Last Thursday the heroes of the 2006 sports year were honored at Kyiv’s International Center for Culture and Arts. The victors were named in a secret vote held at the Ukrainian Sports Academy whose membership includes 22 legendary Ukrainian sportsmen, among them Olympic champions, and world and European champions in different years.
Europe’s silver-medal winner in athletics, Ivan Heshko, was named Ukraine’s best male athlete of 2006. The title of best female athlete was awarded to world champion in artistic gymnastics Iryna Krasnianska. Her coach, Inna Korobchynska, was awarded the Coach of the Year Prize. Ukraine’s national combined saber fencing team won the title of Best Team of the Year, beating the Ukraine’s soccer quarter-finalists at the World Cup. Ibrahim Aldatov, world champion in free-style wrestling, was named Sensation of the Year.
Figure skaters Olena Hrushyna and Ruslan Honcharov, Ukraine’s bronze-medal winners at the Turin Olympiad 2006, and Lilia Yefremova, winner of the bronze medal in biathlon, received a special award called “Strong in Spirit.” Olena Yurkovska, a four-time winner at the Paralympic Games, won Ukraine’s Sports Fame Prize. Repeat champion in artistic gymnastics Borys Shakhlin was awarded Ukraine’s special Olympic Pride Prize. European and world champion and record-breaker in swimming Oleh Lysohor was awarded the People’s Choice Prize according to the results of SMS-voting on the Megasport Channel. Inna Umanets, deputy head of the Sports Department at Ukraine’s Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports, was recognized as the best sports organizer.
“The National Olympic Committee is trying to give maximum support to our athletes, coaches, and experts in order to promote our sports and athletes because Ukraine must know its heroes,” said Serhii Bubka, president of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee, at the ceremony.
