Oleksandr Pielieshenko, two-time European weightlifting champion who represented Ukraine at the 2016 Rio Olympics, has died during the war with Russia, his country's Olympic committee reports.
Pielieshenko, 30, enlisted in the military shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “In the first days of the large-scale invasion, Oleksandr joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Yesterday we received the sad news of his death,” the committee adds on its Facebook account.
“The Olympic family expresses its deepest condolences to the family, friends and relatives of the athlete,” he adds.
Oleksandr Yuriyovych Pielieshenko was fourth at the Rio Games in the up to 85 kilo category and won gold at the 2016 and 2017 European Championships. He was subsequently disqualified until 2026 after testing positive for chlorthalidone in a doping test in 2018.
