The Ukrainian national team has won its first medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games. Swimmer Anton Kol won silver in the 100-metre backstroke in the S1 class (swimmers with severe motor impairments). This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi
with reference to the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine.
In the final, the Ukrainian athlete swam almost the entire distance in third place, behind Italian Francesco Bettelli, but in the last 20 metres of the course he overtook his rival.
Kamil Otowski from Poland won the gold medal, and Francesco Bettella from Italy became the bronze medallist.
This is Anton Kol’s third Paralympic Games. At the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, he took third place in the 50m and 100m backstroke.
In Tokyo 2020, he improved his result and won two silver medals.
What we know about Anton Kohl
Anton Kol was born in June 1990 in Nikopol with a congenital musculoskeletal disorder. His parents abandoned him when he was five years old.
At first he lived in a home for children with disabilities, then in an orphanage, and then in a nursing home.
In addition to his sporting achievements, Kol is a certified civil engineer. Several buildings were built in Dnipro based on his designs.
In 2016, he received the Order for Courage, III class.