January 23, 2023 | at the FISU Winter University Games
During the ceremony, which took place on the eve of the closing of the FISU World University Games in Lake Placid 2023, Vadym Stetsenko, Chairman of the Ukrainian Delegation and Student Sports Federation, received the Fair Play award from Venerable Sunil Sabharwal, Secretary General of the International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) and Gabor Deregan, Executive Director of the CIPF, in the presence of Leonz Eder, Acting President of FISU, and Eric Saintrond, Secretary General and Director General of FISU.
The award was given to Ukraine for the courageous participation of its team of athletes and officials in the 2023 FISU Winter Games in Lake Placid, under difficult current circumstances. While the war raged in their country, most Ukrainian athletes faced great difficulties in training, competing, preparing and traveling.
Nevertheless, Ukraine managed to come to Lake Placid with a strong delegation that won six medals (gold in parallel giant slalom snowboarders with Mykhailo Kharuk, who also won bronze in parallel slalom, silver in biathlon, mixed singles relay and bronze in men’s nordic combined team sprint, men’s biathlon 12.5 km pursuit with Dmytry Hruszczak and women’s snowboard parallel slalom with Nadia Hapatyn).
Ashley Walden, Executive Director of the FISU World University Lake Placid 2023 Organizing Committee, also accepted the award on behalf of all the volunteers who made these FISU Games possible.
CIFP is an organization recognized by the IOC and UNESCO, founded in 1963 in Paris, thus celebrating its 60th anniversary.p anniversary of the year. Its mission is to spread the ideals of fair play by appreciating exceptional sports deeds, as well as developing and promoting a better understanding of the value of fair play and counteracting unfavorable behavior.
