillskiing.

His teammate Debbie Lebedynski from Edmonton placed third in one downhill event.

As the Ukrainian team prepared to leave Toronto, they had one final meeting with the Ukrainian community here on February 16 at the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation, with Ukrainian Canadian Congress Toronto Branch President Maria Szkambara and UCC Provincial Education Council Chair Luba Zaraska providing key assistance. According to Mr. Haba, a special fund-raising banquet held on January 25 raised about $5,000 to defray costs of transportation, lodging and training trips for the athletes.

The only blemish on the closing ceremonies and the Games themselves was the overprotective attitude of the organizers towards the competitors. During the closing ceremonies, this reporter had to sneak into the athletes' section of the amphitheater and once there was constantly harassed by the staff who tried to prevent interviews and photos. Much the same thing happened on the ski hills of Collingwood.

Perhaps Ms. Shelkovnikova's optimism will be justified when her charges come home and spread the word about their experiences - others will get involved, and will get to experience a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem.

But one is left with the feeling that it will be years before disabled and disadvantaged children and adults will get the attention they need. After all, out of eight children who came, seven were abandoned by their parents. These eight have had an experience of their lives, but thousands more face a world that fears and loathes their disabilities.

For more information contact: Viktoria Shelkovnikova, National Director, Special Olympics Ukraine, 32 Lepse St., Kyiv, Ukraine 252126; telephone, 380-44-435-7808; fax, 380-44-483-3594 or 380-44-220-1294.

Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj contributed to this article.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 23, 1997, No. 12, Vol. LXV

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