Olympics 2024: Kravets off to a confident start

At the Olympic Games in the capital of France the morning session in Men's K-1 1000m became the main event for Team Belarus on August 7.

At the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, Belarusian Uladzislau Kravets clocked the second best time in Heat 1, finishing behind the experienced Fernando Pimenta of Portugal.

The Men's K-1 1000m semifinal will be held on Saturday, 10 August, to be followed by the final on the same day.

After the finish, Uladzislau Kravets shared his impressions.

"The water is very light and deep. The Olympic rowing canal suits me: I am light. With fair wind I can carry myself. I like everything. The race turned out to be easy, Pimenta was the only favorite. I understood that I would fight for the second place and a spot in the semifinals with the American Jonas Ecker. I still had the room to improve. I found out that I was going to Paris a month before the Olympics. I worked on my shape, and on the eve of the race here I fell ill. I have three days to recover and, I hope, I will approach the decisive races in optimal shape and show my best,” Uladzislau Kravets said.

In Grand Palais, Belarusian Georgiy Gurtsiev made his Olympic debut in the taekwondo 58kg.

The Olympic tournament turned out to be difficult for the silver medalist of the 2023 World Championships.

Georgiy Gurtsiev lost to Cyrian Ravet of France in the 58kg opening bout. The Belarusian led 6-0 in the first round but lost his advantage after allowing a number of kicks at the end of the first round.

Georgiy Gurtsiev had a chance for success in the second half of the fight, but his five-point head kick was rejected after a video review.

Head coach of the national team Anatoly Likhodiyevsky commented on Gurtsiev's performance:
“It was a really nervous bout. We will see how the French performs further. We could still compete for bronze later in the repechage should he reach the final.

Leading in the score, Georgiy lost concentration at the end of the first round. As for the second round you saw everything for yourself. Gurtsiev landed a five-point head kick, but it was rejected following the video review. I would never imagine such a thing was possible at the Olympics before. The athlete himself was a little overwhelmed,” the coach said.

Commenting on the preparations ahead of the Games, I would like to say that Georgiy had to undergo meniscus surgery right after the World Championships. We had to go through a lot of things, including dealing with the Olympics admission issues. We are grateful to the NOC of Belarus. It helped us a lot, defended our right for the participation in the Games. We approached the Games in good shape, and it is hard to find any other reasons behind the defeat. Georgiy defeated this opponent before,” Anatoly Likhodiyevsky added.



On 8 August, Yuliya Trushkina will compete in the women’s canoe sprint 200m qualification.

Press service of the NOC of Belarus

Photos by the NOC of Belarus