Ukraine is on the rise

The end of the previous week brought for Ukraine things we need so much to assert ourselves: the victories of Paralympians in London, positive emotions, the feeling of triumph after Vitalii Klitschko’s new victory made us feel proud of our country and united. Whereas nobody doubted that Klitschko would for the ninth time defend the WBC title, we felt absolutely different about the performance of Ukrainian Paralympians. Who said you there’s a limit to what you can do? The swimmers Natalia Prolohaieva and Maksym Veraksa, who won one silver and three gold medals each, prove that a person can do everything, everything s/he plans, everything s/he wants. There is no such notion, “I can’t,” just “I don’t want to,” say both athletes, and psychologists. Every person has a potential, but to which extent do we, healthy people, realize it? Disabled people, however, take the maximum from the minimum, the limited abilities they have (when they have no legs, or they cannot walk, when they cannot move freely because of cerebral palsy, when they are visually or hearing impaired). The thing is about the strength of will, the purposefulness; the thing is about the person’s character.

“Someone told my husband in a conversation, ‘Your wife is a cripple,’ to which my husband replied, ‘She’s a disabled person, and there can be cripples with hands and legs,’” Alla Lysenko from Dnipropetrovsk, a Paralympics gold winner in rowing told BBC.

The life of the most of Paralympians is divided into two periods, before (the trauma or an accident), when they were healthy and were living like us, not knowing what happiness it is to be able to move freely, and after, when they had to take new breath, pull themselves together, and live on. The same happened to Alla Lysenko, who lost both legs as a result of a railway accident and is wheel-chaired now. Alla is 43 and a three-time champion of the world in academic rowing.

“I’ve always had a strong character. After the accident I was greatly supported by my husband and my family. I did not lose heart because at a certain moment I understood that I have two choices, either to give up or do my best to live a full-fledged life and rejoice at the world,” Lysenko said.

When you feel depressed, or in bad mood, or you feel tired of everything and have lost the sense of life, watch how disabled people become champions of the world, how they overcome themselves, look at their emotions, their face expressions, and understand that they appreciate every chance given by life.

Without doubt, this refers to all 155 Ukrainian sportsmen, who performed in London in 12 kinds of sport. Ukraine has finished fourth with 84 medals (32 gold, 24 silver and 28 bronze ones). Our team has shown the best result in the history of Paralympics, since it started to take part in these games in 1996. In 2008 in Beijing Ukraine came fourth as well, but with fewer hauled medals: that year the athletes won 24 gold medals. Ukrainians have been outmatched by the teams of Great Britain with 120 medals (34 gold), Russians with 102 medals (36 gold), and Chinese 231 medals (95 gold). Australians finished fifth, with 32 gold medals, 23 silver and 30 bronze ones. Swimmers Natalia Prolohaieva and Maksym Veraksa with one silver and three gold medals each became the best athletes, in terms of the number of hauled medals.