Ukrainian Olympic medalist calls the 2024 Olympics "maximum pain"

Ukrainian synchronized swimming athlete Maryna Aleksiiva called her fifth place at the 2024 Olympics a much better result than a potential fourth. According to the bronze medalist of the Tokyo 2024 Games, a "wooden medal" is the ultimate disappointment from the competition.

Aleksiiva said this in an interview with NV.ua. The 23-year-old Kharkiv resident noted that she and her sister Vladyslava showed the best result of the season at the competition in the French capital, and therefore considers her performance at the Games in Paris to be almost perfect.

"For me, fifth place is still not as sad as fourth place. Our kayakers took fourth place, and when we met with them, they were very upset all the time. An Olympic medal is the main goal in an athlete's life, but you finish one step away from that goal. This is the ultimate pain. That's why I think that fourth is much more painful than fifth," Aleksiiva said.

It should be noted that at the Olympic Games in Paris, the Ukrainian national team won 12 awards, including three gold medals, and entered the top 25 in the medal standings.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Ukraine's most titled athlete at the Olympics, Olga Harlan, admitted that there might not have been a gold medal in Paris 2024 if she hadn't persuaded Alina Komashchuk to return to the Ukrainian national team.

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