Vadym Gutzeit | |
|---|---|
Вадим Гутцайт | |
 Gutzeit in 2014 | |
| Minister of Youth and Sports | |
| In office 4 March 2020 – 9 November 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Denys Shmyhal |
| Preceded by | Volodymyr Borodiansky |
| Succeeded by | Matviy Bidny |
| President of theNational Olympic Committee of Ukraine | |
| Assumed office 17 November 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Serhiy Bubka |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Vadym Markovych Gutzeit (1971-10-06)6 October 1971 (age 54) |
| Fencing career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Fencing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Ukraine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weapon | Sabre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hand | right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Vadym Gutzeit (Ukrainian:Вадим Маркович Гутцайт; alsoVadym Guttsayt orVadym Markovych Huttsayt; born 6 October 1971) is aUkrainian Olympic championsabrefencer, and formerUkraine's Youth and Sport Minister, as well as the president of theUkrainian Fencing Federation and the President of theNational Olympic Committee of Ukraine.
He was world junior sabre champion in 1989 and 1990, fenced in three Olympic Games, wassabre team Olympic champion in 1992, won a bronze medal in the1991 World Fencing Championships, and was the2005 Maccabiah Games sabre champion. Since March 2020, Gutzeit has been Ukraine'sYouth and Sport Minister.[2] He has been an international referee for theFédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) since 2002. Gutzeit was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the FIE in 2013.
Gutzeit was born inKyiv[3] into a Jewish family. In 1993, he graduated from theKyiv State Institute of Physical Culture.[4] In 1993–2002, he served as a major in theArmed Forces of Ukraine.[4][5]
He is married to Ukrainian journalist, radio and TV presenter, Oksana Gutzeit.[6] They have two children.[6]
Gutzeit took up fencing at the age of nine.[7] He won the Ukrainian nationalsabre championship when he was 15. He fenced forDynamo (Kiev).[6] In 1988 he becameUSSR Junior Sabre Champion.[8]
Gutzeit won thegold medal in theJunior Under-20 Sabre World Fencing Championships in both 1989 and 1990.[9] In 1991, he won asilver medal in the same event.
That year he also won an individualbronze medal, and a Unified Team silver medal, in sabre at the1991 senior World Fencing Championships.[10][6]
He competed at fourUniversiade competitions, winning five medals between 1991 and 1999, with gold medals in the individual sabre events in 1997 and 1999.[11][12]
Gutzeit is an Olympic champion, and has competed in three Olympics. He competed in the1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona for theUnified Team (the former Soviet Union) at the age of 20, and won a gold medal with the sabre team.[3][13]
He also competed in the1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, this time for Ukraine, finishing 6th in theindividual sabre event after being defeated 14–15 in the quarter-finals by Russia'sStanislav Pozdnyakov, who eventually won the competition.[14] Gutzeit took part in his third Olympiad at the2000 Sydney Games, for Ukraine. Seeded No. 13, he lost 10–15 in the table of 16 to 1998 world championDomonkos Ferjancsik of Hungary.[10] In thesabre team competition, he and Ukraine finished 6th.[10]
Gutzeit, who isJewish, competed for Ukraine at the1997 Maccabiah Games in Israel.[15] He also competed in the2001 Maccabiah Games in Israel, and won thesilver medal in individual sabre.[10] He was defeated in the gold medal final bySergey Sharikov of Russia.[10] Gutzeit won the gold medal at the2005 Maccabiah Games, reaping revenge over Sharikov of Russia, as Ukraine also won the team sabre gold medal.[16]
From 2002 to 2010, Gutzeit was the head coach of Ukraine's fencing team, which won anOlympic gold medal in women's team sabre in 2008.[13][4][6]
Gutzeit became an international referee in 2002 in all weapons for theInternational Fencing Federation.[17] He has since officiated in a number of major competitions, including the 2000, 2004, 2012, and 2021 Olympics.[11][5]
He was vice president of theUkrainian Fencing Federation from 2000 to 2016, has been President of the Federation since 2017, and has been a member of the executive committee of theNational Olympic Committee of Ukraine since 2004.[6] In 2014 Gutzeit said: "I, an Olympic champion, want to appeal to all the people of Ukraine and Russia! ... I won the Olympic Games in 1992 as part of the CIS combined team .... We respected and loved each other! We were like brothers.... I ask all the politicians of the two countries! We must be friends and respect each other .... And each of us deserves to live happily in our own land."[18]
In 2010-2020, Gutzeit was the executive director of the Ukrainian Olympic Training and Sports Center.[4]
In 1997, Gutzeit was awarded theUkrainian Order of Merit III, in 2008 he received the award "For Merit" II, and in 2012 he received the award "For Merit" I.[4][6] In 2004, he received the honorary title of "Honored Worker of Physical Culture and Sports of Ukraine."[4] In 2016, he received the Insignia of the President of Ukraine.[7] Gutzeit is also a Ukrainian Honored Master of Sports (1992) andHonored Coach of Ukraine.[19][6]
Gutzeit was inducted into the Hall of Fame of theFédération Internationale d'Escrime in 2013.[17]
On 26 June 2018, Gutzeit was appointed head of theKyiv City Council's (Kyiv City State Administration) Department of Youth and Sports.[13][4] He held the position until March 2020.[20]
On 9 June 2019 Gutzeit announced he would take part in the July2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election with the partyServant of the People.[21] Three days later, however, he withdrew from the election.[22]
On 4 March 2020, Gutzeit was voted in as Ukraine'sYouth and Sport Minister.[2][4] At theTokyo Olympics held in 2021,Ukrainian athletes won 19 medals (up from 11 medals in the prior Olympics), though only one of them gold. In the overallmedal table, Ukraine placed 16th by total medals and 44th by golds.[23][5] Speaking in 2021 of his Russian Olympic teammates with whom he competed as part of theUnified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics, Gutzeit said: "television really zombified people there [in Russia]."[5] In December 2021, he announced that Ukraine had decided to apply to host the2028 Winter Youth Olympics and2030 Winter Olympics.[24]
On 28 February 2022, referring to theRussian invasion of Ukraine, he wrote: "No one has the right to threaten our sovereignty and freedom... Sport carries the idea of peace. But if the enemy is on our land – ... We will surely win!"[25]
Referring to theInternational Olympic Committee's decision to reinstate Russian athletes asneutrals, Gutzeit pointed out in March 2023 that "neither us nor them" are satisfied with the decision, with the Ukrainians ardently demanding a blanket ban, while the Russians claim the IOC criteria is humiliating, hypocritical, and russophobic.[26]
Also in March 2023, Gutzeit said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had so far killed 262 Ukrainian athletes, and destroyed 363 sports facilities in Ukraine.[27][28]
In 2023, Gutzeit, who had competed withRussian Olympic Committee presidentStanislav Pozdnyakov when they were teammates from Ukraine and Russia on the post-SovietUnified Team at the1992 Olympics, said he had only contempt for Pozdnyakov.[29][30] He blames Pozdnyakov for vocally supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[6] Gutzeit said: "I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to know him at all. He is my enemy, who supports this war, who considers it an honor for athletes to take part in the war against Ukrainians, to kill Ukrainians. Therefore, for today and forever, this person does not exist for me.”[6]
On 8 November 2023 Gutzeit requested his dismissal as minister, so he could focus more on his work in the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.[31] TheVerkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament) fired Gutzeit as Minister of Youth and Sports the following day.[31] 243Ukrainian MP's voted for his dismissal.[31]
In November 2022, Gutzeit was elected the new President of theNational Olympic Committee of Ukraine, with 84% of the vote.[32]
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