Our contemporaries
Vitali Klitschko
July 19, 1971
- Boxer
- Mayor of Kyiv
WBO and WBC world heavyweight boxing champion. Mayor of Kyiv since 2014, re-elected in 2015 and 2020.
Biography
Vitali Klitschko was born on 19 July 1971 in the village of Belovodskoye in Kyrgyzstan, into a military family. In 1985 the family moved to Ukraine. He graduated from the Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi Pedagogical Institute and in 2000 defended a PhD thesis at the National University of Physical Education and Sport of Ukraine in Kyiv.
Together with his younger brother Wladimir he became one of the world’s best-known boxers: he held the WBO (1999–2000) and WBC (2004–2005 and from 2008) world heavyweight titles and announced his retirement in December 2013. The brothers’ trophies were shown in a dedicated exhibition at the NSC Olimpiyskiy stadium.
Klitschko entered politics in the mid-2000s: in 2006 he was elected to Kyiv City Council, from 2010 he led the UDAR party, and in 2012–2014 he sat in the national parliament. On 25 May 2014 Kyivans elected him mayor; he was re-elected in 2015 and 2020. Since 2016 he has also headed the Association of Ukrainian Cities.
Kyiv in their life
- Kyiv City Council (36 Khreshchatyk) — council member from 2006, mayor since 2014.
- NSC Olimpiyskiy (55 Velyka Vasylkivska St) — venue of the Klitschko brothers’ exhibition-museum.
- National University of Physical Education and Sport — where he defended his PhD (2000).
