KYIV: Ukraine’s gold medal-winning boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak gave a military salute to the crowd gathered to celebrate his return to the war-torn country from the Paris Olympics.
Stepping out of the special Olympic Express train at Kyiv’s central railway station, Khyzhniak, 29, greeted fans, friends and family. The athlete from Poltava is also a serviceman of Ukraine’s border guard.
He’s the first gold-medal winner in the 2024 Olympics to bring the award to his home country.
“I truly dedicate this award to every Ukrainian, to everyone who helped and supported me, who was by my side, cheered for me all over the world,” Khyzhniak said upon his arrival Saturday.
In the men’s middleweight category, Khyzhniak defeated Nurbek Oralbay from Kazakhstan. Ukraine has also won gold medals in women’s team fencing and the women’s high jump.
A star-struck fan, Volodymyr Honchar, 13, was brought to the Kyiv train station by his mother to welcome his idol and get his boxing glove signed by the Olympic champion.
“His victory will raise the spirits of all Ukrainians, will make us all feel good, will make us all stronger,” Honchar told The Associated Press.
Khyzhniak’s victory and other Ukrainian wins in Paris have lifted the spirits of many Ukrainians in the 2 1/2 year war against Russia. Troops are locked in deadly combat along the 1000-kilometer (620-mile) border.
Khyzhniak’s home region of Poltava, just 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Russia, is an area that has been a constant target for Russian air attacks.
“Every time while at the competition or preparing for the competition, when I saw on my phone that air alert was announced in the Poltava region, of course I was worried about Ukraine,” said Khyzhniak. “I was worried about my family and I hoped that our military would protect all of us.”
Oleksandr Khyzhniak, Ukraine’s gold medal-winning boxer, returns home and lifts spirits amid war
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Oleksandr Khyzhniak, Ukraine’s gold medal-winning boxer, returns home and lifts spirits amid war
- Stepping out of the special Olympic Express train at Kyiv’s central railway station, Khyzhniak, 29, greeted fans, friends and family
- The athlete from Poltava is also a serviceman of Ukraine’s border guardukrainia
Alonso fears more pain in China with struggling Aston Martin
- Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia
SHANGHAI: Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia.
Silverstone-based Aston Martin endured a horror start after serious issues with their Honda power unit and a lack of spare parts.
Two-time world champion Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll had to endure extreme vibration in the chassis caused by the power unit, which was feared could cause the drivers permanent nerve damage.
“The situation unfortunately didn’t change within four or five days since Melbourne, so it will be a difficult weekend,” Alonso told reporters at the Shanghai International Circuit.
“We’ll limit the laps in one or two sessions as we are short on parts. We need laps, to find the window on the chassis side.
“I’ll be happy if we leave China with a more or less normal practice, more or less normal qualifying.”
The Spaniard could not put a timeframe on when improvements might come.
“What can I do within the team? Work harder, help Honda as much as I can,” said Alonso.
“We can allocate resources to help Honda with the power unit. We are one team, it is a bumpy start that I hope won’t last too long.
“We are pushing, we have very talented people in the team, so I hope within a couple of grands prix, we can have a normal weekend.
“To be competitive will take more time. Once we fix the reliability, we will be behind on power and things.”
The 44-year-old veteran has been in Formula One for more than two decades and has driven vastly different iterations of cars from the old V10 petrol engines through to the current complex hybrid configuration.
Despite the issues he said was embracing the challenge of the new cars enthusiastically in what could be his final season on the grid.
His Aston Martin contract expires at the end of 2026.
“Do we enjoy driving these cars? Yes, because we love racing,” Alonso said.
“I do four or five 24-hour races because I love racing and I love driving. So if you jump into an F1 car, you enjoy going fast.
“But it is a challenge, a different challenge.
“I was super lucky to race in (the last) era and I feel lucky to race in both.”
