On August 21, the Olympic Games, in which Crimean athletes took part, were officially closed. However, this year these athletes represented different teams – from Ukraine and the Russian Federation that annexed Crimea in March 2014.
The woman-gymnast Anna Rizatdinova has the greatest achievement among three Crimeans participated in the competitions under the Ukrainian flag – it is a bronze Olympic medal. At the end of four final competitions, the Ukrainian athlete from Simferopol gained 73.583 points in the rigorous contest with competitresses – the Russians Margarita Mamun and Yana Kudryavtseva.
“Of course, I am happy to have this medal. If four years ago, after the Games in London, I felt that I fell short of my target and didn’t finish some elements, then now I have nothing to blame myself for. I’ve done my best and, as you can see, my efforts were rewarded. I won the Olympic medal,” the woman-gymnast told the UNIAN correspondent.
However, many people in Ukraine believe that judges were too hard on Anna and more loyal to her competitresses. So, the Rizatdinova bronze medal is reallyequivalent to the Olympic gold.
“Anya was examined more than ever. They judged hard and didn’t forgive anything. They counted what she performed and noticed the elements she missed. There was another case when her opponents were judged. The main thing is that Anya performed what she promised. She has done her best. This was enough for getting the medal. For the bronze medal we used to consider the gold one because it is difficult for Ukraine to win these medals now,” the Olympic bronze medalist of Beijing and Athens in the all-around Anna Bessonova said.
Andrey Govorov from Sevastopol ranked only the 5th place in the 50m freestyle competition in the final, although he occupied a clear leading position at the start. For example, he covered his main 50m distance in 21.46 seconds in the semi-finals, but his result was just 21.74 seconds in the final, that didn’t allow him to take a place on the winner’s podium. The Olympic championin Sydney-2000, athlete from the USA Anthony Ervin won the golden medal with the result of 21.40 seconds.
The athlete himself took a self-critical look at his result. “I’ve done everything I could. I felt confident about the final swim and wanted to do something impossible, so I lost my stability. I made a small mistake at the start – everything messed up because of that,” he commented on his loss for the sport.ua portal.
However, Andrey Govorov does not lose faith in the success and hopes that he still can win an Olympic medal for Ukraine. “As for me, I will do everything to win medals at the next Olympic Games,” the athlete promised.
Another Crimean who went to Rio in the Ukrainian team – Andrey Grivko hoped to win medals, but he took just the 41st place in the group and the 18th place in the individual cycling race.
“I had a lot of expectations and a winning mindset – I wanted to win a medal. I finished the 18th in the individual cycling, and failed in the group cycling too. I could remain in the main group, but it was hot or something else in the mountain circles and I couldn’t get into the race at once. Then I had to catch up with others and was not able to neutralize the gap,” Grivko commented on his failure.
The Ukrainian bicycle racer from Simferopol does not give up and is not going to retire from sports.On the contrary, he is ready to fight at the next Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“I am ready to continue performing at the Olympic Games. I set up a goal before Rio to participate in the Olympic Games-2020. I would like to play at a high level and perform in this format for another four years. I want to try to gain achievements I failed to gain this time at the next Olympic Games,” the athlete says about his plans.
Only one athlete from Crimea – the windsurfer from Yevpatoria Maksym Oberemko was allowed to participate for the Russian team in the Olympic Games-2016. However, he couldn’t reach the final and finished the 16thin the overall standing. Maksym Oberemko had his best score being in the Ukrainian team in Beijing in 2008.
It is possible that Crimean athletes who have chosen the tricolor – the Olympic champion in shooting of 2008 Artur Ayvazyan and the European champion of 2012 in the javelin Vera Rebrik could win the Olympic medals for Russia. However, Ukraine hasn’t agreed for Ayvazyan’s participation at the Olympic Games in Rio. Vera Rebrik was more fortunate: she came into the Russian sport almost with no hassles as a result of agreements between the Federations of two countries and the payment of compensation to Ukraine by Russia. The track and field woman athlete was even included in the pre-Olympic team of the Russian Federation, waiting for the final decision of the International Olympic Committee. However, in July, almost a whole team of Russian track and field athletes was excluded from participation in the Olympics-2016due to doping scandal.
The time will show the fate of theCrimean athletes, but today those ones who remained loyal to Ukraine were more successful.
