UKRAINIAN ATHLETES

[Hannia]

Ruslan Ponomariov. Ukrainian chess player. Current world champion. In 1998, at age 14, he became the youngest Grand Master in history. Born Horlivka, Ukraine. On January 23, 2002, he won the FIDE World Championship and became the youngest world champion in chess history (at age 18).
http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/ruslan.html

Vasyl Ivanchuk. As of July, 2002, he was ranked 10-th in the world in chess, according to FIDE rankings. On Dec. 13, 2001 he reached the finals of the FIDE World Championship where he lost (on January 23, 2002) to fellow Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov for the title!!
http://www.worldchessrating.com/lineups/ivanchuk.htm

Sergey (Serhiy) Karyakin. This twelve year old Ukrainian has just (August, 2002) become the youngest grandmaster in history.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=310

Wayne Gretzky. Born 1961. Ranked #1 on the list of the top 50 hockey players of all time. He holds many of the most important NHL records. Wayne's paternal grandmother was born in Pidhaitse, Ukraine, and his paternal grandfather was born in Belarus.
http://www.canoe.com/Gretzky/stories.html

Terry Sawchuk. 1929-1970. Born Winnipeg. Perhaps the greatest hockey goalie ever. He still holds the NHL record for shutouts. Listed #9 in the top 50 hockey players of all time, and is the top listed goalie. Played most of his career with the Detroit Red Wings.
http://www.hhof.com/cgi-bin/perl?/na...&t-v&i-hm11100

Mike Bossy. Born 1957 in Montreal. Listed #20 in the top 50 hockey players of all time (compiled 1999). Mike Bossy was a high scoring forward for the New York Islanders in the 1970's. He scored over 50 goals for nine consecutive seasons.
1. http://www.newyorkislanders.com/news/bossystory.htm
2. http://www.hhof.com/cgi-bin/perl?/na...&t-v&i-hm11100

Bill Mosienko. 1921-1994. Hockey player for Chicago Black Hawks. He holds the record for the fastest three goals in the history of the NHL. He scored three goals in 21 seconds, March 23, 1952, against the NY Rangers.
http://www.hhof.com/cgi-bin/perl?/na...&t-v&i-hm11100

Johnny Bucyk. Born Edmonton, 1935. Hockey player for Boston Bruins. Listed #45 in the top 50 players of all time. Member of the "Uke Line" in the 1960's.
http://www.hhof.com/cgi-bin/perl?/na...&t-v&i-hm11100

Bill Barilko. 1927-1951. Hockey legend. He scored one of the most famous goals ever to win the 1951 Stanley Cup for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He died that same year in a airplane crash.
http://www.southcoastal.com/history/barilko.htm

Vladislav Tretiak. Goalie for the Soviet hockey teams in the 1970's. Born 1952 in Russia, of Ukrainian ancestry (according to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine).
http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~norrisdt/bio/tretiak.html

More hockey players. Dmitri Khristich , Oleh Tverdovsky, Peter Bondra, Alexei Zhitnik were born in Ukraine. Keith Tkachuk, Dale Hawerchuk, Turk Broda, Eddie Shack, Dave Andreychuk, Walt Tkaczuk are among many current and former NHL hockey players of Ukrainian ancestry. A web site on Ukrainian hockey is available at http://history.ukraine.org/ukraine/uaicehockey

Andriy Shevchenko. Born 1976 in Kyiv. Currently one of the top soccer players in the world. He is now playing for Milan (Italy) after receiving a multi million dollar contract.
http://shevchenko.ukrainiansoccer.net/

Sergei Rebrov. Soccer star with Tottenham Hotspurs.
http://www.spurs.co.uk/stats/player....=yes&stats=yes

Oleh Blokhin. Ukrainian soccer superstar from the 1970's under the outstanding coach Valery Lobanovsky (d. 2002), when Kyiv Dynamo had the best team in Europe.
http://www.iprinet.kiev.ua/wumag/archiv/1_98/futbol.htm

More soccer players. See
http://history.ukrainiansoccer.net

Bronko Nagurski. 1908-1990. American football Hall of Fame player.
He was a dominant fullback in the 1930's.
http://archive.profootballweekly.com...s_nagurski.asp

Wayne Chrebet. New York Jets football player.
http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1999/069931.shtml

Larissa Latynina. Gymnast. Born 1934 in Kherson. She was the first female athlete to win nine gold medals at the Olympic Games. In total, Latynina won 18 medals at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Olympics, more than any other female Olympian ever.
http://www.intlgymnast.com/legends/latynina.html

Oksana Baiul. Born 1977, in Dnipropetrovske. Olympic Gold Figure Skater. Her gold medal performance at the 1994 Olympics was the most dramatic in history, when she eked out a win over Nancy Kerrigan. Oksana had endured an injury during an earlier crash and Kerrigan had earlier been attacked by thugs and beaten on her knees.
http://www.friends-partners.org/oldf...ksana.bio.html

Victor Petrenko. Born 1969 in Odesa. Olympic Gold Medal figure skater.
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/M...7/CelebVik.htm

Sergey Bubka. Born 1964. World Record holder in pole vault.
http://www.sporting-heroes.net/athle...sp?HeroID=1456

Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are two of the top boxers in the world. Wladimir Klitschko defeated Chris Byrd to win the WBO heavyweight boxing title on Oct. 14, 2000. Both hold doctoral degrees in sports education.
http://www.klichko.com

Ukrainian Canadians Orest Meleschuk, Ed Werenich, Ed Lukowich, Kerry Burtnyk, and Kathy Pidzarko have all been world curling champions. See
http://www.curling.com/worldmen.htm

Lilia Podkopayeva. Born 1978. Ukrainian Olympic gold medal gymnast. (Atlanta, 1996)
http://www.lilypodinc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

Mike Ditka. 1939- . Born Pennsylvania. American football player, coach and TV commentator. In an autobiography, he refers to his Ukrainian ancestry.
http://www.usdreams.com/Ditka.html

Ivan Piddubny (aka Ivan Poddubny). 1871-1949. Professional wrestler. "was acclaimed World champion at Paris in 1905 and went undefeated on the *** for 25 years".
http://www.day.kiev.ua/DIGEST/2000/001/sport/sp3.htm

Steve Podborski. 1957- . Canadian skier. Olympic Bronze medal in 1980 at Lake Placid. 1982 World Cup Downhill champion. Steve's paternal grandmother was from Mshanec, Kopychyntsi, Ternopil oblast, Ukraine.
http://www.craigleith.com/pod.htm

Vitaly Potapenko. NBA basketball. Seattle Sonics.
http://nba.com/playerfile/vitaly_potapenko.html

Slava Medvedenko. NBA basketball. LA Lakers.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/stanislav_medvedenko/

Leonid Zhabotinsky. World super heavyweight weightlifter. Olympic gold medalist in 1964 and 1968.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article...eteor%20shower

Lenny Krayzelburg. Ukrainian born American Olympic swimmer who won three gold medals (two individual and one team) at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/F...824/lenny.html

Yana Klochkova of Ukraine won two gold medals in swimming at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
http://www.day.kiev.ua/DIGEST/2000/025/sport/sp1.htm

Mykola Milchev of Ukraine shot a perfect score of 150 to equal the world record, set a new Olympic mark and win the men's skeet gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games. http://sports.yahoo.com/oly/shooting/gallery

Ukrainian Olympic Athletes (pre 1996). Other famous Ukrainian Olympians include Tatiana Gutzu, Valeri Borzov, and Vladimir Kuts.
Other Athletes. Timur Taimazov won an Olympic Gold Medal in weight lifting, Atlanta, 1996. Sergey Honchar is a top level Ukrainian cyclist. Andrei Vedenmeer is a professional climber who was born in Simeis, near Yalta. He was the 1995, 1996 world champion in speed climbing. Ekateryna Serebryanska won the Olympic gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics in Atlanta, 1996.

[happy_gunner]

Can I mention the first Ukrainian footballer to win the English Championship and the Cup, and a few weeks ago even captained the side - The Great Oleg Luzhniy of Arsenal (formerly a comrade of Shevchenko & Rebrov at Dynamo).


Also, here's a clip of Ukrainian legend, former European player of the Year Oleg Blokhin:
http://www.ukrainiansoccer.net/video/blokhin-cup75.mpg
It's film of him tormenting the great Bayern Munich side of the 1970s, when Dynamo Kiev defeated them in the Super Cup 1975. The stricken defenders he waltzes round in the clip had all played in the World Cup Final winning Germany side the year before.

[Skebe]

hey!
iЄm new here, but i know almost everything about ukrainian ice hockey.

here is list of ukrainians, who have played in nhl or other north american hockey league:


Dmitri Khristich
Ruslan Fedotenko
Alexei Ponikarovsky
Sergei Varlamov
Denis Shvidki
Dainius Zubrus
Gennadi Razin
Andrei Sryobko
Alexander Godynuyk
Sergei Klimentjev
Konstentin Simchuk
Jevgeni Lazarev
Anton Babchuk
Dmitri Tolkunov
Boris Protsenko
Alex Zinevych
Andrei Mikhnov
Dmitri Jakushin