Far from the missiles and shelling and shelters and fear, on one of the first crisp October days in Iowa City, Ukraine’s world-champion women’s wrestling team met up with the University of Iowa women’s wrestling team.
But there were no mats. No singlets. No headlocks. No throws. At least for the moment.
Earlier in the day, the two squads had drilled and sparred together in the historic Hawkeye wrestling room attached to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on the UI campus, finding the sport — despite some language barriers — translated just fine, even when Google Translate failed.
But now, hours later inside the home of Iowa wrestling legend Dan Gable and his wife Kathy, the wrestlers found common ground by breaking bread — or rather piroshki, a potato pie cooked specifically for the occasion by a Ukrainian mother and daughter who relocated to Muscatine this year as refugees.
The duo had been invited to replicate an authentic Ukrainian meal for the Monday evening gathering — as a welcome to the wrestlers who might be missing home.
“It’s very good,” Ukrainian world champion Yuliya Tkach said of the spread, with a smirk. “Because it’s Ukrainian.”
Tkach, 34 — who in September took silver at the 2023 Wrestling World Championships in Serbia and over the span of her career has racked up a long list of accomplishments, including gold at the 2014 world championships — said she likes being back in Eastern Iowa for the memories, given she and her Ukrainian team won the women’s wrestling World Cup when Coralville hosted in December.
“We like this place because we win competition,” Tkach said. “And we are very happy to be in this house to gather with a legend.”
The evening meal at the Gables’ with the Hawkeye women’s wrestling team, including Coach Clarissa Chun, was among several uniquely Iowa experiences the Ukrainians had during this fall’s 10-day visit as part of an international training tour — organized out of necessity, given the realities of war have made training in Ukraine increasingly difficult.
“At the moment, support from the government is very limited,” Andrey Vorontsov, national performance lead for the Ukrainian national team, told The Gazette. “The girls cannot really train properly in Ukraine.”
While in Iowa, the team not only has been practicing with the Hawkeyes, they have on their schedule a visit to Wilson’s Apple Orchard, including a ride on “Bessie” the tractor; a Hawkeye volleyball game at Xtream Arena; and the “Crossover at Kinnick” outdoor women’s basketball game Sunday.
Last week, the team led a wrestling practice for local high school girls at City High — taking them through warm-ups, drilling, and live situations before taking questions and photos with the teens.
"It’s a really good experience, because they’re so good,“ City High freshman Martha Willard, 14, said while watching the Ukrainians warm up Wednesday in her school’s wrestling room.
Before arriving on U.S. soil, the team visited Japan in June. And, over the course of their trek through Iowa and the United States, they have or will visit wrestling rooms in Dubuque and Mount Vernon; Washington, D.C.; Colorado Springs; Pennsylvania; North Carolina; New York; and New Jersey.
But, because Vorontsov conceived of the tour and planned it, the trip’s itinerary evolved from and revolved around Iowa — given his personal connections with Hawkeye assistant coach Tonya Verbeek, who was a coach at Brock University in Canada a decade ago when Vorontsov wrestled there.
He also worked in the International Wresting Federation for eight years — making connections with Coach Chun.
“So Iowa University was the first place whom I reached and asked if we can come,” he said. “When they said yes, OK then. Once I received this response, I started to work with the other places.”
As the wrestlers shared food Monday night, they also shared stories — including some of the internal wrestling they had to do in deciding to continue with the sport they love, even with their country in conflict and their families under threat.
“I have two sons,” Tkach said. “One son is 10 years and another is one year and nine months.”
While she’s away, her husband is with the boys in Ukraine.
“All the time I think about this,” she said. “And I don't sleep very well. Because I'm very terrified for my family.”
When the most recent Russian invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, Tkach’s youngest son was just 2 months old.
“It was a big shock for me,” she said. “All the time, I cried. I am so scared for the life of my sons. I don’t know how I lived at this time. I don’t know. It’s very scary. You don’t know. You sleep and you don’t know if you will get up and you will be alive. You don’t know. It’s so crazy.”
But time goes on. War goes on. Life goes on, she said.
“And we must live,” she said. “We don’t change our life. God give me my life, and I must live my life.”
And she’s been wrestling all her life. She’s been on the national team since she was 18 — so for 16 years. And by continuing to wrestle, she’s leading by example for her sons. For her country.
“When the war started, I had a small baby, and our team must go to the competition — European championship,” Tkach said. “The war was only one month. And girls win the competition. It was amazing. They showed all the world Ukraine is very strong.”
By continuing to compete and tour and train — not just with top-tier wrestlers like those in the Hawkeye room — but with new wrestlers like the girls at City High or young collegiate wrestlers scheduled for their later stops, the women’s national team is doing more than winning matches and medals.
“We are ambassadors for Ukraine,” she said. “We can speak about the situation in Ukraine.”
And, for each of them, the situation — the struggle — has been different.
In January 2022, trainer Vorontsov saw his 74-year-old mother in his hometown of Mariupol — in her apartment within a larger house. On Feb. 24, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine — shelling Mariupol and reaching that city in days, bombarding it with artillery and killing residents.
“I lost contact with her Feb. 28,” said Vorontsov, who was on the other side of Ukraine at the time. “I knew that there was a total mess.”
Weeks passed without word. And, with Mariupol under Russian control and no safe way to check on her, Vorontsov in May decided to find someone from Russia willing to bring his mom a phone.
“Because there was not a way — you had to ask someone,” Vorontsov said. “One guy agreed to do that. I paid him about $1,000 to bring her a phone. And I didn't even know if she was alive.”
About a day later, the number of the phone he sent appeared on his cell.
“I didn’t know what to say,” Vorontsov said of his relief at learning his mother was alive. “My mom was like, ‘Hello. How are you?’”
His mother’s house had been hit by a missile while she was alone in her apartment. Six people died in the house, although she remained unharmed. But he still hasn’t seen her in person — almost two years later.
“And I have a daughter who just turned 3,” he said. “So basically she saw her granddaughter when she couldn't even walk, and now she speaks properly. And I don't see an opportunity for seeing her anytime soon because she doesn't want to move out, and obviously we cannot go there.”
So, like the coaches and wrestlers he’s traveling with, Vorontsov is keeping his eyes both on the news and on the next competition — which for this group is the Ukrainian Cup, a qualifying event for the Olympics.
And the Hawkeye women are happy the Ukrainians’ journey to Paris next summer has brought them through Iowa.
“We barely like speak the same language, but it's nice all wrestling together,” UI senior and Hawkeye wrestler Emmily Patnuead told The Gazette after their first combined practice on Monday.
By the end of the week, the Ukrainians were starting to look and feel more comfortable in the Iowa room — seemingly an outgrowth of the seed planted earlier in the week in the house of wrestling royalty, surrounded by wrestling family, over bowls of borscht and piroshki and varenyky — a dumpling considered among Ukraine’s national dishes.
“It’s like I’m at home,” Vorontsov said.
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But there were no mats. No singlets. No headlocks. No throws. At least for the moment.
Earlier in the day, the two squads had drilled and sparred together in the historic Hawkeye wrestling room attached to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on the UI campus, finding the sport — despite some language barriers — translated just fine, even when Google Translate failed.
But now, hours later inside the home of Iowa wrestling legend Dan Gable and his wife Kathy, the wrestlers found common ground by breaking bread — or rather piroshki, a potato pie cooked specifically for the occasion by a Ukrainian mother and daughter who relocated to Muscatine this year as refugees.
The duo had been invited to replicate an authentic Ukrainian meal for the Monday evening gathering — as a welcome to the wrestlers who might be missing home.
“It’s very good,” Ukrainian world champion Yuliya Tkach said of the spread, with a smirk. “Because it’s Ukrainian.”
Tkach, 34 — who in September took silver at the 2023 Wrestling World Championships in Serbia and over the span of her career has racked up a long list of accomplishments, including gold at the 2014 world championships — said she likes being back in Eastern Iowa for the memories, given she and her Ukrainian team won the women’s wrestling World Cup when Coralville hosted in December.
“We like this place because we win competition,” Tkach said. “And we are very happy to be in this house to gather with a legend.”
The evening meal at the Gables’ with the Hawkeye women’s wrestling team, including Coach Clarissa Chun, was among several uniquely Iowa experiences the Ukrainians had during this fall’s 10-day visit as part of an international training tour — organized out of necessity, given the realities of war have made training in Ukraine increasingly difficult.
“At the moment, support from the government is very limited,” Andrey Vorontsov, national performance lead for the Ukrainian national team, told The Gazette. “The girls cannot really train properly in Ukraine.”
While in Iowa, the team not only has been practicing with the Hawkeyes, they have on their schedule a visit to Wilson’s Apple Orchard, including a ride on “Bessie” the tractor; a Hawkeye volleyball game at Xtream Arena; and the “Crossover at Kinnick” outdoor women’s basketball game Sunday.
Last week, the team led a wrestling practice for local high school girls at City High — taking them through warm-ups, drilling, and live situations before taking questions and photos with the teens.
"It’s a really good experience, because they’re so good,“ City High freshman Martha Willard, 14, said while watching the Ukrainians warm up Wednesday in her school’s wrestling room.
Before arriving on U.S. soil, the team visited Japan in June. And, over the course of their trek through Iowa and the United States, they have or will visit wrestling rooms in Dubuque and Mount Vernon; Washington, D.C.; Colorado Springs; Pennsylvania; North Carolina; New York; and New Jersey.
But, because Vorontsov conceived of the tour and planned it, the trip’s itinerary evolved from and revolved around Iowa — given his personal connections with Hawkeye assistant coach Tonya Verbeek, who was a coach at Brock University in Canada a decade ago when Vorontsov wrestled there.
He also worked in the International Wresting Federation for eight years — making connections with Coach Chun.
“So Iowa University was the first place whom I reached and asked if we can come,” he said. “When they said yes, OK then. Once I received this response, I started to work with the other places.”
'We must live’
As the wrestlers shared food Monday night, they also shared stories — including some of the internal wrestling they had to do in deciding to continue with the sport they love, even with their country in conflict and their families under threat.
“I have two sons,” Tkach said. “One son is 10 years and another is one year and nine months.”
While she’s away, her husband is with the boys in Ukraine.
“All the time I think about this,” she said. “And I don't sleep very well. Because I'm very terrified for my family.”
When the most recent Russian invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, Tkach’s youngest son was just 2 months old.
“It was a big shock for me,” she said. “All the time, I cried. I am so scared for the life of my sons. I don’t know how I lived at this time. I don’t know. It’s very scary. You don’t know. You sleep and you don’t know if you will get up and you will be alive. You don’t know. It’s so crazy.”
But time goes on. War goes on. Life goes on, she said.
“And we must live,” she said. “We don’t change our life. God give me my life, and I must live my life.”
And she’s been wrestling all her life. She’s been on the national team since she was 18 — so for 16 years. And by continuing to wrestle, she’s leading by example for her sons. For her country.
“When the war started, I had a small baby, and our team must go to the competition — European championship,” Tkach said. “The war was only one month. And girls win the competition. It was amazing. They showed all the world Ukraine is very strong.”
By continuing to compete and tour and train — not just with top-tier wrestlers like those in the Hawkeye room — but with new wrestlers like the girls at City High or young collegiate wrestlers scheduled for their later stops, the women’s national team is doing more than winning matches and medals.
“We are ambassadors for Ukraine,” she said. “We can speak about the situation in Ukraine.”
'A total mess’
And, for each of them, the situation — the struggle — has been different.
In January 2022, trainer Vorontsov saw his 74-year-old mother in his hometown of Mariupol — in her apartment within a larger house. On Feb. 24, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine — shelling Mariupol and reaching that city in days, bombarding it with artillery and killing residents.
“I lost contact with her Feb. 28,” said Vorontsov, who was on the other side of Ukraine at the time. “I knew that there was a total mess.”
Weeks passed without word. And, with Mariupol under Russian control and no safe way to check on her, Vorontsov in May decided to find someone from Russia willing to bring his mom a phone.
“Because there was not a way — you had to ask someone,” Vorontsov said. “One guy agreed to do that. I paid him about $1,000 to bring her a phone. And I didn't even know if she was alive.”
About a day later, the number of the phone he sent appeared on his cell.
“I didn’t know what to say,” Vorontsov said of his relief at learning his mother was alive. “My mom was like, ‘Hello. How are you?’”
His mother’s house had been hit by a missile while she was alone in her apartment. Six people died in the house, although she remained unharmed. But he still hasn’t seen her in person — almost two years later.
“And I have a daughter who just turned 3,” he said. “So basically she saw her granddaughter when she couldn't even walk, and now she speaks properly. And I don't see an opportunity for seeing her anytime soon because she doesn't want to move out, and obviously we cannot go there.”
Home away from home
So, like the coaches and wrestlers he’s traveling with, Vorontsov is keeping his eyes both on the news and on the next competition — which for this group is the Ukrainian Cup, a qualifying event for the Olympics.
And the Hawkeye women are happy the Ukrainians’ journey to Paris next summer has brought them through Iowa.
“We barely like speak the same language, but it's nice all wrestling together,” UI senior and Hawkeye wrestler Emmily Patnuead told The Gazette after their first combined practice on Monday.
By the end of the week, the Ukrainians were starting to look and feel more comfortable in the Iowa room — seemingly an outgrowth of the seed planted earlier in the week in the house of wrestling royalty, surrounded by wrestling family, over bowls of borscht and piroshki and varenyky — a dumpling considered among Ukraine’s national dishes.
“It’s like I’m at home,” Vorontsov said.
Hawkeye women host Ukrainian wrestlers needing place to train
The evening meal at the Gables’ with the Hawkeye women’s wrestling team, including Coach Clarissa Chun, was among several uniquely-Iowa experiences the Ukrainians had during this fall’s 10-day visit as part of an international training tour – organized out of necessity, given the realities of...
www.thegazette.com
