On 17 June, a graduate of Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, Honoured Master of Sports of Ukraine in Thai boxing Muay Thai, two-time World Games champion, five-time World Champion, Full Knight of the Order of Merit Oleh Pryimachov came to meet with the sports-minded and motivated students of Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”.
During the warm informal communication, they discussed what factors and people motivate people to take up their chosen sport. They recalled the first steps of his becoming an athlete in the boxing ring. The communication between an experienced athlete and those who have chosen sports as their profession and are making confident steps towards reaching the top of the sports Olympus was accompanied by the moderator of the event, the head of the Centre for Culture and Student Creativity, Doctor of Science in Social Communications, Associate Professor Hlib Kudriashov.
“It was a great pleasure to join the warm informal communication and together with the motivated, sporty students of Poltava Polytechnic, we discussed with the champion the positive motivation to practise the chosen sport, recalling the first steps of his becoming an athlete in the boxing ring.
We are proud that since the opening of the youngest structural subdivision of Poltava Polytechnic, Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports, our university has been holding a leading position among the sportiest universities in the country, educating a lot of champions of Ukraine, Europe and the world.
In the person of Oleh Pryimachov, I congratulated not only an experienced athlete whose enchanting victories inspire whole generations of talented youth of Poltava Polytechnic but also honoured a person who, from the first days of the full-scale invasion, stood up for the state sovereignty and independence of our country in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The personality of a charismatic graduate of Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports is an example of success, hard work, and even sports integrity because only those who train and work on themselves every day win.
“I sincerely thank our students for their interesting questions, and I am convinced that the powerful vital charge of our champion has become a strong motivator for those whose sporting achievements are still ahead. I wish you confidence, perseverance, and determination to continue to conquer the heights in sports. Let’s go to new victories together! Glory to Ukraine!” Rector of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, Head of Sports Student Union of Ukraine in Poltava Region and Ukrainian Federation of Student Sports in Poltava Region, Professor Volodymyr Onyshchenko congratulated the students.
The Head of Multidisciplinary Classical University awarded a graduate of Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports Oleh Pryimachov with a Certificate of Honour of Poltava Polytechnic for his high sporting achievements at the World Championships in Thai Boxing 2024 and his personal contribution to the development of physical culture and sports of Ukraine, patriotism and devotion to Ukraine.
The titled athlete’s words about the internal motivation that drives him forward are extremely relevant. According to Oleh Pryimachov, at first, he just wanted to win the championship title, the title of Honoured Master of Sports, and then sports became a key dogma of his life. With the start of the full-scale invasion, the opportunity to defeat the representatives of the aggressor country in the ring became an additional motivation for the Ukrainian. Recognition, the honour of his home university, and meetings with students motivate him to work even harder. Currently, the athlete has tested his abilities in the super-heavyweight division over 91 kg, having previously become a four-time world champion in Thai boxing under 91 kg.
With special warmth, the university graduate talks about the coaches who have become a powerful guide for him, first in football, which he played since school, and then in Thai boxing, which he took up in adulthood and has already managed to build a successful sports career:
“A coach in sports is like a father to a family. For an athlete who is just making their first steps in sports, this is the person who will be the first authority for them, who will give them hope and the skills that will allow them to achieve high sports results in the future and show them the way through hard physical work how to achieve these results. That’s why a coach is 50% of the success of an endeavour, and the other 50% is the athlete’s hard work, talent, and all the other abilities they may have. I have taken something from all the coaches I have had in 14 years in this sport, both the coach and the athletes need to develop.”
According to Oleh Pryimachov, every person in this life is born for something, and if they find their life’s work and devote themselves to it, they can achieve any achievement and there are no impossible goals.
“I have loved sports since I was a kid and got to know football the closest because there was no alternative. Then it so happened that I went to study, I had to give up football, and when I became a teenager, I tried classical boxing, which also fascinated me. I did classical boxing for a couple of years, then I met a coach who allowed me to believe in myself and told me that I was doing quite well and that in a few years, I could win the Ukrainian championship if I trained regularly. I moved to Poltava and found a job that allowed me to combine training and work. I lived by sport, and that’s why I think everything came easy to me,” the athlete said.
Oleh Pryimachov speaks softly about his family, his wife, son and daughter, who fully support, inspire and are by his side in the most important moments of his life: “My task as a father is to make sport a good habit for my children, but not to force them into anything.”
When asked about the possibility of changing something in his life, he thoughtfully replies that there is no point in regretting what did not happen, because the athlete himself respects his own choice and does not focus on what could have been different.
Students of Poltava Polytechnic asked a lot of questions, in particular, how to draw a clear line between everyday life and the fights that take place in the ring and how to focus on overcoming the opponent, because Thai boxing is an extremely tough sport.
“An athlete is a person who adjusts, during fights certain psychological moments that occur, become familiar already at the stage of preparation for the fight. Personally, I only aim to win, and everything else fades into the background at this point,” Oleh Pryimachov shared his own “formula for success”.
At the end of the meeting, students and teachers of Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports of Poltava Polytechnic continued the informal communication, wished the five-time world champion in Thai boxing new sporting victories and took a picture.
It should be recalled that earlier, the President of Ukraine talked to the students of Poltava Polytechnic and awarded them.
Recently, the picked team of Polytechnic became a silver medallist of the XXII Football Championship of Ukraine among higher education institutions, and the university hosted a sports contest among the deputies of councils of all levels of Poltava region, the competitions of the regional stage of the All-Ukrainian Children and Youth Military and Patriotic Game “Sokil” (“Dzhura”) were held, a freshman of FPCS became the European champion in para-armwrestling, and a Polytechnic athlete won the bronze medal of the Ukrainian Triathlon Championship in the super-sprint distance.
Media Center of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
