The Ukrainian woman got this opportunity as the captain of the team of athletes from EU countries.
The Olympic Torch Relay started today, May 9, in Marseille. The date was not chosen by chance – it is Europe Day. The flame was carried by 27 athletes of the EU team in turn, according to the number of EU member states. Ukraine was the 28th participant in the ceremony.
Maria Vysocanska is a finalist for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. She is a bronze medalist at the World Championships, a champion and medalist at the European Championships in group exercises, and a master of sports of Ukraine. The athlete has been playing for the Ukrainian national team since 2016, and since 2021 she has been the captain of the national rhythmic gymnastics team in group exercises.
“Maria Vysocanska started her career in sports in Lviv region. She is a student of Iryna Ruda (a coach and teacher at the Dmytro Sydoruk Children and Youth Sports School, associate professor of the Department of Gymnastics at the I. Bobersky Lviv State University of Physical Education and Sports). For about five years, the athlete has been representing Kyiv at competitions,” said Roman Khimyak, head of the Youth and Sports Department of the Lviv Regional Military Administration.
We would like to add that Maria Vysochenska’s father is a Ukrainian “cyborg” and director of the Lviv Regional Municipal Warrior’s House, Oleh Vysochenskyi. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he has returned to the army.
By the way, another student of Iryna Ruda’s is Khrystyna Pohranichna, who also became a finalist at the Tokyo Olympics. Khrystyna is the heroine of the project of the Regional Department of Youth and Sports “On the Verge,” a series of films about the 2020 Olympics participants from Lviv region. You can watch the series with Pohranichna