Ukrainian track and field athletes are in the U.S. for the world championships, half a world away from battle. They bring a message. AndrewGreif on the athletes who are here, and those half a world away:
The acting president of Ukraine’s track and field federation logged into the Zoom meeting from his olive-green tent near the front lines, the country’s yellow and blue flag in the background.Since theof Russian forces into Ukraine, in deadly hotspots including Bucha and Irpin, Pronin’s nights are spent flying drones to gather reconnaissance on Russian positions, and his days are used to run his other jobs. By 9 a.m., he checks in remotely with his law office.
It’s a victory Pronin and his compatriots seek on two fronts, both militarily and symbolically. In a wounded country, he and other Ukrainian officials and athletes believe there is power in claiming territory, whether around battered cities or atop a track and field awards podium. In the early hours of Feb. 24, as Russia began what its government has called a “special military operation,” Pronin went to a bunker and got on the phone.
Yet some responses frustrated Ukrainian athletes and officials. Pronin said he didn’t understand why it had taken several days after the invasion for a forceful statement to be issued by Sergey Bubka, the Luhansk-born pole vault icon turned president of the country’s national Olympic committee. Bubka’s organization has since helped coordinate the relocation of more than 3,000 athletes and coaches outside of Ukraine, according to the Olympic committee.
. “This war has not been started by the Russian people, the Russian athletes, the Russian Olympic Committee or the IOC members in Russia.”As one of the country’s most decorated track and field athletes before being elected in 2019 to Ukraine’s parliament as a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s party, and now holding high-ranking posts within the country’s sports governing bodies, Olha Saladukha is no stranger to diplomacy.
In private conversations, some Russian athletes have expressed sympathy, apologized and asked to help, Saladukha and Bondarenko said, while also acknowledging the athletes could not say so publicly, fearing state reprisal. It “shocked” Mahuchikh when her social media posts condemning the invasion drew pushback from Russian athletes.
American Vashti Cunningham, right, joins gold medalist Mariya Lasitskene, center, and silver medalist Yaroslava Mahuchikh on the podium at the 2019 world championships.Said Mahuchikh: “It’s very difficult now because when I come here in Eugene, I read this news and think, ‘Oh my god, again, again, shelling, again, the people dying.’ And with my coach she say, ‘We must forget.
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