Oleksandr Pielieshenko

Ukrainian weightlifter Oleksandr Pielieshenko had a promising start to his career when he finished fourth in the light-heavyweight class at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships in Houston. Pielieshenko then won gold at the 2016 European Championships in Norway, with him repeating the result the following year in Croatia. In between his two European gold medals he also finished fourth at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, just five points off a medal. Two years after the Olympics, however, he was suspended after failing an out-of-competition drug test.

Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 Pielieshenko joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Sadly he was only 30-years-old when he died in combat on 5 May 2024, becoming the first Olympian to be killed in action during the war in Ukraine.