Former Olympic weightlifter Oleksandr Pielieshenko was tragically killed in action Sunday in the ongoing war with Russia. He was just 30 years old. Pielieshenko was the first Olympian to die in the conflict.
Pielieshenko finished fourth in his weight class at the Rio Olympics and was the 85kg European Champion in 2016 and 2017. Pielieshenko joined the armed forces shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“I express my sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Alexander! This is a very heavy loss for the entire heavyweight community of Ukraine. Heroes do not die,” said the Ukrainian national weightlifting coach Victor Slobodianiuk about Pielieshenko in a Facebook post.
Life and Early Career
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Pielieshenko was born in Stanytsia Luhanska, Luhansk, Ukraine on January 7, 1994. He was 5’7” and 187 lb. and competed as a light heavyweight in the 85 kg weight class. Pielieshenko missed a medal at the 1996 Rio Olympics by only 5 kg. He won the Gold Medal in the European Championships in 2016 and defended his title in 2017.
Doping Offenses Cut Career Short
Pielieshenko failed an off-season drug test in 2018, testing positive for chlorthalidone, a diuretic that can be used to mask the presence of other banned substances. This was his second offense after testing positive for the steroid stanozolol and serving a two-year ban from 2013 to 2015. His failed drug test in 2018 led to him being provisionally banned from competition until 2026.
Other Athletes Killed in Ukraine
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Among the nearly 450 athletes and officials killed in the Russian conflict, many were international competitors who competed for the Ukrainian National Team. Among these was Dmytro Sydoruk, a Junior Sergeant in the Armed Forces who took up archery after being injured in battle with Russia following the invasion and annexation of Crimea.
Sydoruk competed and won a silver medal in the 2017 Invictus Games, an international event for injured and disabled servicemen and women. He was killed in the Kherson region while serving in the 24th separate mechanized brigade.
Other Olympic Caliber Athletes Who Have Perished
Also killed in the conflict was twenty-year-old dance champion Daria Kurdel, a national champion and international competitor in DanceSport. She was also a student at the National University of Odesa Law Academy. She was killed during a Russian missile strike on the town of Kryvyi Rih while training with her father.
Other athletes killed in the conflict include soccer player Serhii Balanchuk, a graduate of the Kyiv Dynamo Academy and player for the Israeli Premier League; record-breaking marathon runner Serhii Pronevych; and Ihor Boiko, who played for the Ukrainian League of American Football.
Objection to Russian Athletes in 2024 Olympics
Many Ukrainian athletes, as well as athletes from other countries, take exception to the IOC’s allowance of Russian athletes in the 2024 games, whether under the Russian flag or not. The IOC expects at least 36, and possibly as many as 54, Russian athletes to compete in the 2024 Olympic games.
Call for Russia Olympic Ban
Russian athletes have competed “without a country” since a state-sponsored doping scandal was revealed in 2018. They cannot attend opening ceremonies, fly the Russian flag, or play the national anthem. The same conditions apply to athletes from Belarus.
Considering the massive human rights violations against the Ukrainian people, state-sponsored doping, and international assassinations, Russia should be banned from the Olympics indefinitely. Much like Germany following World War I and World War II and South Africa during nearly half of the 20th Century, they should be relegated to the sidelines like other countries with long histories of human rights violations.
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