Ukraine’s double European weightlifting champion Oleksandr Pielieshenko has lost his life on the front line in his home country, the Ukrainian Olympic Committee reports on Monday.
Monday 6 May at 21:20
Pielieshenko “died in the war against the enemy” on Sunday, writes the committee on the Telegram messaging service. The sports star turned 30 years old.
The weightlifter is said to have joined Ukraine’s armed forces in the first days after Russia’s invasion, the statement further states.
Pielieshenko was banned from the sport in the period 2013 to 2015 as a result of a doping offence. He then made a comeback and took EC gold in the 85-kilogram class in 2016. The following year he defended the title.
During the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Pielieshenko was also in the medal match. In the end, he was five kilograms short of capturing a podium place. The result was the disappointing fourth place.
In 2018, he committed another breach of the doping rules.
“It is with great sadness that we announce that the heart of two-time European weightlifting champion Oleksandr Pielieshenko has stopped beating,” writes the Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation on Facebook.
– War takes the best of us. This is a very heavy loss for the entire weightlifting community in Ukraine. Heroes don’t die, says national team manager Viktor Slobodianiuk in a statement.
More than 400 Ukrainian athletes and sports leaders are said to have been killed in the war.
Tags: Ukrainian weightlifter killed war
