Maskym Galinichev, the Ukrainian boxer who was an Olympic medalist in Buenos Aires 2018 and died for defending his country

Among the thousand minimal stories that the war between Russia and Ukraine has, the sport has been crossed on several occasions. In the last few hours, the case of the Ukrainian had been known Maxim Galinichevsilver medalist at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games and died in combat in the eastern region of Lugansk.

Galinichev, who also won the gold medal at the 2017 European Junior Championships and withdrew from last year’s European Championships to continue defending his country, died on March 10, although the news came out in the last few hours.

According to Ukrainian media reports, the 22-year-old athlete had volunteered for the army and returned to the front, despite being wounded twice in the war.

Galinichev was one of the most promising young Ukrainian athletes. In 2018 he won silver at the Youth Olympic Games and reached the podium again as runner-up in the under-22 European championship held in 2021.

The young boxer who fell in combat was part of the 25th Brigade of the Sicheslav Airborne Shock Troops.

Both the government and the Ukrainian sports federations and the country’s National Olympic Committee are calling for the exclusion of all Russian and Belarusian athletes from all sporting competitions, including the Olympic Games, as punishment for the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine , which has the support of Belarus.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, more than 230 Ukrainian athletes and sportsmen of various levels were killed as a result of the Russian military aggression, which also destroyed numerous sports facilities.