BEIJING — Ukrainian athletes showed
resilience in the face of the turmoil engulfing their war-torn homeland
Saturday, racing to the top of the medal table on day one of the
Beijing Winter Paralympics with an impressive haul of seven.
اضافة اعلان
With more than 1.2 million of their fellow citizens
now refugees and fears of a food crisis mounting, the Ukrainian Paralympians on
the slopes in Zhangjiakou dug deep.
The team claimed three golds, three silver and a
bronze in the biathlon events, just days after an arrival in the capital their
top official had dubbed a “miracle” following an arduous journey.
Host country
China, meanwhile, grabbed eight medals
Saturday, including two gold.
Ukraine made a clean sweep in the men’s
vision-impaired biathlon race, with Vitalii Lukianenko, 43, adding a seventh
Paralympic gold to his collection and 25-year-olds Oleksandr Kazik, and Dmytro
Suiarko claiming silver and bronze, respectively.
“They are my brothers in sport and brothers in life.
We are really close to each other,” Lukianenko said after his win.
He urged his relatives in the besieged city of
Kharkiv to remain strong.
“I want to dedicate this medal to the guys who
protect our cities,” he said.
In the men’s biathlon standing event, Grygorii
Vovchynskyi, 33, also used his victory to pay tribute to the bravery of
Ukraine’s embattled citizens.
“Ukraine is a big family,” he said.
“My gold medal in my first race is for peace in
Ukraine, for the people in Ukraine.”
Oksana Shyshkova, 30, who is visually impaired, won
the women’s sprint title in her category, while in the women’s standing race,
Liudmyla Liashenko finished second.
“Medals mean nothing compared to the lives of
relatives and people who have suffered already through war,” Oksana said.
A pre-race chat to his family helped spur Rad Taras
to the silver in the men’s sitting sprint biathlon -- the team’s first medal of
the day.
“They’re safe right now,” he told AFP.
Rad said the chaotic lead-up to the event had taken
a toll.
“The last week, we spent in Italy, without any
equipment. We couldn’t train, we just rested and went walking,” he said.
‘The race was really tough.’
He hopes the performance
will help lift spirits back home.
“It’s a big honor to wear yellow and blue colors and
represent my country,” he said.
Ukraine-born
Oksana Masters, who competes for Team
USA, claimed her sixth Paralympic gold since 2012 and dedicated her win in the
women’s sitting biathlon to her country of birth.
“I’m so proud to be Ukrainian... everything I have
learned (as) an athlete... resilience, fighting and working hard, I learned
from Ukraine,” she said.
The superstar all-rounder — cyclist, rower,
biathlete, and cross-country skier — won a cycling gold at the
Tokyo Summer Paralympics six months ago and said the quick transition back to winter sports
had been tough.
Host success
China found luck on home
turf Saturday in the biathlon and alpine skiing events on its way to two gold
medals, three silver and three bronze.
While consistently topping the medal tally at the
Summer Paralympics, China’s first medal for the Winter Paralympics only came in
2018, and it is hoping its largest-ever team of 96 athletes will get more
podium finishes this year.
The lead-up to the Beijing Games was marred by high
tension in the athletes’ village, threats of competition boycotts and an
eleventh-hour reversal by organizers of a previous decision to let Russian
athletes and those from ally Belarus compete as neutrals.
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