Oller: Ukrainian wrestling twins say bring on the Russians ... at the 2028 Olympics
Russian president Vladimir Putin wants no part of the Chubenko twins. What despot wants to get pinned by 17-year-old boys, especially ones from Ukraine?
Not that it would ever come to that. One half of the twin combo predicted Putin would never even enter the wrestling mat.
“Scared,” Dmytro Chubenko said, managing an impish smile.
Dmytro and brother Maksym know all they need to know about Putin, who in February 2022 ordered the Russian invasion of their native country. They know that in the first two weeks of the war, a bomb blasted into a house only 15 minutes from where they lived in Dnipro, killing their father’s friend. They know the invasion forced them to escape to Croatia, where for nearly nine months they lived as refugees with their parents and baby sister, Polina Pylypenko.
While in Croatia they met Brian Church, who as director of Columbus Wrestling Club was leading some of his athletes on a tour of the country. Church offered his home in Worthington as a place to stay if the Chubenkos still felt unsafe and wanted to come to the United States, and on Nov. 18 they arrived on his doorstep carrying their entire belongings in two checked bags.
Coming to America allowed the boys to finally feel safe and comfortable, but if time has softened any enmity toward their invading enemy, their father, Yvhen Pylypenko, is there to remind them.
“Rosiya - teroryst,” Pylypenko spoke into his phone, waiting for it to translate into English.
“Russia is a terrorist.”
Yvhen speaks little English. The sons speak only a little more. Their mother, Maryna Kravchyshyna, does her best to bridge the gaps.
In that way, it was a different kind of interview; asking questions into a phone, which translated them into Ukrainian, then back to English with their answers.
But because sports talk is a universal language, we got it to work.
What I learned about the twins is that while biologically “identical” meaning born from a single fertilized egg that split, their personalities do not mirror one another.
Maksym is bigger, wrestling at 138 pounds; Dmytro weighs in at 132. Maksym is a bit more right-brained, not exactly artsy but less interested in mechanical “how-to’s” than his left-brained brother. Maksym’s mouth waters when thinking of eating American-made hamburgers. Dmytro likes salad, joking the reason his brother is “more fat” is because he craves fast food. Maksym admitted he is a little jittery about attending Kilbourne High School as a senior in the fall – the twins spent the winter and spring taking online classes – while Dmytro shrugged, “It’s only school. Why get nervous?”
Still, similarities outweigh the differences. Both love chess. Both enjoy fishing. And, mostly, both are hard to defeat on a wrestling mat. They recently returned from the prestigious U.S. Marine Corps Junior National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota, where Maksym placed third and Dmytro fifth in Greco-Roman, which, unlike freestyle, forbids holds below the waist.
Neither brother expects to wrestle for Kilbourne, Church said, in part because the Ohio High School Athletic Association offers only folkstyle wrestling, which is unique to American high schools and college, but mostly because they are still learning English and acclimating to life in the U.S.
That life currently plays out, not only at the Columbus Wrestling Club, located at Gahanna Lincoln High where Church serves as an assistant coach, but also inside the walls of Church’s home, which brings us back to how the Chubenkos ended up in Columbus in the first place.
The family was holed up in Croatia, experiencing modest-at-best living conditions when they met Church, who invited them to take advantage of the U.S. pathway program for Ukrainian refugees.
“We thought long and hard about it for about four months, but ultimately we wanted a better life, more opportunities for the boys and family,” Yevhen's phone explained via translation.
Church, who is single, welcomed the family without hesitation.
“My sense when I was in Croatia is I could tell they are good people,” Church said. “I wanted to get them out of that situation. It was about just knowing I can do something good, and helping people. I had the opportunity, so then now do I want to just sit on that opportunity when I can use it?”
Describing what the Chubenkos had in Croatia as minimal, Church knew things would “open wide for them here, with the benefits that the U.S. has provided through the (refugee) program.”
Adjusting to American culture continues to be a work in progress. Burgers or borscht? Walk or ride? And who are the Buckeyes? (They still don’t know.)
“More people are out and about in Ukraine,” Yevhen said. “There, more people walk. Here they are all in their cars.”
Yep, sounds about right.
“But we like the United States.”
At least what they have seen of it so far, which includes Chicago, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and the Wisconsin Dells. The twins want to learn more by visiting the Grand Canyon and, of course, Hollywood.
It is a whole new world. Are they ready for it? In the Ukraine, the boys attended a sports school, where they concentrated on becoming educated in the science of wrestling. Here, they are working on improving their English as well as their wrestling, with a goal of increasing their vocabulary. And their medal count. The 2028 Summer Olympics are being held in Los Angeles. The twins want to represent the U.S.
“I want to stay here,” Maksym said, explaining how he hopes to become a U.S. citizen in time to compete in L.A.
“They will fight for the U.S.,” his father promised.
Russian wrestlers beware.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ukrainian twins in Columbus adjust to life on and off wrestling mat
