I didn’t really understand what happened: Illia Kovtun’s emotions after winning his first Olympic medal

Exclusive Comment from Ukrainian Gymnast Illia Kovtun after winning his first Olympic medal for Suspilne Sport.

The Ukrainian gymnastics team will conclude the Olympic Games with one medal. The author of this achievement is Illia Kovtun, who won silver in the parallel bars event.

Kovtun competed in the Olympic Games for the second time. After his debut in Tokyo, where he reached only one final (finishing 11th in the individual all-around), the Ukrainian gymnast competed for medals in three individual finals.

Illia Kovtun’s first two attempts to win a medal ended unsuccessfully, with the Ukrainian gymnast stopping just short each time. The 20-year-old athlete initially finished fourth in the individual all-around and then repeated the same result in the parallel bars event.

In his third final, Kovtun was finally able to secure a medal. The Ukrainian gymnast started first and led the standings for a considerable time. Ultimately, Kovtun was only surpassed by Tokyo Olympic champion Zou Jingyuan, earning the silver medal in Paris.

After the final, Kovtun gave an exclusive comment to Suspilne Sport in Paris, where he reflected on his medal-winning performance. The gymnast expressed that he still cannot fully comprehend what happened to him, but he is very happy to have won the medal.

“I’m very happy, but it all happened so quickly. I didn’t quite understand what happened, but I think it will take a bit of time to realize that I’ve become an Olympic medalist on the parallel bars.”

Kovtun was the first gymnast to perform in the parallel bars final. He noted that it was challenging to have to execute his routine to the fullest.

“It wasn’t very hard to start while waiting for all the other guys to complete their routines. The difficult part was going first and having to perform my routine at the highest level without making any mistakes. That was tougher.”

The 20-year-old gymnast became the second athlete from Cherkasy to win a medal at the 2024 Olympics. Before him, shooter Serhiy Kulish won a silver medal, and Kovtun has already congratulated him.

“We followed his performance [Kulish’s]. My coach is in contact with him. We congratulated him. We’re very happy that the city of Cherkasy has brought us two medals. It’s a point of pride.”

Yevhen Perestyenko, Yevhen Moroz

Ukraine Front Lines

Tags: sport Ukraine