from kyiv to Eugene, the uncomfortable homelessness of Ukrainian athletes

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Save your life first. Then try to find a daily high-level athlete. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, like millions of others, the majority of the athletes of the Ukrainian national team have taken the road to exile. They left behind their home, their loved ones, their training ground. Thanks to the support of the international athletics community, 22 of them are taking part from Friday July 15 to 24 in the world championships in Eugene, Oregon (United States).

Among them, Nataliya Strebkova lines up on Saturday, at 7:35 p.m. (Paris time), in the series of the 3,000 m steeplechase, two weeks after breaking the national record for the event in Stockholm (Sweden). A feat for an athlete who has been training alone for four months. “My coach stayed in Ukraine. He sends me my training plans in writing and he calls me”she tells franceinfo: sport.

Since leaving kyiv on March 16, the 27-year-old Ukrainian has been traveling from one nation to another: Turkey, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and now the United States. “The Turkish and Lithuanian federations paid for my training courses in their structures. Then, the organizers of the competitions in which I participated financed the travel and accommodation”details the athlete, who had to resolve to flee without her husband.

Faced with the drama experienced by these athletes, the International Athletics Federation (World Athletics) is mobilizing. With the International Athletics Foundation and the members of the Diamond League association, it has managed a solidarity fund since the beginning of April for “support professional athletes and their immediate family (parents, children, spouse) affected by the conflict” in Ukraine.

Initially endowed with $190,000 (since inflated to $220,000), this fund aims to “to ensure that elite athletes and their sporting entourage can continue to train, qualify and participate in the Worlds in Eugene and Cali [pour les moins de 20 ans]“, poses World Athletics. According to the federation, as of June 30, 53 athletes, 25 coaches and officials and 18 relatives (including children) have benefited from it.

The money is used to finance training camps and temporary accommodation for athletes in Europe, as well as their journeys to competitions and even equipment. Almost all of the costs related to the participation of the Ukrainian team in the Eugene Worlds were also financed by the fund set up by World Athletics. For its part, the International Olympic Committee announced on July 3 its intention to triple its direct aid to Ukrainian athletes (all disciplines combined), bringing it to 7.5 million dollars (against 2.5 originally) .

Oleksii Serdiuchenko, head of the Ukrainian team in Eugene, estimates that there are 600 athletes wearing the national jersey, on the track and on the road, of all ages and all levels. “We try to help everyone but it’s difficult. From these funds, we make proposals to meet needs that differ according to people”, he explains to franceinfo: sport from Chula Vista, California, where the Ukrainian team finalized its preparation before the Worlds.

“Our priority is first to save the lives of athletes. Second, to give them the opportunity to train.”

Oleksii Serdiunchenko, head coach of the Ukrainian team

at franceinfo: sport

With no prospect of immediate return, athletes are forced to live in suitcases. “I really want to go home”released Yaroslava Mahuchikh on Instagram on June 6, sad at the idea of ​​finding his “temporary accommodation”. The day before, her eyes made up in the colors of her country, the 20-year-old high jumper had won the competition organized in Rabat (Morocco) as part of the Diamond League.

Two weeks later, her compatriot Nataliya Strebkova decided to return to kyiv for ten days. “I missed my husband and my family too much.“But the daily alarms, announcing an imminent bombardment, prevent him from concentrating on his sessions. “My training was not good. I was scared. People go through this every day, it’s awful, she breathes. A few days ago, my husband informed me that five rockets had exploded less than two kilometers from the house. Every day the news is terrible.”

To the constant concern for their loved ones left behind is added the discomfort of a life on hold. “I am free to move, but paralyzed in my emotions. Too much fear, too much despair, too much pain”, thus poured out the triple jump specialist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, on July 8, on Instagram. A few weeks earlier, she confided finding comfort and motivation before training in listening to Ukrainian songs.

After the Eugene Worlds, Nataliya Strebkova hopes that her husband, also an athlete, will be able to join her at her training camp for the European Championships in Munich (August 11 to 21). “If not, I will return home to train.” Beyond this last deadline of the summer, it is impossible for her to project herself.

In Eugene, in addition to aiming for medals, these athletes make it their mission to wear their colors high. “We want to encourage all Ukrainians, to inspire our soldiers. If we win medals, the inhabitants will be able to read in the newspapers something other than news related to the war”, claims Oleksii Serdiuchenko. Despite her daily difficulties, Nataliya Strebkova claims to have at heart “do his best” : “Everyone is doing their job. The soldiers are on the front line, the doctors are mobilized in the hospitals, I can run and show the world that we are strong despite the war.”

Already in March, the team with the blue and yellow flag demonstrated its resilience at the Indoor Worlds in Belgrade (Serbia). Less than a month after the outbreak of war, the small Ukrainian delegation (six female athletes) presented their country with two medals. Yaroslava Mahuchikh landed thegold in the height, while Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk won silver in the triple jump.


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