Ukraine won its third gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressing his gratitude on social media.
Ukrainian middleweight boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak won a gold medal by defeating Kazakhstan's Nurbek Oralbay 3-2 in a thrilling final at Roland Garros.
“Another gold medal for Ukraine at the Paris Olympics! Boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak has taken first place,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X after the fight.
“Thank you for your strength, your confidence and for this important victory! We continue to support all our athletes. We applaud Ukraine, we applaud the Ukrainians!”
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Referee Muhammad Pohan raises the hand of Ukraine's Oleksandr Khyzhniak to announce the winner of the men's 80kg semi-final against Cuba's Arlen Lopez Cardona on day nine of the Paris Olympic Games. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Khyzhniak joined women's high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh and women's fencer Olga Kharlan as Ukrainian gold medalists in Paris so far. The country has won eight medals in total.
For Khyzhniak, Ukraine’s first male gold medalist in Paris, Wednesday’s victory marked a moment of both national and personal pride. Khyzhniak was on track to win middleweight gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when he was the favorite to defeat Brazil’s Herbert Sousa. But Sousa came up with a stunning punch that floored Khyzhniak, and he had to settle for the silver medal.
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Since that defeat, Khyzhniak's nation was invaded and many of his teammates were killed.
Russia's war against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, just days after the conclusion of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, has already lasted two years, five months and two weeks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listens during his meeting with Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 1, 2022. (Press Office of the President of Ukraine via AP)
There are only 140 Ukrainian athletes at the Olympics, the smallest field in the country's history at the Summer Games, as hundreds have died during the war.
An exhibition with sports equipment was set up in London's Parliament Square to pay tribute to the 487 Ukrainian athletes murdered Since the Russian invasion of the country, they include Oleksandr Pielieshenko, who competed in weightlifting at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and Kateryna Diachenko, an 11-year-old rhythmic gymnast murdered in March 2022.
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Gold medallist Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine poses on the podium during the men's 80kg boxing medal ceremony after the final match on day 12 of the Paris Olympics. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Because Russia invaded Ukraine just four days after the 2022 Winter Olympics ended, the International Olympic Committee considered the attack a violation of the Olympic Truce, a resolution that calls on all nations to lay down their arms and not engage in conflicts that begin a week before the Olympics begin and end a week after their conclusion.
Because of this, Russian athletes are not allowed to represent their nation in Paris, but can compete as “neutral individual athletes.”
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