During the years of independence, Ukrainian athletes received a little more than one and a half hundred Olympic medals. Of them, about 20 athletes managed to win 2 medals each. And only ten managed to win more than two Olympic medals. This collection is dedicated to them.
Olga Kharlan
Fencing. 2 gold. 1 silver. 3 bronze.
The only athlete who managed to collect six medals at once. In this way, she won medals at three Olympiads. In her fourth Olympic Games in Tokyo, she lost in the very first match, which prompted her to suspend her sports career. And in 2024, at the Paris Olympics, she added gold and bronze to her collection of medals. Even before she achieved this record, Harlan became the only domestic athlete to have a Barbie doll named after her.
Yana Klochkova
Swimming. 4 gold, 1 silver.
Klochkova has one less Olympic medal than Harlan, but she has as many as four golds. For her numerous victories in various championships and competitions, she received the nickname “golden fish”. After the full-scale invasion, she left for the occupied Crimea.
Inna Osypenko-Radomska
Kayaking and canoeing. 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze.
It was under the Ukrainian flag that the rower won four medals at three consecutive Olympics. And in 2016, she already performed under the flag of Azerbaijan and added another bronze to her own achievements. After that, she returned to Ukraine, where she engaged in coaching. And after the full-scale invasion, she left for Slovakia.
Olena Kostevich
Shooting sports. 1 gold. 3 bronze.
This athlete specializes in pistol shooting. In this discipline, she represented Ukraine at six Olympiads. However, only three of them brought her medals. In addition to high achievements in sports, Olena also managed to get the rank of SBU officer, get a higher education and enter graduate school.
Lyudmila Luzan
Canoeing. 2 silver. 1 bronze.
The athlete won Olympic medals in canoe singles and canoe doubles. At the Tokyo Games, she took two medals in the two above-mentioned disciplines, and in 2024 in Paris, she added another silver. She received silver medals both times in a pair with Anastasia Rybachok.
Zhan Beleniuk
Greco-Roman wrestling. 1 gold. 1 silver. 1 bronze.
Beleniuk won gold and bronze medals at the Olympics when he was already a people’s deputy of Ukraine. And after he took third place at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the athlete ended his career, symbolically taking off his shoes right in the ring.
Lilia Podkopaeva
Sports gymnastics. 2 gold. 1 silver.
Podkopaeva won all three medals in 1996 – at the first Summer Olympic Games, where Ukraine officially participated. Her lightning victory established a bright tradition – since then, our gymnasts have won medals at almost every Olympic Games. Shortly after the Olympics, she was forced to end her sports career due to injuries. Subsequently, she focused on social activities. Lives in the USA.
Yuriy Cheban
Kayaking and canoeing. 2 gold. 1 bronze.
Each of the three Olympiads, at which Yuriy Cheban performed, brought him a medal. However, he could not make it to his third Olympic Games, because he performed poorly in the qualifying swims and lost his ticket to the competition. However, after the refusal of the athlete from Oceania, he rose in the ranking and received the right to compete at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. There he won his second “gold”. After that, he ended his career and focused on coaching. And already for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo, he prepared canoeist Anastasia Chetverikova, who won silver there.
Ruslana Taran
Sailing. 1 silver. 2 bronze.
Ruslana won her medals in the period from 1996 to 2004 at three consecutive Olympics.
Rustam Sharipov
Gymnastics. 2 gold. 1 bronze.
At the 1992 Olympics, he represented the united team, because Ukraine did not participate in the Games at that time. Then he received a gold medal. And he added another gold and bronze to his achievements already under the Ukrainian flag at the Olympics in 1996. Lives in the USA.
