Female wrestler Yulia Tkach and her coach Andriy Pistun have got their awards as Ukraine’s best Olympic athlete and coach at the NOC Headquarters in Kyiv. Sergey Bubka, Ukraine NOC President presented the awards as well as diploma and cash bonuses to both athlete and her coach.
Bubka commented for the media at the ceremony, 'I'm happy we manage to continue our nine-years-old tradition of commemorating the best Olympic athletes and coaches every month. It's also amazing fact that we award only champions of the world since July this year. We started with sabre fencer Olha Kharlan, going to canoeist Yuri Cheban, and now we congratulate Yulia'.
Yulia Tkach, nee Ostapchuk, returned from maternity earlier this year winning bronze medal at the European Championships in Finland in the 63 kg Olympic weight. In September in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Yulia added gold at the World Championships to her medal tally.
Sergey Bubka praised Yulia's performance at the major championships, saying, 'It's amazing achievement for every female athlete to return to the international podium 6 months after the birth of the kid.
Yulia Tkach performed an emotional speech at the ceremony, saying 'Honestly I dreamt long time ago to win the award of the month's best athlete and to come here to the Olympic House to get the award. Thanks a lot to the NOC – it is very emotional moment for me. I'll try to double my efforts preparing for the next competitions and looking forward to the Rio 2016'.
Sergey Bubka also gave his credit to Yulia's coach Andriy Pistun who proved his expertise and dedication more than once earlier bringing up several star female wrestlers – Oxana Vashchuk, 2008 Olympian, Oleksandra Kohut, world champion, Alla Therkasova, world bronze medalist and European champion Lyudmyla Balushka.
Bubka, who is also IOC EB member, praised the efforts of the National Wrestling federation and its president, 2004 freestyle wrestling Olympic champion Elbrus Tedeev. Ukraine's national wrestling team won a total of four medals at the World Championships in Tashkent, including Tkach's gold medal and bronze medals in each three wrestling disciplines.
