Ukrainian Olympic weightlifter Oleksandr Pielieshenko is dead. The Olympian died while fighting on the front in the war with Russia. The Ukrainian Olympic Committee confirmed his death in a report on Monday.
According to the report, Pielieshenko “died in the war.” Pielieshenko has been fighting on the front lines since the early days of the war. In his Olympic career, Pielieshenko overcame controversy. He was suspended for doping from 2013 to 2015. However in 2016, he won the 2016 European under-85 kilogram division and again in 2017.
Pielieshenko came close to winning an Olympic medal, placing fourth in 2016 during the event. The weightlifter garnered another doping violation in 2018, making him somewhat controversial. Still, the community mourned.
“It is with great sadness that we announce that today the heart of the honored master of sports of Ukraine, two-time European weightlifting champion Oleksandr Pielieshenko, stopped beating,” the Ukrainian weightlifting federation said on Facebook. “We express our deepest condolences to the family and everyone who knew Oleksandr!
Oleksandr Pielieshenko Dies
National coach Viktor Slobodianiuk added on Facebook, “War takes the best of us.. This is a very heavy loss for the entire weightlifting community of Ukraine. Heroes do not die.”
Pielieshenko has the sad distinction of being the first Olympian to die in the Ukraine war. The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine remembered the weightlifter.“From the first days of the full-scale invasion, Oleksandr joined the ranks of the Armed Forces. Yesterday we received the sad news of his death,” it said.
Another Ukrainian Olympian, Vladyslav Heraskevych, said that around 450 Ukrainian athletes have died in the war. “These people should be developing sports in our country and living their lives, but now they are being killed,” he said. “At the same time Russian athletes who support the war are now competing in international sports. I can’t understand how that is possible. This is madness.”
With the Olympics in Paris gearing up, conversation has turned to the International Olympic Committee’s decision to allow some Russian athletes to compete. They would compete as neutral athletes. In total, the organization allowed between 34 to 56 athletes to qualify under this criteria. It has also banned several athletes tied to the country as well. Comparatively, Russia sent 335 athletes to Tokyo in 2021.
Ukraine and the wider weightlifting world will remember Pielieshenko.