If there is one phrase in the Chinese language you need to learn for the Olympics in Beijing this August, it is "Wukelan jiaou!" In English, it means "Ukraine, Go!".

If you can get it right wherever you are, in a sports bar or watching the games in person, you may win over an army of Chinese fans to support the 254 competing Ukrainian athletes. This is the largest contingent Ukraine has fielded for the summer Olympics, 11 more than the previous high.

The Ukrainian sportsmen will compete in 28 of the 35 sport contests with strong hopes at medals in swimming, trackandfield, freestyle wrestling and weightlifting.

On July 20-th, 2008, 20 000 people crowded Kyiv's Independence Square to wish the sportsmen luck before their departure for China. The confluence of Blist celebrities, red carpet, tipsy youths and President Victor Yushchenko, late as usual, all could have turned it into a standard holiday evening at Maidan if not for the sportsmen' parade.

Tidy, shining and confident, the sportsment looked like a flight crew ready to take off. The Olympic Committee has swapped their regular sports suits this year for the brilliant yellow skirts and white trousers paired with blue jackets and knitted ties, the Ukrainian national flag symbols.

Olympic champion in swimming, who beacme a champion for five times, also known as "the golden fish of Ukraine," Yana Klochkova, currently holds the shortcourse world record in the 400meter individual medley.

Many Ukrainian citizens hope that she could repeat her stellar performance and get two gold medals for this time.

In Beijing, she will hold the Ukrainian flag at the opening procedure, which will start at eight o'clock on the eighth minute and eighth second of the eighth day of the eighth month. This number is considered lucky in Chinese tradition. The closing procedure will be held on Aug. 24, which equals three times eight in the eighth month.

Another great Ukrainian swimmer to look out for is Oleg Lysogor. He is also a current world record holder of the 50meter breast stroke. This distance, hence, is not an Olympic standard, so Oleg will have to try to outswim his rivals in a 100meter pool to collect a medal.

If you prefer gymnastic sports, watch out for Anna Bessonova, a rhythmic gymnast who swapped ballet for the big sport in Ukraine and in the world. Her father played football for Dynamo Kyiv, and her mother has won world championships twice in the rhythmic gymnastics.

Their 24yearold daughter became a true legenadary girl in her own right when she finished third at the Olympics in Athens and recently ended the 10 year dominance that Russian gymnasts have had on the sport. She won the World Championship in Greece, making her gold medal the only gold that the Ukrainian team held in 2007.