Arnold Schwarzenegger has increased the prize money at the 2022 Arnold Strongman Classic for a Ukrainian athlete and event runner-up who intends to rejoin his country’s defense efforts against the Russian military.
“You always see how sports brings everyone together,” Schwarzenegger said at the podium. “You’ve seen here not only the strongest men in the world competing, but you also have seen a Ukrainian athlete and a Russian athlete competing in the same competition.”
He went on to deliver a special message to Ukrainian strongman Oleksii Novikov, who placed second in the Classic, and who has publicly stated that any winnings he makes during the competition will go towards equipping civilians back home with much-needed body armor.
Novikov, who won the World’s Strongest Man competition in 2020 (tying with Jón Páll Sigmarsson as the youngest-ever title holder), would have taken home $25,000 in second-place prize money. In the short video above, captured by a fan, he can be seen donning Ukraine’s flag as Schwarzenegger praises him for his intentions to return home and fight—before revealing that his winnings will be more-than tripled to $80,000. This is the same amount as he would have received if he had won first-place, and essentially a donation of $55,000 from Schwarzenegger.
“You’re very special,” he said. “I just want to tell you that I know that you have to go back to the Ukraine to fight, and to risk your life. And you also, I know, want to take the cash money that you’re making here today and donate it to buy body armor, to protect innocent people in the Ukraine. And so I just want you to know, because of that, the selflessness of you, the courage that you show, I just want you to know that we are going to award you not the regular cash prize as the second place winner, but you will be awarded the same cash prize that the winner gets, so you can donate that money for body armor when you go back.”
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