Paralympics - Why is Ukraine doing so well?

[ichkeria]

I was interested in why Ukraine, a country with a deplorable record in catering for disabilities in public places, is doing so well in the Paralympics. I heard an interesting reason, given by an "expert" on Channel 4, to the effect that it was because of the aftermath of Chernobyl, with institutions and facilities being set up in advance to cater for a predicted increase in the disabled population which never in fact occurred.
Maybe this is the case but it strikes me as implausible for a number of reasons, not least that in was in fact Belarus which bore the brunt of the Chernobyl disaster.
Various articles attribute Ukraine's success to the foresight and energies of one man, Valeriy Sushkevych and his national Invasport system, but none of these articles, so far as I can see, makes any link with Chernobyl.

[argorstran]

China is leading as expected , the UK as the hosts are having an excellent games and the other countries at the top of the table are the ones that you'd expect to see there , i.e. the ones with a strong sporting tradtion - including Ukraine .
I don't know much about disabled facilities in the Ukraine but I notice that you use the strong word "deplorable" rather than "worse than in the west" or "not up to modern European standards" . Is it really that bad ?

[Topblue]

I believe that the Ukrainian Paralympians are on a very high bonus for each medal, up to £30,000 was suggested. This is to ensure that Ukraine is internationally recognised as a sporting country, After their part in the Euro 2012 Championship, it is suggested that they are building up to an Olympic/Paralympic bid.

[ichkeria]

Yes it is really that bad but of course that isn't necessarily relevant I suppose.
I also don't think the bonuses thing is particularly relevant either. I was hoping someone might be able to shed light on the Chernobyl thing.

[argorstran]

Sad to hear that facilities for disabled people are poor in the Ukraine - I hope that an Olympic bid will give an impetus for improvements .

[ichkeria]

The Ukrainian city of Lviv has expressed an interest in staging the 2022 Winter Olympics, but I'm not sure there is any plan for the Summer Olympics.
There is also an article in the Telegraph suggesting that 'Ukraine's decision to flex their financial muscles has resulted in them becoming one of disabled sport's true powerhouses' a comment which I feel in shallow and inaccurate: Ukraine has no financial muscle to speak of. It's long term systems and programmes which bear fruit. Certainly whatever is the secret of Paralympic success no one has shared it with the eorld's richest country the USA