Name: Olga Butkevych
Event: Wrestling – women’s 55kg
Date of birth: 03/01/1986, age 26
Career highlight: Won bronze at the 2011 European Wrestling Championships
Did you know? Born in Ukraine, Butkevych had her initial claim to British citizenship turned down in March, but won an appeal in May.
Earlier this year, it seemed unlikely that Olga Butkevych would be competing for Team GB at the London Olympics, let alone have a podium chance. Born in Zaporizhia, a large city in south-eastern Ukraine, she moved to the UK at the age of 21 in 2007. At the time, many wrestling athletes from Eastern Europe were attracted by the prospect of fighting under the guidance Nicolai Kornyeyev, who was coaching home-grown British wrestlers since the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
The foreign fighters were initially used simply as sparring partners at the National Wrestling Academy, in Salford, but Olga among others quickly decided that they preferred the UK as their home. Furthermore, there was also the factor that UK Sport pumped £2.5 million of investment into wrestling in 2005 in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics, making the British wrestling environment a more attractive prospect.
Although Butkevych represented Great Britain at international events such as the World Championships, which allow participating countries to enter two athletes who do not hold passports, for the Olympic Games this is not the case. Having lived in Britain for five years, she thankfully won her citizenship appeal just two months ago, after initially being rejected in March.
Her major career success to date has been winning a bronze medal at the European Championships in April 2011, in the under-59kg category. She followed this up in December with an encouraging silver medal at the Olympic Test Event, held in London (see video below of semi-final win over Irina Ologonova).
Unfortunately, though, Butkevych will be Team GB’s solitary wrestling athlete as wrestling failed to meet agreed selection criteria, so the number of positions was cut from three to just one. Those missing out include British champion Jayne Clason as well as men’s wrester Leon Rattigan. To compound matters, Butkevych’s compatriot Yana Stadnik had her citizenship application turned down.
The major stumbling block to a gold medal will be the Japanese Saori Yoshida, who has only lost once since 2001 and is unbeaten at the Olympics, World and Asian Championships. In fact, her only loss since 2001 came in 2008, which ended an incredible 119-match winning streak. Therefore, Butkevych will be feeling no pressure as she participates in her first Olympics this year, and she is fortunate to be participating at all. She should enjoy every moment.