War and rage mark Ukrainian Olympians’ route to Paris

Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian diver Stanislav Oliferchyk proudly bears the name of his late grandfather, who died in the devastated city of Mariupol. Russian troops have turned the port city into a killing zone in the process of capturing it. Among the ruins, the old man was unable to receive the cancer treatment he needed, his grandson said. He was 74 when he died in October.

Another victim of the months of Russian siege, its brand new aquatic center. Oliferchyk had planned to use the renovated sports complex as a training base for the Paris Olympics in 2024. But it was bombed on the same day in March as a theater in the city. The airstrike on the theater was the deadliest against the civilian population known to date in more than a year of Russian war in Ukraine. An Associated Press investigation determined that nearly 600 people died in the building.

So it doesn’t take much to understand why Mariupol-born Oliferchyk is horrified that he and other war-traumatized Ukrainian athletes have to put their conscience and rage aside and face athletes from Russia. and Belarus, an ally. of Moscow, in the Olympic event next year.

“I’m angry most of the time. I can’t take it anymore when there’s shelling,” said 26-year-old Oliferchyk, crowned European mixed 3-meter springboard champion in 2019. “I want Russia to let us live in peace and get away from it all. from U.S.”

Defying the fury of Ukraine and the reluctance of other nations, the International Olympic Committee is studying the opportunity to authorize the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competition and to the Paris Games. According to the IOC, its mission is to promote peace and unity, especially in times of war. Furthermore, he cites United Nations human rights experts who argue, on the basis of non-discrimination, that athletes and referees from these two countries should not be banned solely because of their passports.

For Ukrainian athletes eyeing Paris, the prospect of sharing Olympic pools, courts and stadiums with Russian and Belarusian competitors is so distasteful that some say they won’t come if it happens.

Sisters Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva, who won Olympic bronze in team artistic swimming at Tokyo 2021, are among those who say they would boycott the competition.

“We have to do this,” Maryna said in an interview with The Associated Press at the pool where she trains in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Russia is the giant that dominates the sport and has won Olympic gold in the last six Games.

Completing each other’s sentences, the Ukrainian twins added that ‘our morality does not allow us to be close to…those people’.

Oliferchyk fears problems could arise if the Ukrainians clash with Russians and Belarusians in Paris, a likely scenario given that the Olympians will stay and eat together in buildings in the city’s northern suburbs, on the banks of the Seine. .

“Anything can happen, even a fight,” Oliferchyk said. “Simply, between us, there can be no handshake.”

Having to train in the middle of a war also puts Ukrainian Olympic hopefuls at a disadvantage. Bombardments by Kremlin troops have destroyed training centers. Air operations interrupt your work. They have lost family and friends, or fear it will happen. With the Russian invasion also shutting down Ukrainian airspace, getting to competitions abroad has become an odyssey that often includes three long trips to neighboring Poland to catch a flight from there.

“Our athletes are training while cruise missiles and bombs are flying,” Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait said in an interview with the AP.

Guttsait recalled a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach and Ukrainian cyclists who had taken refuge in Switzerland.

“Bach le preguntó a una de las ciclistas cómo estaba”, contó. very nervous.”

“That’s what all athletes think about what’s happening in Ukraine,” the minister said.