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Oleksandr Pielieshenko during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Photo: dpa via getty images / GOH CHAI HIN
Published at 19:29 UTC
Two-time European weightlifting champion Oleksandr Pielieshenko lost his life in combat at his home in Ukraine, the country’s Olympic Committee announced Monday.
Pielieshenko died during the war against the enemy
Sunday, the committee said on the Telegram platform. He was 30 years old.
He joined the Ukrainian army in the early days of the Russian invasion, the committee said.
Pielieshenko made a return to competition after being suspended for doping between 2013 and 2015, and he won the European title in the under 85 kg category by a single kilo in 2016. He then successfully defended his title in 2017 , in Split, Croatia.
Pielieshenko narrowly missed the podium at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, finishing 4th. He was later convicted of doping in 2018.
The coach of the Ukrainian weightlifting team, Viktor Slobodianiuk, wrote on Facebook that war deprives us of the best among us. This is a heavy loss for the entire Ukrainian weightlifting community. Heroes never die.
So far, more than 400 Ukrainian athletes and sports leaders have died in the war in Ukraine.
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