2001: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Sports round-up: baseball to yachting

From hockey and pole vault, to soccer, boxing, track and swimming, and many sports in between, there was much Ukrainian news in the world of sports. Following is a chronology of the top Ukrainian sports headlines of the year 2001.

• Canada Post on January 18 released a souvenir stamp depicting Terry Sawchuk, one of the greatest hockey goalies ever to play the game. It was packaged in a special six-stamp souvenir sheet. Canada Post also released a complement set of six unique hockey cards. Sawchuk played more seasons (21), appeared in more games (971), and had more shutouts than any other netminder in NHL history. He finished his career with 103 shutouts - the only goalie to reach the 100 mark.
  
  
• After setting 35 separate world records and winning six consecutive world championships and a gold medal, pole vaulter Serhiy Bubka officially retired on February 4 in his hometown of Donetsk, Ukraine, where in 1993 he had set the world indoor record of 20 feet, 2 inches.

The 37-year-old pole vault champion was honored at a ceremony at the Pole Vault Stars, a competition he founded in Donetsk, according to the Ukrainian News. There, among a crowd of supporters, an open letter from President Leonid Kuchma was read. "Thanks to you, the world learned about Ukraine in a new sense," President Kuchma said.

Mr. Bubka was known for his unorthodox style, which many believe to be the secret to his success. Standing 6 feet, 1/2 inch tall and weighing 176 pounds, Mr. Bubka was known to grip the pole higher than most vaulters, which gave him more leverage.

"He put 10 to 15 percent more energy into the pole, and that's the reason he went four to 12 inches higher than anyone else," said Kory Tarpenning, once the leading pole vaulter for the United States.

Although he has left pole vaulting, Mr. Bubka remains active in the world of sports. At the Sydney Olympics he was elected to the International Olympic Committee's executive board; he is also a member of the Evaluation Commission for the 2008 Olympics.

• Ukrainian boxing phenom Volodymyr Klychko dominated American fighter Derrick Jefferson, successfully defending his WBO world heavyweight title in front of 8,000 spectators at Munich's Rudi-Sedlmayer Arena on March 24.

In the first round, Klychko delivered a left hook that knocked Jefferson to the mat and left the 260-pound American with a swollen left eye.

The heaviest knockdown came in the second round, when a confident Klychko landed a big right, crushing Jefferson and all hopes of a comeback. After watching the defenseless Jefferson get knocked down in the same round, Referee Rudy Battle called the fight with 51 seconds left in the second.

The fight was Klychko's 36th victory in 37 fights, with 33 knockouts. Jefferson lost for the third time in 27 professional contests.

PS to movie fans: look for the Klychko brothers, Volodymyr and Vitalii, in "Ocean's 11."

• Ukraine's national men's volleyball team defeated team Canada in the 2001 International Challengers Cup, winning two of three matches held in Winnipeg's Investor's Group Athletic Center on May 22, 24 and 25.

Led by power hitter Oleksii Gatin, the Ukrainians won the first match 3-1 before a crowd of 2,400. In game two Ukraine swept the Canadians 3-0 to clinch the series, much to the delight of the Ukrainian fans.

Team Canada won the first two games of the inconsequential third match, but the Ukrainians tied it up at 2-2, forcing a fifth game. Canada, however, bounced back to win the match after a 15-9 triumph in the fifth.

• Jerry Melnyk, hockey scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, died of leukemia on June 14. He had identified enough players in 30 years on the job to help produce 13 teams that got at least as far as the semifinals. Among Melnyk's finds: the legendary Bobby Clarke, who led the Flyers to consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1970s. Decades later, Clarke, now on the management side of hockey, said of Melnyk: "He knew tough guys from bluff guys. He had a unique ability to pick a (Rick) Tocchet or a (Ron) Hextall, who weren't highly rated, but extremely competitive and mentally tough." He added: "I went scouting more than other GMs because I liked being with him. Every day there was a new joke. When you were in his company, you always felt good about yourself."
  
  
• Atlanta '96 gold medalists Yevhen Braslavets and Ihor Matvienko won the Bord Gais 470 European Sailing Championship at Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, on July 19. The Ukrainians snatched the gold medal from the leading Israeli boat during the last race on a calm day where the Ukrainian team's patience and consistency paid off. The Israelis built their sizable lead during races with high winds during the first few days of competition, but the veteran Ukrainians steadily gained making fewer mistakes in the weaker wind.
  
  
• Maggie Bowen of the United States upset Yana Klochkova in the women's 200-meter individual medley on July 28 at the swimming and diving World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Klochkova, the Olympic champion in the event, finished in 2:12.30, while Bowen won with a time of 2:11.93. Qi Hui of China finished in 2:12.46, winning a bronze medal.

Klochkova came back with a runaway victory in the 400-meter individual medley - her signature event - beating second-place Bowen by more than two seconds. The 18-year-old Ukrainian gained the lead in the backstroke leg and kept it for the remainder of the race, clocking in at 4:36.98. Bowen finished in 4:39.06.

Klochkova won her second gold medal of the championships on July 30 in the 400-meter freestyle in 4:07.30. She was trailed by Claudia Poll of Costa Rica, who swam a 4:09.15.

Oleh Lysohor of Ukraine won the talent-laden men's 50-meter breaststroke in 27.52 seconds, beating out Roman Sloudnov of Russia, who was a close second at 27.60.

Roman Volodkov and Anton Zakharov of Ukraine took third in the men's synchronized platform diving on July 26 in Fukuoka. The Ukrainians earned a score of 336.06, just shy of Eduardo Rueda and Fernando Platas of Mexico, whose 336.63 points earned them silver. Tian Liang and Hu Jia were comfortably in first with 361.41 points.

• The Ukrainian Big League (age 16-18) champion baseball team from Kirovohrad won the European Baseball Championship and went on to represent Europe in the Big League World Series in Easley, South Carolina, in August.

The big-leaguers got off to a rocky start in South Carolina, losing their first game in a 10-0 decision to Venezuela in which they could muster only two hits and committed five errors. The Ukrainians also fell to Canada, squandering a four-run lead to lose 8-7. Ukraine's only victory came after receiving new equipment donated by Easley residents and local businesses, defeating Saipan 6-5. Ukraine finished with a 1-3 overall record in the World Series tournament.

The Little League (age 11-12) team from Kirovohrad won the second annual Little League Championship of Ukraine, and represented their country in the European Little League Championships in Kutno, Poland, in August. Unable to match the success of their Big League counterparts, they posted a 2-3 record and never made it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

The success of the Ukrainian big-leaguers capped a benchmark year for baseball in Ukraine. In 1991, youth baseball was played only in Kyiv and Lviv; today it is played in 16 oblasts and in four different age categories in Ukraine.

Much of that success is due to the efforts of Basil Tarasko, who first became involved with Ukrainian baseball in 1991 when the Soviet Union's Committee of Physical Culture and Sports asked him to work with the Pobutovik Baseball Club in Kyiv. His initial six-week visit paved the way for 19 more visits over 10 years in which he helped to make the Ukrainian youth baseball program able to compete with any in Europe. He is now the coach of the Ukrainian national teams.

• Ukrainian sprinter Zhanna Pintusevich-Block took gold in the women's 100-meter dash at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics on August 6 in Edmonton, dethroning the reigning Olympic champion, Marion Jones of the United States, who had not lost a 100-meter final in four years.

Pintusevich-Block, the 1997 champion in the 200 meters, outran Jones in both the semifinal and final races, leaving critics no opportunity to call the race a fluke.

The 29-year-old former Kyiv resident, who lives in Tennessee with her husband, American track and field agent Mark Block, took an early lead in the final and continued to pull away from Jones in the last 20 meters, finishing in 10.82 seconds. She then fell to her knees and wept, unable to contain herself after having beaten the one woman she had chased all season.

"I cannot really believe I won," she told the New York Times. "I have been running well the whole season, being really close to Marion, so I knew everything is possible. But only when I beat her did I realize I can actually do it."

Although the loss was Jones' first in 42 races, she refused to believe that it was any indication that she is slowing down. In fact, her time of 10.85 was one of her season's best. "Of course I'm disappointed," she said, "but I'm not a sore loser. I give all the credit to Zhanna. She was the better sprinter today."

With the win came redemption for Pintusevich-Block, who at the 1997 World Championships began to take a victory lap believing she had beaten Jones in the 100-meter final, but collapsed in disappointment as the official results were broadcast, naming Jones the winner by .02 seconds.

Two other Ukrainians won medals at the IAAF Championships. Inga Babakova, the defending world champion, placed second in the women's high jump on August 12. Hestrie Cloete won the event on a countback, with both athletes clearing 2 meters.

Vita Pavlysh took bronze in the women's shot put on August 5, hurling the shot 19.41 meters. She finished behind Yanina Korolchik of Belarus (20.61 meters) and Nadine Kleinert-Schmitt of Germany.

• Three Ukrainian athletes from Kharkiv swept the women's speed climb event at the 2001 Summer X Games in Philadelphia on August 19, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Elena Repko won gold, setting a time of 15.04 seconds for the 60-foot wall. She was followed by Olha Zakharova, who won silver, and Olena Ostapenko, who took bronze.

In the men's speed climb, Maksym Stenkovoi of Nikopol took gold, with a winning time of 10.43 seconds. Vladimir Zakharov of Kharkiv took second.

• CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Serhii Perkhun, a Ukrainian national, died on August 28, from head trauma. He had been in a coma since August 18, when his head collided with that of an opposing striker in a game against Anji Makhachkala.
  
  
• Competing at the World University Games in Beijing on August 22 through September 1, Ukraine's participants took a total of 34 medals - 13 gold, 14 silver and seven bronze - earning them fifth place overall, according to the Ukrainian News.

Twenty-year-old Tamara Yerfeyeva captured four gold and one silver in various rhythmic gymnastics categories. Yana Klochkova broke the University Games 200-meter individual medley record of 2:14.22 set by Lin Li of China in 1991 with a time of 2:14.13. Klochkova's time of 8:36.37 in the 800-meter individual freestyle also won her gold.

Ihor Chervynskyi also set a University Games record with his time of 7:59.52 in the 800-meter freestyle.

• Ukraine placed sixth among a field of nearly 50 nations competing at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, from August 29 to September 9. Ukraine won 14 medals, with three gold, five silver and six bronze.

Yana Klochkova took two gold and two silver medals, placing first in both the women's 800-meter freestyle and the women's 400-meter individual medley events, while taking second in the 400-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley events.

Tatyana Tereschuk Antipova took the third gold for Ukraine by beating American Tonja Buford-Bailey in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.47. Zhanna Pintusevich-Block could muster only an 11.01 in the women's 100-meter final, taking second place behind Marion Jones of the United States, whom she had beaten in the world championships earlier in the season. Jones blew away Pintusevich and the rest of the pack, running an impressive 10.84.

In other track events, Ukrainians Vita Palamar and Olena Hovorova won bronze medals in the women's high jump and women's triple jump, respectively.

Other Ukrainians winning bronze medals were Alyona Kvasha in the women's vault; Anna Bezsonova in individual clubs, rhythmic gymnastics; Anna Sorokina and Olena Zhupina in women's synchronized three-meter springboard and Oksana Tsykhuleva in the women's trampoline.

Oleksander Chornohos won a silver medal in men's trampoline and boxer Serhiy Danylchenko saw a second place finish in the 54-kilogram category.

• There continues to be no shortage of Ukrainian representation in the National Hockey League (NHL). No less than 62 players with some Ukrainian background were listed on rosters submitted by the NHL's 30 teams for the 2001-2002 season.
  
  
• Oleksander Beresh and Andrei Lipski of Ukraine finished in second and fifth place, respectively, in the men's high bar event at the gymnastics world championship on November 4 in Ghent, Belgium.
  
  
• Ukrainian Canadian hockey legend Dale Hawerchuk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 12. Mr. Hawerchuk, 38, was the 23rd player to reach the 500-goal mark in 1995-1996 and the 31st player to record 1,000 points in 1990-91. His final career totals included 518 goals and 891 assists, totaling 1,409 points and placing him 13th on the career NHL points list.
  
  
• The Ukrainian national soccer team saw its World Cup 2002 hopes slip away as it lost to Germany 4-1 in a final qualifying match on November 14 in Dortmund, Germany.

Ukraine had tied the Germans 1-1 in the initial leg of the qualifier in Kyiv, but folded under a barrage of three German goals in the first 15 minutes of the second match.

A spoiled clear by Andrii Nesmachnyi in the fourth minute soured Ukraine's situation, resulting in a German goal off a Michael Ballack header.

Seven minutes later, Ukrainian goalkeeper Maksym Levytskyi stopped a Marko Rehmer header off a corner kick, but Oliver Neuville was there to kick in the short rebound. Rehmer added a goal five minutes later with a header off another corner kick, this time badly misjudged by the shaken Levytskyi.

Germany continued its dominance into the second half with a Ballack header off a cross from Neuville in the 51st minute, putting the Ukrainian squad's hopes even further out of reach. Ukraine's only response came in the last minutes of the game, when forward Andrii Shevchenko, ranked as the ninth best player in the world by FIFA, soccer's international governing body, netted a goal off a Serhii Rebrov forwarding pass.

• Ukraine's 2002 Winter Olympics squad has struck a deal to train at world-class ski resort to prepare for the upcoming games in Salt Lake City in February.

Laryssa Barabash-Temple, the U.S. attaché for the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine and its chief coordinator for preparations in Salt Lake City, said she had succeeded in getting the world-renowned Sun Valley Ski Resort, located in Idaho, to allow many of Ukraine's athletes to live and train there free of charge.

She explained that the Idaho representatives were particularly interested in the biathlon team because it is considered among the top squads in the world and Sun Valley has extensive professional-level cross-country trails at altitudes comparable to those in Salt Lake City.

The women's biathlon team is one on which Ukraine is heavily counting to contribute to the country's medals count. It has ranked at or near the top in recent polls, and its star, Olena Zubrylova, is considered the top female biathlete in the world.

Ukraine hopes that its veteran figure skater, Olena Liashenko, will win a medal as a result of working in Sun Valley with a new trainer, who has revamped her creative program.

Another highly rated Ukrainian squad, the aerial freestylers, have been preparing for Salt Lake City just outside of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, since November. Three team members are rated in the top 10 in the world, and Tatiana Kozachenko, who is ranked third, has a legitimate shot at a medal.

Salt Lake City will also see the first ever representation by a Ukrainian Olympic hockey team. Although the team is considered a long shot to win a medal, Ukrainian hockey fans will be excited just to see their team compete at the Olympic level.

• Vasyl Ivanchuk of Lviv and Ruslan Ponomaryov of Kramatorsk have both won their semifinal matches to advance to the finals of the World Chess Championship conducted by the International Chess Federation FIDE in Moscow. This guarantees that the next world chess champion, regardless of the final's outcome in January 2002, will be a Ukrainian.

* * *

There was Ukrainian sports news in the diaspora as well. Following are some of the highlights.

• The 2001 ski races held of the Carpathian Ski Club (KLK) took place at Ski Windham in upstate New York on March 10. The races attracted 110 registrants of all ages, 79 of whom completed the race.

In addition to awards in nine male and seven female brackets, there is also KLK's coveted fastest skier award, a traveling trophy presented each year to the skier with the best time. This year's winner was Andrij "Snake" Sonevytsky with a time of 27.89 seconds. Jurij Kobziar, a Hunter Mountain legend, achieved a time of 25.49 seconds but his name already appears on the cup and the club rules stipulate that a skier can win this trophy only once in a lifetime.

As a warm-up for the ski races, a group of men participated in the 25th annual ski clinic at Hunter Mountain and Ski Windham in upstate New York. The informal affair, which is as much a social as a sports event, is organized yearly by the Chornomortsi fraternity of the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization. The 2001 clinic had an added international flavor as representatives from the Embassy of Ukraine, Consul General Dr. Valerii Hrebenyuk, Trade Representative and Counselor Yaroslav Voitko and Vice-Consul (Second Secretary) Kostiantyn Kudryk, also participated. Former world downhill champion Karl Plattner of Ski Windham led the clinic, which was organized by Erko Palydowycz.

• Golfers from all over the Northeast participated in the Tryzub Ukrainian Sports Center's 25th annual Golf Outing on June 9 at the Limekiln Golf Club.

The low gross winner was George Baer with a 78, and the scramble format team winners were Roman Wolczuk, John Perry, Eugene Luciw and Charlie Taggart. Taras Midzak won the longest drive competition, and John Kamisczak came closest to the pin.

An awards ceremony and banquet followed play, at which the organizers celebrated the rich history of the Tryzub tournament, the first and longest continually running Ukrainian golf tournament.

• During Labor Day weekend at Soyuzivka, Mark Oryshkewych, a well-known Ukrainian tennis player from Chicago, regained the men's title at the national tennis championships of the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada (USCAK). He had won that title for the first time in 1996 and this year celebrated the fifth anniversary of that contest by winning the final match of the 46th annual tournament at the Ukrainian National Association resort, defeating 17-year-old Hordiy Milchutsky of Ukraine by the score of 6-1, 6-0. In the women's group, the peerless Lesia Bilak, a New Jerseyan formerly from Uzhorod, took her fourth consecutive championship, winning the final against Anne Marie Shumsky 6-3, 6-0.

At the 46th annual national swimming championships, also held at that weekend at Soyuzivka under the auspices of USCAK, the Newark, N.J.-based Chornomorska Sitch team once again captured the team trophy. Sitch swimmers came in first with 250 points - more than double the points earned by the second-place finisher, Tryzub of Philadelphia, whose members earned 124 points. The Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) and Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization came in third and fourth, respectively, with 51 and 11 points.

• With a 3-2 victory over West Morris High School on September 7, Columbia High School boy's soccer coach Gene Chyzowych set the national high school mark for most career victories with an overall record of 593-137-55. During Chyzowych's 37-year tenure his Cougars have won 22 conference championships, 13 Essex County Tournament championships, 15 North Jersey sectional championships and four New Jersey state championships.
  
  
• The Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada held its 2001 chess championship on October 20 at the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church hall in Buffalo, N.Y. The battle for first place ended in a tie between a father and his son - Dr. Ihor Podebryi and Olexa Podebryi - each with a score of 4:1. The co-winners received identical prize money of $250 each, but the title of USCAK champion went to Olexa Podebryi, on superior tie-breakers.
  
  
• At the end of mid-season (December), the Chornomorska Sitch men's soccer team of Newark, N.J., was in second place in the National Division of the Champions League, which operates in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The Sitch team, playing under the name "Union Ukrainians," automatically advanced to the champions league after winning the Garden State Soccer League Elite Division Championship.

* * *

There was news also about youth sports exchanges.

• Early this year The Weekly carried a report on the Sokil Ukrainian Youth Hockey Team that traveled from Ukraine to Albany, N.Y., to compete in the New York State International Hockey Cup competition in December 2000.

With the help of Andrij Baran of the greater Albany District of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, the team found several local Ukrainian Americans who were willing to take in the 14-year-olds while they participated in the tournament.

Despite their lack of modern equipment, and with three of their better players left behind in Kyiv for lack of funds, the Ukrainians logged four wins and two losses, both of which came against much larger teams from Connecticut and Massachusetts.

• The first annual Irondequoit-Poltava Sister Cities Soccer Exchange Tournament was held on July 13-27. Organized by leaders of the Irondequoit-Poltava Sister Cities Committee, the International Sister Cities Council of Irondequoit and the Irondequoit Soccer Club, the tournament was held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, the 10th anniversary of the Irondequoit-Poltava Sister Cities partnership and the 100th anniversary of the first Ukrainian immigrant's arrival in Rochester, N.Y.

Thirteen young soccer players, age 12-16 represented the Alpha Football Club of Poltava. The club numbers around 120 players and just recently took the championship in the Ukrainian Youth Tournament in the 16-and-under age bracket, where over 100 teams competed for the national championship.

The success of this first soccer exchange established the foundation for a tournament in Poltava in the summer of 2002.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 6, 2002, No. 1, Vol. LXX

| Home Page |