Olympic official reflects on team's chances (09/10/00)

Olympic official reflects on team's chances

by Peter Shmigel
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

SYDNEY - Viktor Gavrylak can tell you what Ukraine's top boxer eats for breakfast, or the exact scores Ukraine's divers received at the European titles.

Among the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOCU) delegation in the Olympic Village, it is Mr. Gavrylak's job to know, as he is responsible for all matters relating to Ukraine's sporting performance at the Sydney 2000 Games. When you ask Mr. Gavrylak about Ukraine's medal chances, however, you get a different approach.

"My hair is white because I am a very long serving sports administrator. I long ago learned not to give a prognosis of a team's chances," Mr. Gavrylak, who is attending his fourth Olympic Games, replied diplomatically.

Nevertheless, numbers speak for themselves, and in bundles of folders on his temporary desk in the NOCU's Olympic Village office, Mr. Gavrylak has plenty of them. Culled from page after page of handwritten notes, they paint an interesting picture of Ukraine's participation in Sydney.

For example, Ukraine will have 239 athletes competing in 27 sports: archery, badminton, boxing, cycling - road, cycling - track, cycling - mountain bike, canoeing, kayaking, diving, fencing, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, gymnastics - artistic, gymnastics - rhythmic, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting (including 10m air rifle, 50m rifle and skeet), swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, tennis, track and field, trampoline, triathlon and weightlifting.

Thirty-four percent of the Ukrainian team also participated in the Atlanta Games in 1996 where Ukraine won nine gold medals. Forty percent of the participating Ukrainian athletes are either world or European champions.

The Ukrainian men's bicycle velodrome racing team also has world champion status. Other teams with strong qualifications are the men's and women's rowing teams (fours).

Former gold medalists competing for Ukraine in the Sydney 2000 Games are: Viacheslav Oliinyk in Greco-Roman wrestling, Yevhen Braslavets (who is expected to be Ukraine's flag-bearer in the opening ceremonies) and Ihor Matvienko in 470 class sailing, Inessa Kravets in long jump and triple jumps, and Serhii Bubka in pole vault.

The vast majority of Ukraine's athletes in the Sydney 2000 Games will compete in individual disciplines. Mr. Gavrylak, whose full-time job is as advisor to the Kyiv-based State Committee for Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism, puts this down to Ukraine's economic conditions and the fact that it is more expensive to support the elite training of teams.

Mr. Gavrylak's boss at the Sydney 2000 Games, Vasyl Zabroda, the chief of mission of the NOCU, believes that the emphasis on individual sports creates some particularly difficult challenges and opportunities.

"Because we are competing in almost exclusively individual sports, much will depend on the draws our athletes receive in their initial rounds of competition. In team sports, your chances are increased because of the pool systems that are generally used," Mr. Zabroda said.

As the games proceed, Mr. Gavrylak will be there with his reams of paper, pencil and ruler in hand, recording the medal count. Though he may not be willing to pick winners in advance, he'll no doubt share the exhilaration of Ukrainian gold.

Among Ukraine's recent world champions to watch in Sydney are:

Elbrus Tedeiev - freestyle wrestling
Denys Gotfrid - weightlifting
Ruslana Taran and Olena Pakholchyk - 470 class, sailing
Olena Vitrychenko - rhythmic gymnastics
Yana Klochkova - 400m medley, swimming
Olena Zhupina - 10m platform and synchro diving
Svitlana Serbina - synchro diving
Ihor Razorionov - weightlifting
Inga Babakova - high jump, track and field
Serhii Bubka - pole vault, track and field
Zhanna Pintusevych - 100m and 200m sprint, track and field
Denis Sylantiev - 100m and 200m butterfly, swimming
Serhii Holubytskyi - fencing

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