6 mei 2024 om 19:09 Update: 15 uur geleden
Weightlifter Oleksandr Pielieshenko has become the first Olympian to die in the war in Ukraine. The thirty-year-old Ukrainian was killed on Sunday during a combat operation in his native country. Pielieshenko finished fourth at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The news was confirmed on Monday by the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. “Yesterday we received the sad news that he passed away,” the committee’s Telegram page said. The two-time European champion joined the Ukrainian army in 2022.
The Ukrainian weightlifting federation UWF also reacted to the news. “It is with great sadness that we have to inform you that the heart of the great sports master of Ukraine, two-time European weightlifting champion Oleksandr Pielieshenko, has stopped beating,” the association posted under an army photo of Pielieshenko on Instagram.
Pielieshenko became European champion in 2016 in the category up to 85 kilograms. A year later he extended his European title. Two years after the Games in 2016, he was suspended due to a positive doping test. He tested positive for the drug chlorthalidone, which is used as a drug to treat high blood pressure or heart failure.
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