Olympian auctions medals to aid nation’s defence

One of Ukraine’s most decorated Olympians is auctioning off his medals – two golds and a bronze – in the hope of raising a six-figure donation to contribute to the war effort in his native land.

“My Olympic medals won’t matter if Ukraine can’t stand for this fight for freedom and independence,” two-time canoe champion Yuri Cheban said.

Cheban won Olympic gold in the 200 metres in 2012 and 2016 and a bronze in the 500 metres in 2008.

SCP Auctions, which is conducting the sale, expects the gold medals to fetch in the neighbourhood of US$75,000 each, an impressive estimate buoyed by the relative scarcity of available recent medals, and also their meaning.

Cheban, 36, will give the proceeds to the Olympic Circle charity fund, a collection started by athletes and targeted toward helping the city of Mykolayiv, which is not far from the recently liberated city of Kherson and also close to Cheban’s home, the Black Sea port city of Odesa.

“I think a lot of people in the world don’t know the full extent of the situation in Ukraine,” the 36-year-old Cheban said.

“Right now, peaceful Ukrainian cities are without electricity, hospitals, schools, stores. People are freezing in their own apartments and some of my family is trying to live and work under these conditions,” he said.

Cheban said the idea to sell his medals came from countryman Slava Medvedenko, a basketball player who auctioned off his two NBA championship rings from his time with the Los Angeles Lakers (2001 and 2002) to fund the war effort. Medvedenko’s rings sold for a total of more than US$253,000.

Since the start of the war in February, Ukrainian athletes have been forced to train in different countries to prepare for major events.

Last summer, 22 Ukrainian athletes competed at track and field world championships in Oregon. High jumpers Yaroslava Mahuchikh (silver) and Andriy Protsenko (bronze) won medals.

At its meeting in Rome on Wednesday, World Athletics presented one of its highest honours, the President’s Award, to the Ukrainian Athletic Association.

The federation’s acting president, Yevhen Pronin, said Ukraine’s presence at international meets was helpful in part because it gave “our sportsmen and officials a chance to communicate with media to let them know what’s happening in Ukraine”.

However, Cheban said he was “pessimistic” sports alone could stop the attacks on Ukraine. “But selling the medals of famous athletes can help save many Ukrainian lives and provide necessary equipment for the army,” he said. “We need to be realistic.”

The auction runs through December 10.