A two-time European weightlifting champion who represented Ukraine at the 2016 Olympics was killed in action during the war with Russia, the Ukrainian Olympic Committee announced on Monday.
In a post on Telegram, the commission said 30-year-old Oleksandr Pielyeshenko “died in the war with the enemy” on Sunday after joining the Ukrainian army near the start of the conflict more than two years ago.
“Today, with great regret, we announce that the heart of the honored master of Ukrainian sports, two-time European weightlifting champion Oleksandr Pyerieshenko, has stopped beating,” the Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation said on Facebook.
Pierjeshenko came in fourth at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, falling 5 kilometers short of winning a medal.
He won the European Under-85kg category in 2016 and retained the title in 2017, but was involved in two doping violations. He was suspended from 2013 to 2015, then caught again in 2018 and suspended.
Pieryeshenko is one of more than 400 Ukrainian athletes and officials who have died in the war since Russia invaded the neighboring country in February 2022.
“War takes the best out of us… This is a very big loss for the entire Ukrainian weightlifting community,” national coach Viktor Slobodaniuk said in a Facebook post. “Heroes never die.”
with post wire
