Paralympics Begin in Tokyo: Ukraine Wins Eight Medals on First Day

On the first day of competition, there was one gold, five silver and two bronze medals.

The opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games was held in Tokyo. On the first day, Ukraine won eight medals and took fifth place in the medal standings.

Read more about how the opening ceremony went, who is representing the Ukrainian team, and how the first competitions went for Ukrainian athletes.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games took place in Tokyo the day before competitions began. They will run from August 25 to September 5.

The opening ceremony was led by Emperor Naruhito of Japan at the almost empty Olympic Stadium.

The stadium, designed for 68,000 spectators, hosted a record 4,400 Paralympians and team representatives. Due to quarantine restrictions, almost all competitions will be held without spectators.

Ukrainian team

Ukraine is represented at the Tokyo Paralympics by 143 athletes, who will compete in 15 of the 22 sports.

In particular, these are badminton, rowing, cycling (track, road), goalball, judo, athletics, table tennis, powerlifting, para canoeing, paratriathlon, swimming, shooting, archery, taekwondo and wheelchair fencing.

The flag bearers at the opening ceremony were swimmers Yelizaveta Mereshko and Viktor Smirnov.

Ukraine is making its debut in three sports: goalball (men's team), badminton and taekwondo. The last two sports were included in the Paralympic programme for the first time.

First successes of Ukrainian athletes

Following tradition, the Ukrainian Paralympic team is maintaining a high standard and winning many medals. On the first day of competition, Ukrainian athletes won eight awards and moved Ukraine into fifth place in the medal standings.

The first gold medal at the Paralympics was won by flag bearer and swimmer Yelizaveta Mereshko in the 50-metre freestyle.

Swimmer Anton Kol brought Ukraine the first silver medal at the Paralympics-2020 in Tokyo. He finished second in the 100-metre backstroke in class S1.

Swimmer Maksym Krypak brought the second silver medal in swimming, in the 50-metre freestyle (class S10).

Fencer Yevgenia Breus was the first Ukrainian medallist, winning bronze.

Aleksey Virchenko won the third silver medal in the 100-metre butterfly in class S13.

Ukrainian fencer Yelena Fedota also received a silver medal. 

Swimmer Anna Gontar also won bronze in the 50-metre freestyle.

Artem Manko also won silver in wheelchair fencing.