Kyiv 'man on the street' blames lack of funds, inadequate facilities (03/03/02)

Kyiv 'man on the street' blames lack of funds, inadequate facilities

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukrainians, outspoken and infinitely quotable as always, had much to say about the failure of Ukraine's Olympic squad to capture a single medal at the recently completed Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Nonetheless, the reasons they sited for the most part were variations on a single theme: the Ukrainian team performed badly because of a lack of finances and a proper training site.

The climate and geography of a country, as we all know, plays a key role in how it does in the Olympics. Northern, more mountainous countries have long dominated the Winter Games. Ukraine has a relatively temperate climate and few mountains to speak of. As such, experts do not consider it a prime winter sport country, and it has had few successes in the outdoor events. But at least one Kyivan thought that a better 2001-2002 winter would have helped the Ukrainians' chances this year.

"We just didn't get enough snow this year," said Ihor Ihnatenko, 37, a taxi driver with a twinkle in his eye.

Most believed, as did Mr. Ihnatenko's colleague, Anatolii Rohach, 32, that "there were insufficient finances" and for that reason "the athletes did not have the ability to properly prepare."

Several of the 16 people The Weekly interviewed on the streets of Kyiv on February 27 explained that more money could have been saved by not competing in Salt Lake City at all. The typical rationale, as offered by Serhii, a 20-year-old student who did not give his last name, was that it was a hopeless situation from the start.

"There was no good reason for the Olympic squad to go to Salt lake City. They had no chances from the outset. The reason for the defeat: a shortage of money," opined Serhii.

There were also those respondents in our informal survey who credited the Soviet system for creating the athletes who did so well in the first Olympics after Ukraine declared independence. Some said they believed it was inevitable that eventually the high level at which Ukraine had competed would begin to fall as the Soviet-bred athletes aged. Yet, in the end, they said it was a matter of financial resources.

"I believe a degradation of abilities is occurring," explained 18-year-old Viktoria, a student from Ivano-Frankivsk. "It may be that there is insufficient money given for training. Perhaps the athletes don't have the same possibilities that athletes in other countries do."

While 52-year-old Volodymyr Borysovych said the specific reason for the Ukrainian team's collapse was because atheletes seemed to have peaked too soon, others suggested that perhaps the team had simply trained improperly, or that the training facilities were inadequate. Still others suspected that health problems, in particular the injuries of the highly touted biathlete Olena Zubrylova, who failed to come close to achieving a medal, were the reason. A Kyiv Conservatory student placed the blame on all three.

"They won no medals and generally did not present themselves well at all because they lack a good training base. Secondly, some of them were injured before the Games even began, and overall it could well be that Ukraine simply did not expend the money needed so that our team made a good showing," said 21-year-old Yulia Khustova.

The Kyivans focused their frustrations on the failure of the highly touted women's biathlon team, which many said prior to the Games had three members who could medal and one, Mrs. Zubrylova, who could well take gold - which in the end was not to be.

City dwellers also were keen to express their utter dissatisfaction with the way in which the Ukrainian cross-country relay team was not allowed to compete after one of its members was disqualified prior to the event after unallowably high amounts of hemoglobin were found in her blood.

Dentist Gennadii Dvorinsky, 48, blamed the doping scandal and the other controversies in Salt Lake City on the International Olympic Committee. The good doctor offered a simple statement to sum up his feelings: "Let's just say that the IOC outdid itself this time," said Dr. Dvorinsky.

Mykhailo Mykhailovych, 52, a photographer, was more expansive. "The problem here was with the leadership of the Olympics [the IOC], because they decided to do doping tests 30 minutes before the event. It should have been planned better and carried out better," said Mr. Mykhailovych, who also said he believed the decision smacked of politics.

"It could have been a practical problem or a political decision - which one I don't know for certain. However, because two former Soviet countries were not allowed to compete, it could very well have been political," explained Mr. Mykhailovych.

Finally, while our respondents had differing reasons as to why their Olympic squad disappointed them over the last two weeks in Salt Lake City, all but one (Mr. Mykhailovych being the lone exception) said their was hope for the future.

Olena Vivsiana, 22, another student at the Kyiv Conservatory, nicely summarized the feelings of most of our respondents: "Maybe this time our team didn't have the luck, but there remain perspectives for the future. Our team, like our people, remain hopeful. We will still support them."

Liuda Liulko contributed to this article.

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