Ukraine has won 11 medals so far at the Paris Olympics. Each has been celebrated in the war-torn country as a symbol of resilience and defiance.
Aug 8, 2024
The New York Times
Yevhen Litvinov was brushing his teeth on Thursday morning when his phone started buzzing — a friend had sent him a YouTube video showing the victory of the Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak at the Paris Olympics overnight.
He hit play and watched Mr. Khyzhniak delivering punch after punch to his opponent, Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan. As the final bell rang and Mr. Khyzhniak’s hand was raised, Mr. Litvinov said he was lifted by a surge of pride.
“Pride for the nation, for our athletes,” said Mr. Litvinov, a 48-year-old resident of Kyiv. “It’s not our first gold medal at the Olympics, but it’s definitely inspiring.”
For many Ukrainians, the medals won by their compatriots at this year’s Olympic Games have been rare good news in an otherwise somber period. Since the beginning of the year, Russian troops have steadily gained ground in Ukraine, dampening the public mood.
As a result, each of Ukraine’s 11 medals so far has been hailed in the war-torn country as a symbol of resilience and defiance, with citizens and government officials alike celebrating each victory with effusive social media posts. Aware that people back home are counting on them, Ukrainian athletes in Paris have also seized the moment to highlight their country’s cause to the world.
“I wanted the whole world to hear our national anthem, to stand up for it, to see our flag,” Olga Kharlan, a fencer, told the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform after she and her Ukrainian teammates won the gold medal in women’s team saber fencing on Saturday.
It was Ukraine’s first gold medal at this year’s Olympics, and the victory resonated across the country, with President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly congratulating the team for showing the world that Ukraine could win.
“It shows that we are capable of achieving something, and this is important for Ukrainians,” Mariia Murina, a 19-year-old student, said this week as she was having breakfast on a terrace in central Kyiv. “We come and show that we can win, despite the war,” she said.
To many in Ukraine, Ms. Kharlan, 33, has been the face of the country’s defiant spirit.
The fencer was disqualified from the World Fencing Championships last summer for refusing to shake hands with her Russian opponent. The gesture was highly popular in Ukraine, where top sport authorities have encouraged athletes not to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian competitors, but it threatened to derail her participation in the 2024 Olympic Games.
Ms. Kharlan was eventually allowed to participate. She won the bronze medal in the women’s individual saber competition and then led her team to victory on Saturday by scoring five consecutive points in a stirring comeback in the final against South Korea.
Images of her bronze medal spread on Ukrainian social media. In one video, Ms. Kharlan, having just won the final bout, walked over to a camera filming the competition, her sword still in hand and barely holding back tears. Pointing to her blue and yellow helmet, she said: “Ukraine, this is for you, dear homeland. This is for you.”
Ms. Murina said watching the video gave her a “feeling of euphoria.”
Still, she and other Ukrainians admitted that the medals had brought them only a fleeting sense of happiness, quickly overshadowed by the stark realities of war. As Mr. Khyzhniak punched his way to victory overnight, air-raid alerts were active in six Ukrainian regions.
“I’m more saddened by the constant advances toward Pokrovsk,” said Oleksandr Haidai, 45, a business owner who was drinking an espresso at a cafe in Kyiv on Monday as he played chess on his phone. He was referring to an eastern Ukrainian city and military stronghold that Russian forces have recently been closing in on. “The news from the Olympics takes place against this backdrop. It just helps to distract us a bit.”
But even watching Ukraine at the Olympics can bring a reminder of the war’s toll. Ukraine sent only 140 athletes to Paris, its smallest delegation ever, because hundreds of athletes and trainers have been killed during the conflict and others have joined the army or are no longer able to train because of wartime conditions.
“Many athletes are not participating because of the full-scale invasion,” David Hasparian, 24, said this week over coffee at a cafe in Kyiv. “If it weren’t for this situation, it could have been much better.”
With three days remaining in the Olympics, Ukraine still has opportunities to add to its medal count.
Last weekend, Ukraine won four medals in fencing, high jump and hammer throw, an impressive run that raised hopes of more victories. But Olga Gaidachuk, 37, who works for a logistics company, said she was still finding it hard to celebrate.
“For me, good weekends are when there is no shelling or the situation on the battlefield is more or less stable,” she said in Kyiv this week. “My entire worldview revolves around the front, around the war.”
Like many other Ukrainians, Ms. Gaidachuk said she had been more excited by the announcement on Sunday that a first batch of long-awaited F-16 fighter jets had finally arrived in the country. “That’s what’s important,” she said.
Daria Mitiuk contributed reporting from Kyiv.