"No one thought this could happen." There is an explanation for what happened to the Ukrainian champion at the 2024 Olympics. Video

The coach of the Ukrainian weightlifting team, Yurii Kuchynov, told what happened to Ukrainian Kamila Konotop. The 23-year-old from Kharkiv was unable to compete for a medal in the 59 kg weight category due to an injury.

The Ukrainian declared the highest weight of all the participants in the snatch on her first attempt – 104 kg. Kamila severely injured the back of her thigh.

"She came here the strongest. We even skipped the World Cup so that our rivals wouldn't see what kind of shape she was in. In training, she did 110 kg in the snatch and 135 kg in the clean and jerk. No one thought this could happen, she saw herself as an Olympic champion. We started with the Olympic record of 104 kg, and I can't tell you how well she pulled it off because she usually did 105 kg in training. She started warming up in addition, and suddenly her hip shot out," Kuchynov said.

Yurii Pavlovych, who has won eight Olympics, immediately realized that this was the end of his fight for a medal.

"When she told me that 'it was like a branch snapped, and there was so much pain that it went up to my head,' I understood everything. We gave her painkillers, and I even wanted to withdraw her from the competition, but she demanded that we think of some way to continue the competition. Let me do the first attempt, then the second, and then we'll think about how to win a medal." And in the first approach, she managed to control herself, but in the second, it started again," the Ukrainian coach said.

Kuchynov tried to withdraw Kamila from the competition, but she flatly refused.

"In the third approach, she had to do 132 kg, which she often lifted. There was nothing impossible there, but perhaps psychology played a role. She says, 'Let me out,' and then shows that everything hurts," Yurii Pavlovych summarized.

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