Highly touted biathlon team collapses; Ukraine's best showing is in women's luge (02/17/02)

Highly touted biathlon team collapses; Ukraine's best showing is in women's luge

by Andrew Nynka

MIDWAY, Utah - One of Ukraine's greatest medal hopefuls at the 19th Winter Olympiad, Olena Zubrylova, came crashing down when the women's biathlon team failed to medal on Feburary 11 and 13 in the 15-kilometer individual and 7.5-kilometer sprint, respectively.

The results caused the stunning and immediate release of the highly respected and very popular team leader and chief coach Roman Bondaruk, as well as controversial biathlon trainer Roman Zubrylov.

In the 15 K event, where she has captured several top-five World Cup finishes, Zubrylova finished 34th. She then finished 59th in what is arguably one of her strongest events, the 7.5 K sprint.

Zubrylova would not answer or acknowledge repeated questions from the press, choosing to quickly pass through "Olympic mixed zones" - areas intended to allow the press to interact with and question competitors right after their competitions.

Athletes are required to pass through these zones following their events, although they are not required to stop or answer questions.

Zubrylova's results sparked renewed questions among sources closely associated with the team about Zubrylova's use of her husband as her trainer.

Although Zubrylova did stay with her teammates in Sun Valley, Idaho, she trained on her own and was introverted in the weeks leading up to the 19th Winter Games.

Following the biathlon events, questions arose also about Zubrylova's health. According to her husband and trainer, Mr. Zubrylov, Zubrylova has been suffering recently from possible heart palpitations and was expected to see doctors during the past week; no results of those exams have been made public.

The fact that the 19th Winter Olympiad was Zubrylova's third without an Olympic medal may also have added to the stress of being Ukraine's strongest medal contender.

However, experts and analysts of Ukraine's biathlon squad commented that one of the greatest reasons for Zubrylova's disappointing performance could be attributed to her husband's refusal to let anyone but himself train the soon-to-be 29-year-old Kyiv native. Apparently Mr. Zubrylov made it known that only he would be Zubrylova's coach and trainer.

Mr. Bondaruk seemed willing to acquiesce in order to allow Mr. Zubrylov to prove himself. Since Mr. Zubrylov joined the squad over a year ago his wife's World Cup results have been steadily slipping.

Asked about the decision of Ivan Fedorenko, president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOC-U), and Marina Bulatova, president of the State Sports Committee of Ukraine, to release Mr. Bondaruk, Laryssa Barabash-Temple, attaché for the NOC-U, as well as a board member of the Ukrainian World Congress and chair of its Sports Commission, said she was shocked and disappointed and was hoping that cooler heads would prevail to keep Mr. Bondaruk on board.

According to Ms. Barabash-Temple, who stays with the athletes in the Olympic Village, the women's biathlon team was brought to tears with the news that Mr. Bondaruk was being released and was expected to fly back to Kyiv on February 14 - one day after the 7.5 K event.

Mr. Bondaruk commented before he was scheduled to return to Kyiv that the women's biathlon team would still compete in the 4 x 7.5-kilometer relay, but he also made it clear that, due to the recent developments and the team's performance thus far in Salt Lake City, fans should not expect very much from the team, which placed fifth at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

In the interim, the women's biathlon squad will be led by the Ukrainian delegation's chief of mission, Vasyl Karlenko, and the head of the Ukrainian Biathlon Federation, Volodymyr Brynzak.

In the 15 K biathlon Olena Petrova, Ukraine's 1998 silver medalist in the event, finished 24th with a time of 51:05.7 (one target missed), Oksana Yakovleva finished 27th with a time of 51:22.2 (two targets missed), and Oksana Khvostenko finished 29th with a time of 51:34.4 (zero targets missed).

Zubrylova's 34th place finish came with a time of 52:10.7 and three missed targets. The fact that Zubrylova finished behind all of her Ukrainian teammates also seemed to be a reason for her lack of comment to the press.

In the 7.5 kilometer event Ukraine's best finish was that of Tetiana Vodopianova, who took 31st with a time of 23:03.8, followed by Nina Lemesh in 47th who finished in 23:37.4, Olena Petrova in 48th with a time of 23:40.9, and Zubrylova again rounding out the pack at a disappointing 59th with a time of 24:33.2.

Other Ukrainian results

Ukraine's best finish to date came in the women's single luge where 32-year-old Olympic veteran Lilia Ludan bettered her 16th place performance in Nagano, earning sixth place by compiling a time of 2:54.499. She was followed by teammate Oryslava Chukhlib, who finished in 2:56.281, good enough for 20th place.

As The Weekly was preparing to go to print the official results of the men's 10-kilometer classic cross-country event were posted, listing Ivano-Frankivsk native Roman Leibiuk in eighth place with a time of 5:51.8.

In the women's 15-kilometer cross-country Iryna Terelia took 10th place with a time of 40:39.4, Valentyna Shevchenko took 22nd in 42:16.0, and Vita Yakymchuk took 45th in 45:26.7

In the men's 30-kilometer cross-country Leibiuk took 52nd place with a time of 1:18:52.3.

In men's 15-kilometer cross-country skiing Leibiuk finished 32nd with a time of 39:50.9.

Terelia took 13th place with a time of 29:38.5 in the women's 10-kilometer cross-country event, followed by teammate Valentyna Shevchenko, who took 14th in 29:42.7, and Olena Rodina, who finished 43rd in 31:07.4.

Men's downhill saw Mykola Skriabin finish 49th with a time of 1:47.65.

Olena Miahkykh took 31st place in the women's 3,000-meter speedskating event with a time of 4:24.64.

In the men's 500-meter speedskating event, Andrii Fomin finished 29th with a time of 1:12.64 (36.26, 36.38).

In pairs figure skating Olena Savchenko and Stanislav Morozov earned 15th, while Tetiana Chuvayeva and Dmytro Palamarchuk took 16th.

Viacheslav Derkach finished 23rd in the men's 20-kilometer biathlon event with a time of 55:01.3 (one target missed), while his teammates came in as follows: Ruslan Lysenko - 24th in 55:02.1 (two targets missed), Andrij Deryzemlia - 27th in 55:14.8 (one target missed), and Oleksander Bilanenko - 68th in 59:34.4 (four targets missed).

In the men's 10-kilometer biathlon sprint Derkach finished 36th in 27:05.3, while Deryzemlia finished 38th in 27:11.1, Ruslan Lysenko finished 53rd in 27:43.1, and Roman Pryma finished 76th in 29:16.1.

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