Ukraine’s Paralympic success

The Ukrainian team gave a brilliant performance at the X Paralympic Games in Vancouver, winning 19 medals – 5 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze - and securing fifth place in the team standings.

This is the fourth winter Paralympic games that Ukraine has participated in as a team, this time represented by 26 athletes competing in 32 events.

This year’s medal winners were Yuriy Kostiuk from Lutsk, Hryhoriy Vovchynsky from the Cherkasy oblast, Vitaliy Lukianenko from Sumy oblast, Olena Yurkovska and Oleksandra Kononova from the Kyiv oblast, and Yulia Batenkova-Bauman from the Volyn region.

Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko believes they are true heroes. "Thank you for representing our country so well on the sports arena and showing the world that Ukraine’s Paralympic athletes have an invincible faith in victory," reads the greeting from Yulia Tymoshenko.

She is convinced that the Ukrainian athletes’ success was due to their skills and high level of preparations, as well as their great will power, courage and desire to achieve a goal.

"I know that the road to such international recognition is very difficult, but our athletes showed that they can overcome all obstacles and achieve victory, bringing glory to Ukraine," Yulia Tymoshenko noted. "You have all become models of how we should work to strengthen Ukraine’s authority."

She believes the state should provide maximum support for the Paralympic movement in Ukraine, as she did while she was prime minister.

In December 2009, Yulia Tymoshenko signed an action plan for 2010 for providing social support to the disabled, which included financing for preparations and participation in the X Winter Paralympic Games.

The Cabinet of Ministers also provided 92 hectares of land in the Lviv oblast for the Western Rehabilitation and Sports Center of the National Committee on Sports for the Disabled.

The first phase of construction of the center has been completed. The national team practiced for these games at the skiing and biathlon tracks in the village of Verkhnye, Turkivsky raion, Lviv oblast.

The Center has two hotels for athletes, ski slopes adapted for persons with disabilities, and a chair lift. A gym and health center will be equipped soon.

Yulia Tymoshenko’s government did a great deal to help Ukraine be the global leader in the development of rehabilitation of people with disabilities. "We are number one. Nowhere in the world do you have such dynamics in the development of disabled sports as in Ukraine. And I think the results we’ve had at the Paralympic and Deaflympic Games is evidence of this," she believes.

The International Paralympic Committee is thankful to Yulia Tymoshenko’s government for supporting Paralympic sport. "Ukraine truly deserves its excellent reputation as one of the countries best developing the Paralympic Movement," said Vice President Miguel Sagarra.

Ukraine is grateful to the Paralympic athletes for bringing glory to Ukraine during the winter games in Vancouver. However, the further success of Ukraine athletes will only be possible with support from the state. "We must work together and be partners in forming a state policy on disability issues. This was always the case in my governments and should always be," Yulia Tymoshenko said.