Oleksandr Pielieshenko, a decorated weightlifter who represented Ukraine at the 2016 Summer Olympics, was killed while defending his country in its war with Russia.
Pielieshenko “died in the war with the enemy,” the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine said in a Facebook post on Monday.
“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,” the committee’s Facebook post said.
A two-time European weightlifting champion, Pielieshenko finished fourth in the 85kg light-heavyweight category at the Rio Games in 2016. He had not competed since 2018 when he failed a drug test and received an eight-year suspension.
Pielieshenko is the first Olympian confirmed to have died in the war in Ukraine. His death could inspire further questions regarding the International Olympic Committee’s decision to allow Russian athletes to compete as “neutral” athletes this summer in Paris despite the opposition of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
The Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation paid tribute to Pielieshenko on Monday, posting a heartfelt message to Instagram alongside a photo of the former Olympian in his military attire. The Instagram caption called Pielieshenko an “honored master of sports of Ukraine” and expressed the federation’s “deepest condolences to the family and everyone who knew Oleksandr!”
In another Facebook post, Ukrainian national weightlifting coach Viktor Slobodianiuk lamented that “war takes the best of us.”
“ This is a very heavy loss for the entire heavyweight community of Ukraine,” Slobodianiuk wrote. “Heroes do not die.”
