Tokyo Olympics round-up. The most significant moments and what awards Ukrainians took home

This year Ukraine received 19 medals: 12 bronze, 6 silver, and 1 gold. We're proud of all the athletes who represented our country at the 2020-2021 Olympics. The team defended the honor of the country and won 8 more medals than at the previous Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The competition, taking place this year, is called 2020, since a year ago the games had to be postponed due to the pandemic. The Tokyo Summer Games have become the most expensive in history. The estimate exceeded $15.9 billion, according to official figures. The previous record was in London in 2012, 14.9 billion. Due to the spread of coronavirus infection, the organizers had to return money for 4.48 million tickets sold, worth about $800 million.

The state awards for winners since the 2016 Olympics will remain unchanged. The Ministry of Youth and Sports promised the winners $125,000 for gold, $80,000 for silver, and $55,000 for bronze. But the most important reward for the athletes themselves is the pride of loved ones, family members, friends, and all of us, their compatriots in them. Let's look at the winners and find out a little more about them and their victories because they decently represented our country in the world sports arena.

Ukrainian Daria Bilodid won a bronze medal in judo competitions in the weight category up to 48 kg. In the confrontation for the third position, she defeated the representative of Israel Shira Rishoni, whom she called one of her two competitors. The second, Kosovar Distria Krasniqi, eventually took first place.

Daria Bilodid brought Ukraine the first medal at the 2020 Olympics. The girl said that she was very upset when she lost to the Japanese woman Funa Tonaki in the semifinals, but she pulled herself up and nevertheless fought for a place on the podium for the winners. Dasha is only 20 years old, and she has already won two world championships: in 2018 as the youngest world champion in history and 2019, and also two European championships in 2017 and 2019.

Ukrainian pair Olena Kostevych and Oleh Omelchuk won bronze medals at the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in shooting from a pneumatic pistol from 10 meters. According to Olympic beliefs, Olena wasn't promised good luck: she carried the flag at the grand opening of the games, and the medals aren't in the cards for the standard-bearers, as for some reason, the athletes believe. But everything turned out well.

"We walked long and hard towards this award. And today wasn't an easy day; luck changed failure and vice versa. Oleh is a great fellow and this award is very valuable to us. Like gold. They say the standard-bearer couldn't receive a medal. I never believed it. I had the great honor to carry the flag of my state and am happy that we managed to win this award for the country," the press service of the National Olympic Committee quotes Kostevych.

Ukrainian swimmer Mykhailo Romanchuk took first place in the heat at a distance of 800 meters, swimming the distance in 7 minutes and 41.28 seconds, setting an Olympic and national record. But in the final he was less fortunate; he covered the distance in 7 minutes and 42.33 seconds and still took the bronze medal. Mykhailo was outstripped by the American Robert Finke. He finished first, 0.36 seconds faster, taking gold, followed by Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri with 7 minutes, 42.11 seconds. However, the first result, the record of Mykhailo Romanchuk in the preliminary heat, was never broken.

In the preliminary freestyle with a distance of 1500 meters, Romanchuk was again the first with a result of 14 minutes and 45.99 seconds. In the final swim, he surpassed himself, went through the distance faster by 5.33 seconds, but took second place, winning another silver medal for Ukraine.

There were some funny situations at the Olympics. In butterfly swimming, Margaret McNeill, who took bronze for Canada, became a meme because she squinted funny when she watched the results of the swim and didn't immediately understand what her result was. We now have a new meme from the Olympics.

In men's fencing between Ukrainian Ihor Reizlin and Italian Andrea Santarelli, Reizlin won the fight with a score of 15:12. The Ukrainian took bronze. At first, Santarelli came out ahead with a score of 4:1, but the Ukrainian managed to seize the initiative and brought the encounter to victory. Reizlin won the first Olympic medal in the history of Ukraine in men's fencing at this Olympiad at the age of 37, during his first performance at the Olympics. Reizlin dedicated the victory to his loved ones:

"I dedicate my victory to my whole family. Dad, mom. Mom worries about me the most in this world. To my wife, children, grandmother. To my family," the fencer said.

This is not Ihor's first major victory in 2021: at the World Cup in Russia, the Ukrainian defeated the reigning world champion and received a gold medal. Today, the Ukrainian fencing team is one of the three best in the world according to the FIE rating, and Ihor Reizlin is its leader. The Ukrainians lost only to the Italians and the French.

The sixth world tennis player, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina won a bronze medal.

In the decisive match, Svitolina beat the representative of Kazakhstan, Elena Rybakina, with a score of 1:6, two more sets ended with a score of 7:5, 6:4. The game lasted over 2 hours.

Instagram users were touched by the "victorious" photo of Elina with her husband, French Gael Monfils. He posted a photo with the caption "When your wife won the bronze medal"; the couple received a lot of congratulations and compliments from sports colleagues and followers.

Ukrainian Liudmila Luzan finished third in the single canoe discipline in the 200-meter distance with a score of 47.034 seconds, beating the Polish athlete and reigning European champion Dorota Borowski by 0.08 seconds, finishing third and bringing Ukraine another bronze medal. Interestingly, the women's canoe sprint race was the first in the history of the Olympic Games, which means that for the first time athletes from the USA, Canada and Ukraine will rise to the podium. Great start!

In another swim, but already in a canoe pair and at a distance of 500 meters, Liudmila Luzan, together with Anastasia Chetverikova, took silver!

Kharkiv residents Marta Fedina and Anastasia Savchuk took the bronze medal in the artistic swimming duet competition. For their performance in the final of the free routine, the Ukrainian women received 95.6000 points from the judges. Taking into account the technical routine, the final result of Marta and Anastasia was 189.4620 points, which brought them a third place at the Olympic Games. This award is the first Olympic medal in the history of Ukrainian synchronized swimming.

"We cannot yet describe it in words. How can you find the words when you receive your first historic Olympic medal?! We feel like we made history. We don't even realize yet, because we have a group ahead of us. We hope that we've charged our girls to fight," the girls said. Gold of the Olympics in duets went to the Russian women Svetlana Kolesnichenko and Svetlana Romashina, who perform under a neutral flag. Chinese synchronized swimmers ascended the second step of the podium.

The first victory in history was won by Ukrainian synchronized swimmers in artistic swimming, where Yelizaveta Yakhno, Alina Shynkarenko, Vladyslava Alekseeva, and Maryna Alekseeva, Ksenia Sydorenko, and Kateryna Reznik performed together with Marta Fedina and Anastasia Savchuk.

In free wrestling among women up to 68 kg, bronze was won by 32-year-old Lviv woman, 2-time winner of the world championships and 5-time winner of Euro in women's wrestling Alla Cherkasova, defeating the Japanese woman, the Olympic champion of the games in Rio de Janeiro. Earlier, Cherkasova noted that her son asked her to bring the award: "My son asked me for a medal and I'm ready to do everything to bring it."

Another bronze in the category up to 62 kilograms was brought to Ukraine by 22-year-old Iryna Koliadenko, an athlete of the Central Sports Club of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For Ira, the Tokyo Olympics are the first Olympic Games. Earlier in 2021, she won the "gold" of the European Championship, and in 2020, she was the bronze medalist of these competitions.

22-year-old Parviz Nasibov received silver in Greco-Roman wrestling in the weight category up to 67 kilograms. In the final, the Ukrainian lost 1:9 to the Iranian Mohammed Reza Gera. It was a tough fight for the athlete: losing during the fight, he defeated the opponent with a score of 7:6. By the way, for the victory, Parviz was presented with a car on his return to Ukraine, but not by the state, but, as he wrote on his Instagram, "an elder friend."

Even the deputies went to the Olympics! Thus, the People's Deputy from the Servant of the People party, Zhan Beleniuk, became the Tokyo Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, and won the first gold medal for Ukraine! After the fight, Zhan Beleniuk traditionally danced the hopak with the Ukrainian flag in his hands. In the same way, he celebrated the victory at the European Games in Minsk and the European Championship in Bucharest in 2019.

Silver for karate among women up to 55 kilograms was taken by the beautiful Anzhelika Terliuha! According to the National Olympic Committee, after the end of the competition, Anzhelika Terliuha apologized to Ukrainians:

"I dreamed about this medal, though, I hoped that it would be of a different color, but today I did everything I could. Forgive me, it's not gold. However, for me, it's white gold."

We're proud of Anzhelika, and we agree that for all of Ukraine her victory is real white gold!

Stanislav Horuna, recurring champion of Ukraine in karate, silver and bronze medalist of the European Championships, took bronze in Kumite competitions and at the 2020-2021 Olympics. The 32-year-old athlete isn't only engaged in karate, but also a lawyer by education and a deputy of the Lviv district council from the Samopomich party.

26-year-old Poltava resident Oleksandr Khyzhniak won silver in boxing in the weight category up to 75 kg, losing in the final to the representative of Brazil, Hebert Souza. Oleksandr fought the entire fight, but in the middle of the round the boxers went into a tough exchange of punches, Souza hit Khyzhniak's jaw with his left sidekick and knocked him down. Khyzhniak immediately got to his feet, but the referee decided not even to open the "till ten" count, but immediately announced a knockout. This was not the first meeting between Khyzhniak and Souza: they met twice at a tournament in Bulgaria (in 2019 and 2020), the Ukrainian won twice, so the Brazilian's victory was almost accidental.

Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Iryna Herashchenko, and Yulia Levchenko confidently overcame the height of 1.95 and became the finalists of the 2020 Olympics. The bronze medal for third place went to Yaroslava Mohuchikh, who finished the competition with a score of 2 meters.

Olena Starikova won another silver medal at the Olympic Games. In the final Starikova fought for gold with Canadian cyclist Kelsey Mitchell, but lost to her in two heats. In the first race, the Ukrainian lost 0.061 seconds, and in the second, 0.064.

We're proud of the successes of our athletes, and we believe: success at the Olympics is a great sign for Ukraine and the best reason for pride in our country.

The closing ceremony of the Olympics took place on August 8. The solemn event began with a parade of athletes, in which one of the athletes from each team carried the flag of their country. Three state flags were raised on flagpoles: Greece, Japan, and France. Tokyo handed over the Olympic flag to Paris, where the next 2024 Summer Games will be held, and then the Olympic flag was lowered. It was solemnly carried in front of the central tribune in an unfolded form, the Olympic flame went out in the bowl and the final fireworks began.

The next Summer Olympics will be held in Paris, followed by the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Brisbane will become the capital of the Olympics in 2032, and the Winter Olympics in Beijing will begin in winter in 2022, which we will look forward to as an entire country.