Evgeniy Maloletka Instagram – At the Paris Olympics, it will no longer be personal for Ukraine’s athletes. This time, it’s war
For Ukrainian hurdler Anna Ryzhykova, each stride on the Paris Olympic track will have meaning far beyond the time she clocks.
Her competitions are no longer strictly an individual battle, but war on a different front. Her goal is not just gold, but also to rivet global attention on her country’s fight for survival against Russia.
“You’re not doing it for yourself anymore,” she says. “Winning a medal just for yourself, being a champion, realizing your ambitions — it’s inappropriate.”
Ukrainian high jumper keeps her eye on the raised bar, but her mind is fixed on the war
Kateryna Tabashnyk’s success depends upon utter concentration on the here and now, on the height of the bar in front of her and her body’s ability to leap it.
That focus and drive is a requirement for all high-level athletes. But the 30-year-old Ukrainian high jumper’s mind wanders often to her bombarded native city of Kharkiv and the Russian missiles that have stolen so much: her mother, her apartment, a pain-free childhood for her nephew, even the fields where she trained.
Part of her is always home, she said, “and when your home has been destroyed, it feels like a large void.”
Ukrainian boxer sacrifices Olympic dreams and life to fight against Russia’s invasion
Maksym Halinichev won silver at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in a match described at the time as “two of the best young fighters going for glory.” He considered the bout a loss – it wasn’t gold, after all – but it gave him a map for the future.
So Halinichev made plans: He would defeat that boxer the next time around. He would teach his daughter the basics of his sport so she could defend herself. And he would win a medal for Ukraine at the Paris Olympics.
He’ll not get to prove that philosophy in the Olympic ring in Paris.
Halinichev signed up as a soldier and was killed at the front in March 2023 at age 22, one of more than 400 athletes killed since the outbreak of the war. His body has yet to be recovered.
Text by @h_arhirova
#ukraine #russia #war #olympics | Posted on 11/Jul/2024 00:31:07
