Well-known Ukrainian artist dies young [Article]

image

Sad news this week as local famed Ukrainian artist, Oleh Valenyuk passed away:

He arrived in Canada from Ukraine in 2000, fuelled by the promise of artistic opportunity and success.

As both immigrant and artist, he defied the odds by achieving success and recognition immediately following his arrival into Canada.

…

His style was constantly shifting, and there was almost no medium he hadn’t mastered.

He painted in the Ukrainian tradition, incorporating biblical symbols into many of his paintings, but his clients, many of whom hired him for private residential projects, came from all backgrounds and income brackets.

…

Although lots of his work was done for individuals, he was also commissioned by several major organizations. He’d helped redesign part of Casa Loma and created wall art at the Golden Lion Restaurant in Etobicoke.

He painted frescoes for St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Toronto and St. Basil Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Edmonton.

Art was ingrained in his everyday life, a life full of family and friends.

…image

He may have been in high demand, but money didn’t motivate Valenyuk the way creativity did. Despite his many commissioned jobs, he was in and out of work as an artist. He did everything he could to provide opportunities for his children, including sending Nadiya to York University.

Donations collected through the Ukrainian Credit Union will help cover funeral and other family costs.

Nadiya fondly recalled her father’s first project in Canada 12 years ago — to paint the magic railway for Thomas and the Magic Railroad, a film based on the Thomas the Tank EngineTV series.

Read the article

London 2012 Olympics wraps-up with a Hopak

The Olympics wrapped up with its closing ceremony last night, here are the final results in the medal race:

image

On the final day, Oleksandr Usyk won Ukraine’s first boxing gold medal of the games and celebrated with a quick in-ring Hopak:

imageClick here for video (Canadian mirror)

Ukraine

Klitschko proud as classy Lomachenko wins gold

Ukraine‘s professional heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko was on hand to see his compatriot Vasyl Lomachenko prove once again why he is the best in the amateur ranks as the lightweight romped to a second successive Olympic gold on Sunday.

…

Putting two fingers in the air to acknowledge both his second gold and the second for Ukraine at the Games, Lomachenko left the ring draped in the Ukrainian flag.

“I’m really proud of my countryman Lomachenko, it is not a common thing to win two times,” Klitschko said from ringside. “It would be really exciting to see him in a professional ring.”

Gold medallist Yana Shemyakina of Ukraine kisses her medal during the award ceremony for the women's epee individual fencing competition at the ExCel venue at the London 2012 Olympic Games July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Epee (Fencing
Ukraine’s Yana Shemyakina won gold in the women’s individual epee after a nail-biting 9-8 extra-time win over reigning Olympic champion Britta Heidemann of Germany at the London Games on Monday.

Twelfth seed Shemyakina was a surprise winner, having worked her way through the preliminaries.

Read the article

And of course there were a few controversies:

Boxing
In another fight, Ukrainian world champion Evhen Khytrov was ruled to have lost to Britain’s Anthony Ogogo after an 18-18 countback, despite two knockdowns. The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine protested the decision to AIBA.

Read the article

Ukraine Men’s Gymnastics ControversyHi-res-149542564_crop_exact

For a glorious moment, the team (Ukraine) was able to revel in the fact that, after a late miracle, they were the bronze medalists in the men’s team gymnastic competition in the 2012 Olympics.

Unfortunately for them, that miracle proved to good to be true, and Ukraine was all of a sudden out of the medals in fourth place. That fourth-place finish is territory that very few felt Ukraine could occupy. Most did not consider them a legitimate medal threat.

Consequently, that fourth-place finish should be a great source of pride for the team. Instead, it will now be tinged with the memories of losing a medal they very temporarily owned. Due to a judge’s error, the Ukrainian team must now reconcile the feelings of losing out on a medal they thought they had.

…

The scoring error occurred on Japan’s Kohei Uchimura pommel horse routine. He fell on his dismount and was initially awarded a score of 13.466. This was low enough that it caused Japan to fall from second to fourth, which moved Great Britain and Ukraine up to second and third respectively.

However, Japan filed a protest and after minutes of deliberation it was concluded that the judges did not give Uchimura a high enough difficulty score, and his score was raised enough for Japan to hold onto second. As a result, the sport now has a new, highly-visible black eye.

Read the article

And some bazar actions are revealing true intentions:

Russian annexes Ukraine

Ukraine and Georgia have protested that descriptions of some Russian athletes’ birthplaces on the official London 2012 website make the countries seem like part of Russia.

Karolina Sevastyanova, a Russian rhythmic gymnast, is listed as from “Ukraine Region (UKR)”; canoeist Alexey Korovashkov apparently hails from Ukraina Region (RUS).

Read the article

And with the newly minted Russian language law in Ukraine, local governments didn’t waste any time implementing the new rules:

Deputies of Odesa City Council have approved an instruction on the implementation of the law of Ukraine on the principles of the state language policy in Odesa at a special sitting on Monday and gave Russian language the status of a regional language in the city.

According to the city council’s instruction, from now on the Russian language may be used on the territory of Odesa as a regional language in offices, official documents, at schools and universities, for advertising and in the municipal toponymy.

Read the article

 

Canada

CBC did a great job recapping all the highs and lows for Canada in the Olympics:

The fact Canada captured only one gold medal in London doesn’t mean the nation is in crisis. In truth, Canada — aside from the 10 gold medals won at the boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Games — rarely reaches the top of the podium at a Summer Olympics with regular frequency.

Beginning with Atlanta in 1996 and right through to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Canada has won exactly three gold medals in each of those four Games. In terms of overall medals, Canada’s 18 in London equals its Beijing output, and ranks second to the 22 earned in Atlanta — the most ever by a Canadian team in a non-boycotted Olympics.

Canadian women’s soccer team steals show

it was the controversy with Canada leading 3-2 that will always define this contest. That’s when Norwegian referee Christiana Pedersen transformed herself into one of the most infamous figures in Olympic history.

In a sequence of calls that set off a firestorm from both the Canadian players and a few media outlets outside the U.S., Pedersen called goalkeeper Erin McLeod for holding the ball too long, which led to a free kick inside the Canadian box. While a six-second infraction does exist in the rulebook, the enforcement usually comes with a warning, one McLeod said she never received.

The referee then awarded the U.S. a penalty kick when Marie-Eve Nault was charged with a handball. Abby Wambach converted that chance with less than 10 minutes remaining before Alex Morgan’s header in the final minute of extra time buried Canada, and sent the Americans on their way to another gold medal following their 4-3 win.

The loss could’ve ruined Canada’s chances against France in the bronze match, but the women were still playing for history. Diana Matheson’s dramatic goal in the 92nd minute gave Canada a 1-0 win and landed the country its first medal in a traditional team sport since 1936.

MacLennan captures lone gold medal

Canada’s lone gold medal of the Games came from an unlikely source.

Heading into London, Rosie MacLennan competed in the rather large shadow of three-time Olympic medallist and trampoline great Karen Cockburn. That changed when MacLennan, of King City, Ont., executed a brilliant routine to capture gold.

MacLennan has to wait to celebrate as 2008 Olympic champion He Wenna of China pressed hard during her last routine. To everyone’s amazement, He tumbled on her last manoeuvre, sending MacLennan into Olympic history.

Heymans, van Koeverden leave mark

By winning a bronze medal in the women’s three-metre synchronized springboard event with partner Jennifer Abel, she became the first Canadian ever to win a medal in four straight Olympics.

Read the article

London Olympics Medal update–July 31, 2012 (Updated)

Here is a recap of how the medal race is going after day 4 of Olympic competition for both Canada and Ukraine:

image

 

Canada

Divers Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel have claimed bronze in the women’s three-metre synchronized event.

The result will put the 30-year-old Heymans into the history books as she becomes the first female diver to reach the podium in four consecutive Olympic Games.

Read the article

Edit: Minutes after I posted, Canada picked up two more Bronze medals, then a few hours later another Bronze:

The diving team of Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito captured Canada’s second medal at the London Olympics.

Filion of Laval, Que., and Montreal’s Benfeito won bronze Tuesday in the women’s 10-metre synchronized event.

…

Meanwhile, Antoine Valois-Fortier won a bronze in the man’s 81-kg judo competition.

The 22-year-old from Quebec City defeated American Travis Stevens 1-0 to win Canada’s first judo medal since Nicholas Gill won silver in 2000.

…

Just before lunch in Canada, Christine Girard of White Rock, B.C. won the fourth bronze of the Games in the women’s 63-kg. category.

Read the article

 

Ukraine

Gold medallist Yana Shemyakina of Ukraine kisses her medal during the award ceremony for the women's epee individual fencing competition at the ExCel venue at the London 2012 Olympic Games July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Ukraine’s Yana Shemyakina won gold in the women’s individual epee after a nail-biting 9-8 extra-time win over reigning Olympic champion Britta Heidemann of Germany at the London Games on Monday.

Twelfth seed Shemyakina was a surprise winner, having worked her way through the preliminaries.

Read the article

And the Olympics are not without controversy already:

Hi-res-149542564_crop_exact

For a glorious moment, the team (Ukraine) was able to revel in the fact that, after a late miracle, they were the bronze medalists in the men’s team gymnastic competition in the 2012 Olympics.

Unfortunately for them, that miracle proved to good to be true, and Ukraine was all of a sudden out of the medals in fourth place. That fourth-place finish is territory that very few felt Ukraine could occupy. Most did not consider them a legitimate medal threat.

Consequently, that fourth-place finish should be a great source of pride for the team. Instead, it will now be tinged with the memories of losing a medal they very temporarily owned. Due to a judge’s error, the Ukrainian team must now reconcile the feelings of losing out on a medal they thought they had.

…

The scoring error occurred on Japan’s Kohei Uchimura pommel horse routine. He fell on his dismount and was initially awarded a score of 13.466. This was low enough that it caused Japan to fall from second to fourth, which moved Great Britain and Ukraine up to second and third respectively.

However, Japan filed a protest and after minutes of deliberation it was concluded that the judges did not give Uchimura a high enough difficulty score, and his score was raised enough for Japan to hold onto second. As a result, the sport now has a new, highly-visible black eye.

Read the article

And some bazar actions are revealing true intentions:

Ukraine and Georgia have protested that descriptions of some Russian athletes’ birthplaces on the official London 2012 website make the countries seem like part of Russia.

Karolina Sevastyanova, a Russian rhythmic gymnast, is listed as from “Ukraine Region (UKR)”; canoeist Alexey Korovashkov apparently hails from Ukraina Region (RUS).

Read the article

It seems we are turning back the clock on progress:

The Ukrainian parliament’s press service has announced that a controversial language bill that gives Russian the status of “a regional language” in 13 of Ukraine’s 27 regions has been signed by the speaker.

Read the article

‘Save Soyuzivka–Now, not later!’

Two weeks ago I attended the traditional American Soyuzivka festival (a.k.a. the Suzi-Q) in the Catskill Mountains in New York State. The festival is hosted on a Ukrainian summer heritage centre complete with cabins, campgrounds, a pool, and a bar among other amenities. Ruslana performed as well as other Ukrainian and American performers including Peter from the 60’s band Peter, Paul and Mary (who’s parents are from Ukraine).

I had a fantastic time, but a dire message was stressed this year as the heritage centre is undergoing serious funding issues and appeals for help from the community:

The installation of a new boiler and heating system triggered a devastating oil discharge on Soyuzvika property, identified in the spring of 2011. The catastrophic event has resulted in almost $1,000,000 in clean up costs, which was directed, supervised and mandated by the New York State environmental authorities. Although Soyuzvika has taken legal action against the servicers/suppliers we feel are responsible, the clean up and remediation costs are extensive and immediate. The good news is that the oil discharge has been contained—but mandated monitoring and remediation efforts will continue for some years. We need your help in this!

Donations can be made to the following 501©3 corporation (which is tax deductible for Americans):

Ukrainian National Foundation – Soyuzvika Heritage Fund
UNF. PO Box 280 2200 Rt 10
Parsippany, NJ
07054
(973) 292-9800

 

You can watch a lot of the performances of Soyuzvika on YouTube

A site for cossack canucks