Vitali Klitschko

Vitali KLITSCHKO is the Mayor of Kyiv. Having started boxing when he was fourteen, Mr. Klitschko earned a number of world-class achievements; he is a two-time world amateur kickboxing champion and four-time professional kickboxing champion, three-time Ukrainian boxing champion, champion of the First World Military Championship, and a silver medalist at the World Amateur Boxing Championship. In 1996, Mr. Klitschko entered professional boxing, and earned a variety of titles, e.g. the European Champion, the Inter-Continental WBO and WBA champion, WBO and WBC Heavyweight champion. The World Boxing Council named him the best puncher in the history of heavyweight boxing. Mr. Klitschko began his political career in March 2006, when he ran for the election to the Verkhovna Rada and the Kyiv City Council as Head of the “Pora-PRP” Bloc. The election results allowed him to become the bloc group leader at the Kyiv City Council. In the 2008 Kyiv Mayor and City Council snap elections, the Vitali Klitschko Bloc doubled its representation in the Council. In April 2010, Klitschko became the leader of UDAR party (Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms). After the parliamentary elections in 2012, Mr. Klitschko’s UDAR entered the Parliament, with Mr. Klitschko himself wining the Kyiv mayoral elections with 56.7% of votes. Based on the results of the 2014 elections to the Kyiv City Council, UDAR won 78 out of 120 mandates. In addition to his political career, Mr. Klitschko is a dedicated social activist. In 2003, he and his brother Volodymyr founded their own philanthropic organization, the “Klitschko Brothers Foundation”. In January 2011, he graduated from the National Academy of Public Administration of the President of Ukraine earning a Master’s Degree in Managing Social Development Management. Previously, he graduated from the Hryhoriy Skovoroda State Pedagogical University of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi. Mr. Klitschko holds a PhD in Physical Education.