Photo caption Oleksandr Khizhnyak dealt many blows to his opponent
August 7, 2024
29-year-old Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Khizhnyak, nicknamed the “Poltava Tank”, won a gold medal at the Olympics. He defeated the 24-year-old boxer from Kazakhstan Nurbek Oralbai – the current world champion in the weight category up to 80 kilograms.
Ukrainian athletes have already won eight medals – three gold, two silver and three bronze.
The battle with Oralbay began already after midnight Kyiv time. Khyzhnyak started the first round very actively and was more active, so three of the five referees preferred him.
In the second round, it was also an almost equal fight, but the Kazakh man managed to land a few hard blows. So two judges preferred Khyzhnyak, and three – Oralbay.
So everything was decided by the third round, in which Khizhnyak worked more actively, and the Kazakh bled from a broken nose. At the end of the round, Khyzhnyak hit him with a series of punches, and the opponent even fell at the same time as the final gong.
The last seconds before the announcement of the winner were very nervous – three judges gave him the victory, and two – the Kazakh. He became the Olympic champion by a split decision of the judges.
Photo caption Joy of victory
For Oleksandr Khizhnyak, this victory has a special meaning – he finished what he started at the previous Olympics.
It is significant that Khyzhnyak trained not abroad, but in his native Poltava – under constant Russian fire and accompanied by air alarms.
The second attempt of the champion
It was the second Olympic final for the 29-year-old native of Poltava, who in 2017 became the world and European champion.
The boxer was close to gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Khyzhnyak dominated two rounds in the final bout with Brazilian Ebert Souza, but in the third round, with one and a half minutes left in the fight, he was knocked down, which the referee judged to be a knockout.
Such a step was considered scandalous in the national team of Ukraine – the boxer got to his feet, but the referee stopped the fight.
“I don’t know why the referee immediately stopped the fight and did not allow it to continue. I felt good, I was ready to go forward and win,” Khizhnyak said after the defeat.
image captionA knockdown at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics cut off Oleksandr Khizhnyak’s path to gold
As a result, he received a silver medal.
After the Olympics, a boxer from Poltava could go from amateur boxing to professional boxing – such famous boxers as Oleksandr Usyk and others took this path more than once.
But in the same year Khyzhnyak announced his plan to once again enter the Olympic path and compete for gold again.
The way to Paris
During this time, the Poltava boxer managed to move up to a new weight category up to 80 kilograms.
But the path was not easy – in 2021 he mostly did not perform. First, due to the decision of the coaching staff, then Ukrainian boxers missed international starts, boycotting the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus, who performed under their flags.
Photo author, Boxing Federation of Ukraine
Photo caption: Oleksandr Khyzhnyak is coached by his father, Oleksandr Khyzhnyak Sr
Oleksandr Khizhnyak went to Paris with boxers Dmytro Lovchinsky and Ayder Abduraimov, but they were eliminated in the first round.
Instead, despite the hand injury he received before the Olympics, the man from Poltava, with difficulties, won the first fight against the Hungarian athlete of Ukrainian origin Pylyp Akilov.
The coach expressed the hope that Khizhnyak would perform better in the quarterfinals, and that’s how it all happened – he confidently defeated the Brazilian Wanderlei Pereira in the fight, and in the semifinals he beat the Olympic light heavyweight champion Arlen Lopez from Cuba.
With Nurbek Oralbay, Khizhnyak fought at the international level for the second time, and this match brought him the dream gold.
