“We didn’t give up,” said fencer Olga Kharlan, as she received her medal in Paris, a bronze in saber, Ukraine’s first at this year’s Olympic Games. “This medal is very special for my country. It is for the people of Ukraine, for its defenders [no front]is for those who couldn’t be here because they were killed by Russia.”
The Olympics are over; war, no.
Ukraine is under attack from Russia, an offensive that began in February 2022 and continues to devastate Olga’s country. Like other areas, the sports structure is severely damaged, with no date for reconstruction. But it is in sport that at least part of the population clings on at a time when there is little to cling to.
“Sport is in the blood of the Ukrainian people,” he told Sheet the Minister of Youth and Sports, Matviy Bidnyi. “It’s very important for Ukrainians to have victories in this area. We saw a very successful participation in the Olympic Games, it was very symbolic. Ukrainians need endorphins, and these moments of victory help a lot.”
Endorphin is a hormone produced by the body that relieves pain and minimizes the effects of stress. And it is precisely physical activity that is considered the healthiest way to release endorphins in the body, something that Ukrainians, especially younger ones, try to maintain in the midst of war.
In Dnipro, for example, in the central-eastern region, there is a prestigious athlete training academy, through which 49 Olympic Games participants have already passed – such as Yaroslava Mahuchikh, gold in the high jump in Paris-2024. The school was damaged in April by residue from a missile shot down by the Ukrainian defense. Since then, training areas have been evacuated at each air raid warning.
The Dnipro Institute of Physical Education and Culture, whose kitchen was destroyed, suffered minor damage compared to other facilities. The Central Stadium in Irpin, in Kiev province, has craters from mortar fire. And yet, teenagers run and train there, avoiding potholes along the way.
“Under these conditions, sport is one of the best tools for maintaining some mental health, maintaining reasonable psychological conditions. But it is clear that high-level sport has suffered a lot. Many athletes went to train abroad, and we are grateful for the help, but the The bulk of the national team stayed, training in a very challenging situation,” said Bidnyi.
The Ukrainian government’s accounts show more than 500 sports facilities crumbled or damaged and also more than 500 athletes, former athletes and coaches killed on the frontline. Checking the numbers is difficult, but the devastation is visible and undeniable.
Even so, Ukraine had impressive results in Paris. The Olympic team ranked 22nd in the medals table, with three golds, five silvers and four bronzes, a better position than that obtained at the Tokyo Games in 2021, before the war: 44th place. At the Paralympics, the country proved to be a powerhouse: seventh place, with 22 gold, 28 silver and 32 bronze.
“It was a combination of heroic motivation and resilience of our athletes, who had to work in very difficult physical and psychological conditions. We all had, we have, someone on the front line, on the battlefield, we lost someone. Right now, for example “The other day, a young mother was killed with her three children in one of our peaceful cities, Kryvyi Rih, by Russian terrorists,” said the Sports Minister.
According to Bidnyi, “there was support from the sports community from the beginning”, from the point of view of resources and logistical assistance – in football, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev have been playing their Champions League and Europa League matches in Germany. What he demands is greater alignment with the position that athletes from Russia and also from ally Belarus should be banned from international competitions.
As occurred in the Olympic Games, athletes from these countries have been competing in various sports under a “neutral flag”. In practice, what changes is that their nationality is not mentioned in official publications and the flag is not raised. That doesn’t stop Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka from leading the world tennis rankings.
“We really value all the help. But for us, a stance of constant restrictions on Russian and Belarusian sport is much more important. We cannot tolerate Russian propaganda in sport! This has to be a common view. It is a significant issue for We appreciate the resources we receive, we value all the help, but this common position is more important”, stated the minister, certain that the restriction should be total “until the end of the war”.
The dispute is ongoing, on the battlefield and in geopolitical relations. The declaration to be released by the G20 is a sensitive issue, with difficult negotiations regarding the section that will deal with the ongoing wars on the planet. The group that brings together the countries with the largest economies in the world this year is chaired by Brazil, with the main meetings scheduled for this Monday (18) and this Tuesday (19), in Rio de Janeiro — Russia is part of it; Ukraine does not.
Different narratives and visions aside, regardless of the reasons for the conflict and the wording of the G20 text, the fact that Ukrainian sport was torpedoed is unavoidable. Bidnyi’s predecessor in the ministry and current president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, former fencer Vadym Gutzeit, gold medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Games, said that “Ukraine’s next generation of athletes has been lost.”
“If we talk about young people, not just children, there are more than 2 million who live outside Ukraine today,” Bidnyi noted. “The question about the future of sport is difficult, without a doubt. We have to focus our efforts on creating the best conditions for young athletes and for children to return when the war is over.”
The end of the war does not appear imminent. And, in this scenario of discouragement, sport is capable of producing joy. Ukraine’s only victory in this year’s Euro Cup — a 2-1 win over Slovakia — was widely celebrated in the country and closely watched by soldiers on television.
“Moments of victory help us believe in the future, they release endorphins. These moments help us believe in our victory, they make us more resilient, they make us believe in our desire to win”, summarized the minister. “It’s vital.”
