"Doctors told me I might not make it": what happened to boxer Khyzhniak before the Olympics, how much money was promised and whether he is going to turn pro

Oleksandr Khyzhniak achieved his goal at the 2024 Olympic Games and won gold in the 80 kg weight class, despite a serious injury that nearly prevented him from competing in Paris and fierce opposition from his rivals. The 29-year-old "Poltava Tank" became the only boxer from Ukraine to win a medal in France, accelerating from fight to fight and listening to the advice of his coach and father.

It's hard to imagine that just six months ago, the future champion had to go under the knife and worry about missing the Olympics, which had been his dream since childhood.

In January 2024, it became known that the silver medalist of the 2020 Olympics, Oleksandr Khyzhniak, had a serious injury to his left arm and had to undergo surgery.

"The doctors even said that I might not even have time to recover before the Olympics in Paris, because there was little time left for rehabilitation. But, thank God, everything in life happens for a reason. It means it was meant to be. Such a serious injury, all these situations that happened, all these trials..." Khyzhniak said after the final fight in France.

But Oleksandr wasn't going to give up his dream of winning gold at the Olympics, perhaps he was getting in shape somewhere and was inspired by his new role: "I would like to thank God and my wife for giving me a son."

"Waking up and falling asleep with my wife, or when I was at a training camp, I thought about the Olympics, about how we dreamed a lot. At home, we have medals and cups, and among them is the Olympic silver medal. And we dreamed that we would win a gold medal in Paris, that it would cover the silver medal from Tokyo. Because there was a little bit of a residue from the 2020 Olympics. But for me, it was an important milestone, a valuable lesson, a valuable experience," Khyzhniak added.

In the first fight of the Olympics against former Ukrainian Pylyp Akilov, who now plays for Hungary, it was clear that Oleksandr had not yet gained his optimal form. This was confirmed by the head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Dmytro Sosnovskiy, who noted that the "tank" is not yet able to keep up with his legs and shows signs of a lack of competitive tone, which helped Khyzhniak to take out everyone at the 2023 European Games.

But according to the same Sosnovsky, Oleksandr was able to gain momentum from fight to fight, and that's exactly what happened. Although all the fights were difficult. The fight in the semifinals with the two-time Olympic champion from Cuba Arlen Lopez was worth it.

"He is a very smart and very sensitive boxer. During the fight, I felt that he was a very good opponent. It was a very valuable fight for me. It was an equal fight for me, but I felt that I would win. I tried not to stop and work until the last second. This fight was really equal for me until the last round. I really wanted to win. And, thank God, we succeeded," the Ukrainian admitted.

And in the extremely difficult final, Khyzhniak defeated Nurbek Oralbay from Kazakhstan. The nervousness of the situation is evidenced by the split decision of the judges - 3:2.

"I sat in the corner and heard what the head coach was saying. My dad asked him what the score was after the first round. He said it was 3-2 in favor of the Kazakh. In the second round, I heard it was 3-2 in my favor. Of course, I felt that the fight was very even. I mean, you see, many experts said in Tokyo that "he could have walked around, walked around the last round, he already had the victory," Tank said.

"And here, you see, everything is different. We work, we consider different scenarios of the fight. And even here I felt that the fight was very even. Only after the last round did I feel that I had won. I felt that they had to give me the victory," Khyzhniak admitted.

During the Olympic tournament, Oleksandr found himself at the epicenter of a small scandal because of his request not to comment to journalists before the medal battle: "I'm sorry, but I'll tell you everything after the final." And perhaps the other athlete's request was treated more leniently, but the boxer was reminded that he did not want to talk to journalists after winning the 2023 European Games, so the media space and social networks were divided into two camps.

Some people said that he was better than Marta Kostiuk, who raced around the court for three sets and then came out to talk, while others urged us to respect Oleksandr's request, because we are all different and have different attitudes towards competitions, especially ones like the Olympics.

And we must pay tribute to Khyzhniak, who did not bury his head in the sand after the final and raised the topic: "Thank you for waiting, for believing that I would give you an interview after the final. I don't use my phone at all during competitions, my father reads to me. Of course, I'd like to say hello to those journalists who wrote after the first match that Khyzhnyak didn't give an interview again, he was so bad. Honestly, I send my greetings to them all."

"I am very glad that I was able to raise the flag of my country at the Olympic Games in Paris. I am not offended by anyone. Thank God, it is very valuable to me. Thank you for believing me every time I came out after the fight. After the first fight, I told you: "I'll give you an interview after the final". It seems like a dream: "What is he talking about?" But I believed and asked God," Oleksandr admitted.

Of course, there is a lot of talk about the future career of Poltava Tank. Some people think that he will be taken hand and foot to the professionals after such a difficult but brilliant Olympic tournament, while others are shouting that he will need to change his style a bit. And there are those who say that it is too late to turn pro at the age of 29.

For example, our heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, whom Khyzhnyak looks up to and respects greatly, signed his first professional contract at the age of 26. By the way, in addition to the $125,000 in prize money for the gold medal from the state, the Poltava resident will receive another $100,000 from Usyk himself.

Oleksandr himself does not know what will happen next: "I really lived only for this medal. It was my life, my goal. Probably since birth, when I started boxing with my father, we dreamed that we would be able to win an award at the Ukrainian Senior Championships. Then, of course, we dreamed of medals at the Olympic Games."

"When I was asked before Paris 2024 what my future goal was, what my plans were - professional or amateur, I answered then and will say now: I lived only for the Olympics in Paris. I did not consider either professionals or amateurs for myself at all. Now I will come home and be with my family. And only then will I think about what to do next and plan my life," Khyzhniak said.

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