Vadym Gutzeit (Ukrainian: Вадим Маркович Гутцайт; also Vadym Guttsayt or Vadym Markovych Huttsayt; born 6 October 1971) is a Ukrainian Olympic champion sabre fencer, and former Ukraine's Youth and Sport Minister, as well as the president of the Ukrainian Fencing Federation and the President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.
[8] Gutzeit won the gold medal in the Junior Under-20 Sabre World Fencing Championships in both 1989 and 1990.
[3][13] He also competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, this time for Ukraine, finishing 6th in the individual sabre event after being defeated 14–15 in the quarter-finals by Russia's Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who eventually won the competition.
[15] He also competed in the 2001 Maccabiah Games in Israel, and won the silver medal in individual sabre.
I won the Olympic Games in 1992 as part of the CIS combined team .... We respected and loved each other!
"[18] In 2010-2020, Gutzeit was the executive director of the Ukrainian Olympic Training and Sports Center.
[4][6] In 2004, he received the honorary title of "Honored Worker of Physical Culture and Sports of Ukraine.
[20] On 9 June 2019 Gutzeit announced he would take part in the July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election with the party Servant of the People.
[24] On 28 February 2022, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he wrote: "No one has the right to threaten our sovereignty and freedom...
"[25] Referring to the International Olympic Committee's decision to reinstate Russian athletes as neutrals, Gutzeit pointed out in March 2023 that "neither us nor them" are satisfied with the decision, with the Ukrainians ardently demanding a blanket ban, while the Russians claim the IOC criteria is humiliating, hypocritical, and russophobic.
Therefore, for today and forever, this person does not exist for me.”[6] On 8 November 2023 Gutzeit requested his dismissal as minister, so he could focus more on his work in the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.
[31] The Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament) fired Gutzeit as Minister of Youth and Sports the following day.
[31] In November 2022, Gutzeit was elected the new President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, with 84% of the vote.