Rodion Luka & Georgiy Leonchuk

Rodion Mykhailovych Luka was born October 29, 1972, and grew up in the Kyiv region. He took up sailing on the Kyiv Reservoir at 11, won the Ukrainian SSR's 'Republican Regatta' in 1985, and swept the republic's youth competitions in 1988. He made his Olympic debut in the Laser at Atlanta 1996 (35th) before moving to the 49er with Georgiy Leonchuk. The pair finished 10th at Sydney 2000, then broke through with silver at Athens 2004, followed by the 2005 World title in Moscow and further Worlds podiums through 2008. He later competed in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, moved into match racing and RC44 coaching, founded the Kyiv Racing Yacht Club in 2012, and was elected President of the Sailing Federation of Ukraine in August 2015. He is married to Anastasiia and has two children. Rodion is also the founder of the L30 keelboat class, and continues to build sailing through a unique club model built around shared boats and a strong social side to the sport.

Georgiy "George" Leonchuk was born May 24, 1974, in Potsdam, then in East Germany. Partnering Rodion Luka, he was part of Ukraine's 10th-place finish at Sydney 2000, a European bronze in 2000, three further Worlds bronzes (2001, 2003, 2008), and the landmark Athens 2004 silver and 2005 World title. After the 49er he moved into Dragon-class keelboat racing, winning Italian and Swedish national titles in 2010 and continuing to compete in major Dragon regattas into the early 2020s.