Ukraine

As a separate nation Ukraine had never competed at the Olympics until its début in 1994 at Lillehammer at the Olympic Winter Games and in 1996 at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. This is due mostly to the fact that, until the Soviet revolution of 1991, Ukraine had only been truly independent in the 20th century for a brief period around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution (and was at civil war for most of that time). Many Ukrainians competed for the Soviet Union at the Olympic Games, however. Ukraine was second only to Russia among Soviet republics in terms of medals won. Ukrainian Larysa Latynina was the most successful athlete during the Soviet era, she won 18 medals (nine gold, five silver, and four bronze) in gymnastics between 1956 and 1964. Also other top Ukrainian gymnasts like Borys Shakhlin (7-4-2 from 1956 to 1964), Viktor Chukarin (7-3-1 in 1952 and 1956), and Polina Astakhova (5-2-3 from 1956 to 1964) represented the Soviet Union. Ukrainian athletes were present at Albertville and Barcelona in 1992 as members of the Unified Team.

The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine was formed on 22 December 1990 (before the break up from the Soviet Union), provisionally recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1992, and fully recognized in September 1993 at the IOC session in Monte Carlo. At Lillehammer, Ukraine accounted for two Olympic medals, highlighted by the gold-medal-winning performance of Oksana Baiul in women’s figure skating. Ukraine has never hosted an Olympic Games, but in 1980 several preliminary football (soccer) matches were held in the Respublikansky stadion in Kyiv. Its star Olympian is swimmer Yana Klochkova, who won back-to-back victories in the two individual medley swimming events of 2000 and 2004.