Paris 2024 Paralympics: Five inspiring facts about Ukraine’s Paralympic team

On August 28, the world will welcome the opening of the Paris 2024 Paralympics, where national teams will fight for 540 sets of awards. This summer, 140 athletes of Ukraine's Paralympic team will compete in 17 out of 22 sports featured in the Paralympics program, marking the largest representation of Ukraine to date.

Amid the enormous negative impact of Russia's full-scale war on parasports in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Paralympic athletes trained hard to represent their home country on an international level and are determined to repeat their impressive success from the previous Paralympic Games.

As they prepare for Paris, Rubryka shares five remarkable facts about Ukraine's Paralympic team and parasports in Ukraine.

1. Ukrainian Paralympic medal count

Since its debut at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympics, Ukraine hasn't missed even one Paralympic Game and has established itself as a parasports powerhouse across both summer and winter competitions. It consistently ranks among the top nations on the medal count table and has won 613 Paralympic medals — 187 gold, 264 silver, and 265 bronze.

At the latest Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, the Ukrainian team secured 98 medals (24 gold, 47 silver, 27 bronze) and finished 6th on the medal count table. Ukraine also excelled in the Winter Paralympics, finishing 2nd at the Beijing 2022 Games with 29 medals, including 11 golds.

2. Ukraine is "punching above its weight" 

International Paralympic Committee spokesperson Craig Spence once said about Ukraine, "It's a small country clearly punching above its weight." Ukraine has been in the top six countries in the medal standings at ten consecutive Paralympic Games despite having a smaller team compared to major international players. 

At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, 143 Ukrainian athletes secured 98 medals — an impressive achievement with a team size much smaller than leading countries like China, which had 251 athletes and won 207 medals, and the United States, with 240 athletes and 104 medals. Similarly, at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics, Ukraine's team of 20 athletes won 29 medals, outperforming larger teams from other nations.

3. Ukraine's dominance in swimming and biathlon

Ukrainian Paralympian athletes are unbeatable in swimming, having won 243 medals at seven Summer Paralympic Games. In Tokyo, Ukraine's Paralympic team won 43 of 98 medals in swimming alone. Ukrainian swimmer Maksym Krypak was one of the most decorated Paralympians in that event, with seven medals — five gold, one silver, and one bronze.

At the Winter Paralympics, Ukrainians have always dominated the biathlon events. The current medal count is 77 medals — 22 gold, 28 silver, and 27 bronze. At the Beijing 2022 Paralympics, Ukraine swept the podium in both men's and women's biathlon three times with nine medals.

4. Special training program

Parasports in Ukraine have extensively developed thanks to unique training methods for athletes with disabilities created by the coaches and sports scientists of Ukraine's National Paralympic Center. The mastermind behind the facility, which opened in 2002, is Valerii Sushkevych, a former para swimmer who has led the Paralympic movement in Ukraine as a chief of the country's Paralympic committee and a politician and MP.

Mr. Sushkevych developed a special program called Invasport, opening Paralympic sports schools in each region of Ukraine. These centers invite disabled children for rehabilitation and training to motivate them to lead an active lifestyle or to see if they have potential in professional parasports. "In Ukraine, we have set up the best physical education, sport, and rehabilitation system for people with disability," he told BBC in 2016. "We have to give them the opportunity to realize their potential."

5. Strong government support

Over the last thirty years, Ukraine has formed a strategy to support its parasports and invest in youth Paralympic development programs, particularly Invasport, which discovers and nurtures promising athletes with disabilities from an early age. As MP and Paralympic leader, Valerii Sushkevych pushed for this change, ensuring better conditions and opportunities for athletes — and people — with disabilities.

The Invasport founder secured specific funding for Ukrainian Paralympians. According to sports official Karina Matiazh, Ukraine has "separate budgets for the Olympics and the Paralympics, whereas most other countries just get whatever bits and pieces are left over from their Olympic budget." Mr. Sushkevych also fought to increase payments — cash prizes the Ukrainian leadership awards to Paralympic Games medalists — and equal them to the ones Olympian athletes receive. This consistent backing of the government and deserving payments improved the performance of Ukraine's Paralympic team.