Vitaliy Oleksandovych Polyanskyi ( uk, Віталій Олександрович Полянський; born 26 January 1981 in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

) is a Ukrainian

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

, who competed in the men's heavyweight category. He held two Ukrainian titles in both his own division and the open event, picked up a bronze medal at the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, Thailand, and represented his nation

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Polyanskyy was selected to the Ukrainian squad in the men's heavyweight class (+100 kg) at the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, as a result of the nation's top nine finish in the European Judo Union ranking list. Polyanskyy opened his match with a brilliant

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In Judo In Judo, an ippon may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the four ...

victory and an ōuchi gari (big inner reap) over Egypt's

Islam El Shehaby Islam El-Shehaby ( ''ʾIslām ash-Shahābī''; born 1 August 1982) is an Egyptian former judoka. He competed at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics. El Shehaby was a nine-time African Champion (2002–13), and was the world bronze medalis ...

, before he fell in his next bout with a waza-ari awasete ippon defeat to Italy's

Paolo Bianchessi Paolo Bianchessi (born 17 January 1981) is an Italian judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版 ...

. With Bianchessi moving forward to the medal podium phase, Polyanskyy gave himself a chance for an Olympic bronze medal through the repechage round, but lost to South Korea's

Kim Sung-bum Kim Sung-Bum (also ''Kim Seong-Beom'', ko, 김 성범; born May 30, 1979) is a South Korean judoka, who competed in the men's heavyweight category. He is a two-time Olympian, and four-time medalist at the Asian Judo Championships. He defeated ...

by an

and a tani otoshi (valley drop) within a halfway time into their first playoff of the draft.

References

External links

* 1981 births Living people Ukrainian male judoka Olympic judoka for Ukraine Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Dnipro Universiade medalists in judo Universiade bronze medalists for Ukraine Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade 21st-century Ukrainian people {{Ukraine-judo-bio-stub