As 29-year-old Khyzhniak stepped off the special Olympic Express train at Kyiv Central Station, he greeted fans, friends and family. The athlete from Poltava is also a soldier in the Ukrainian border guard.

He will be the first gold medalist at the 2024 Olympic Games to bring the award to his home country.

“I truly dedicate this award to every Ukrainian, to everyone who helped me and supported me, who was by my side and cheered me all over the world,” Khyzhniak said upon his arrival on Saturday.

In the men’s middleweight category, Khyzhniak defeated Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan. The Ukrainian also won gold medals in the women’s team fencing and the women’s high jump.

13-year-old Volodymyr Honchar, an avid fan, was taken by his mother to the Kyiv railway station to greet his idol and receive his boxing glove signed by the Olympic champion.

“His victory will lift the spirits of all Ukrainians, make us all feel good and make us all stronger,” Honchar told the Associated Press.

Khyzhniak’s victory and other Ukrainian victories in Paris have lifted the spirits of many Ukrainians in the two-and-a-half-year-long war against Russia, where troops are engaged in deadly battles along the 1,000-kilometer-long border.

Khyzhniak’s home region of Poltava, just 50 kilometers from Russia, is a constant target of Russian air strikes.

“Every time I saw on my phone during the competition or while preparing for the competition that an air raid warning was being declared in the Poltava region, I was naturally worried about Ukraine,” said Khyzhniak. “I was worried about my family and hoped that our military would protect us all.”

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games