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Life with a professional athlete combines the perks of success and significant challenges: from long separations and an unstable schedule to high levels of stress. These circumstances often lead to the breakdown of marriages.
Among Ukrainian athletes there are several stories that drew particular public attention. 24 Channel tells about the most high-profile divorces in Ukrainian sports.
Elina Svitolina
32-year-old Elina Svitolina is one of the most successful athletes in the history of Ukrainian tennis. She married French tennis player Gaël Monfils in July 2021.
15 in October 2022 the couple had a daughter, Sky Monfils. After the birth of her daughter, Svitolina returned to professional tennis in 2023.
Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils / Photo g.e.m.s.life
19 in October 2026 Svitolina announced that she was divorcing the French athlete.
This is the hardest thing I have ever had to talk about,
– Svitolina wrote.
She noted that the war Russia is waging in Ukraine affected her profoundly.
"But I rarely spoke about what the war did to me internally," Svitolina wrote. "Today I want to open up a bit more. You didn't see the sleepless nights, the doubts and the feeling that I was gradually losing myself." According to her, Gaël saw all of this, and they "fought with it together for a long time, giving it their all."
Monfils, for his part, decided to end his tennis career early because of the divorce.
Serhiy Rebrov
Former Ukraine national football team head coach Serhiy Rebrov is raising two sons, Oleksandr and Mykyta, in marriage with his wife Anna. The football legend has been officially married since 2016, when they held a lavish wedding.
In that same year Serhiy and Anna became parents for the first time in their marriage. However, the marriage to Anna was not Rebrov's first official union that turned into a family. Little is known about the coach's first wife, Liudmyla.
Their marriage lasted about 15 years, and Liudmyla gave the former footballer a son named Dmytro. Serhiy Stanislavovych did not often share personal life details. It was known, however, that Liudmyla followed her husband to London. Rebrov played for English clubs Tottenham (73 matches) and West Ham (32 games).
Rebrov with his wife and son from his first marriage / Photo novaya.com.ua
Later Liudmyla was involved in a high-profile car accident. Then the coach's wife failed to reach Rebrov at the Dynamo training base in Koncha-Zaspa. In March of 2013, Liudmyla Rebrova, who was driving a Range Rover, collided with a Zhiguli after moving into the oncoming lane. As a result of the collision a 19-year-old passenger of the Zhiguli, who was also pregnant, died, and her husband was taken to intensive care.
After this fatal accident, Liudmyla left with her son for the United Kingdom.
Olga Kharlan
Olympic champion Olga Kharlan also did not find her one true love in life. The decorated fencer was married to colleague Dmytro Boyko. The couple legalized their relationship in 2014, having dated for some time before Boyko proposed.
Kharlan with her first husband / Photo from Instagram
However, the sporting couple's married life was short-lived. Boyko went to work overseas. Kharlan did not want to stay away from Ukraine for a long time in the United States. After rehabilitation, the fencer decided to return to Ukraine. The distance cooled the couple's relationship, and they became strangers to one another. After her birthday Olga suggested to Dmytro that they temporarily stop communicating. And already in 2018 it became known about Olga Kharlan's divorce.
For a long time now the decorated athlete's heart has been taken by an Italian athlete and successful fencer Luigi Samele. Olga lives with her boyfriend in Italy, but she still remembers to return to her homeland, including her native Mykolaiv.
A daughter was also recently born to the couple.
Olena Pidhrushna
In May of 2025 there was information that former leader of the Ukrainian biathlon team Olena Pidhrushna married for the third time. The celebrated biathlete's husband became serviceman Rostyslav.
Pidhrushna with her first official husband / Photo biathlon.com.ua
The biathlete's first official husband was former People's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from VO "Svoboda" Oleksiy Kaida. Their marriage lasted from 2013 to 2016. After that Olena built an official family with former athlete Ivan Bilosyuk, whom she married in 2021.
In the 2021/2022 season the biathlete even competed under the surname of her second husband. And again Pidhrushna lived in marriage for three years. The athlete did not want to go into details about her second divorce.
Andrii Pyatov
While Olena Pidhrushna recently walked down the aisle for the third time, a black cat ran through the family of former Shakhtar Donetsk goalkeeper Andrii Pyatov. The ex-footballer's wife filed for divorce after almost 20 years of marriage. This became known for the first time in November 2024.
Andrii Pyatov with his ex-wife Yuliia / Photo from the woman's Instagram
Andrii admitted his guilt in destroying the marriage. The current goalkeepers' coach of the 'miners' said that the mistakes he made could not be fixed.
Yuliia herself said that she separated from the father of her children without any scandals. Pyatov's ex insisted that Andrii is a wonderful person and an exemplary father. Journalist Ihor Burbas called Pyatov's gaming addiction one of the main reasons for the family's breakup.
Anna Rizatdinova
Bronze Olympic medalist from Rio-2016 in rhythmic gymnastics Anna Rizatdinova was also married. The decorated gymnast was married to controversial oligarch Oleksandr Onyshchenko, with whom she has a son, Roman. The boy was born in 2017.
Rizatdinova with Onyshchenko / Photo from the ex-gymnast's Instagram
Their married life lasted until 2019, when Anna and Oleksandr divorced. The former gymnast manages not only to run her own Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy, develop her own brand and raise her son on her own. The biological father does not communicate with the boy.
Vyacheslav Uzelkov
Former WBA Inter-Continental, IBO International and WBO Inter-Continental champion in the light-heavyweight division Vyacheslav Uzelkov in his short life managed to enjoy family life. However, this period in the boxer's life was not very pleasant or long.
In 2021 Uzelkov, who had been married for many years to fitness trainer Maryna Borzhemska 22, became single again. The couple had two children in their official relationship – son Robert (2009) and daughter Olivia (2012). After the divorce the pair blamed each other for their troubles. In particular, Vyacheslav lamented that his ex-wife had prevented him from communicating with his mother.
Uzelkov with his ex-wife / Photo tv.ua
The man even went looking for new love on the TV show "Married at First Sight", but returned the ring, noting that his feelings for his ex-wife still had not faded. At the end of 2023 Uzelkov announced his second official marriage, but did not reveal details about his chosen partner.
Unfortunately, recently the athlete's sporting past has severely impacted Vyacheslav's health, and he was hospitalized more than once. A few years earlier the ex-boxer suffered a stroke. In 2020, before his 41-th birthday, the former boxer said he had survived moments in life when he should have died.
At the end of March 2024 doctors found a blood clot in the athlete's heart and aorta. Doctors also diagnosed gangrene in Uzelkov's leg. In April the boxer underwent a complex heart operation. Unfortunately, on 9 November 2024 the celebrated ex-boxer's heart stopped beating.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Не тільки Світоліна та Монфіс: 7 найгучніших розлучень зірок українського спорту". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
