(Paris) The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, the host city of the Olympic Games, on Thursday presented the city’s highest distinction to two Ukrainian athletes, and paid tribute to the 489 Ukrainian athletes who have died since the start of the Russian offensive in 2022.
“You are fighting for the honour of Ukraine,” said the socialist representative at a reception at the City Hall in the presence of around thirty Ukrainian athletes.
Among them are rower Anastasiia Kozhenkova, Olympic champion in the quadruple in 2012 in London, and diver Oleksii Sereda, 5e Monday of the 10m synchronized final.
To whom the mayor of Paris awarded the grand vermeil medal of the City of Paris, the highest distinction in the capital, “as a sign of recognition and friendship” and to show Ukrainians that they are “not alone”.
Supporting Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, the mayor of Paris received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the beginning of June.
“Ukraine has held out for all these two and a half years and the Ukrainian flag is being raised during these Olympic Games,” said Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi, a former bodybuilding champion, who was present at the reception.
The Ukrainian delegation recalled that 489 of its athletes had died since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
In Paris, Ukraine, represented by 140 athletes, has so far won two medals. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, it won 19.
President Zelensky on Wednesday called the sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus during the Olympics “half measures.”
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the support of Belarus, the International Olympic Committee banned both countries from the 2024 Olympic Games.
But a handful of Russian and Belarusian nationals who never supported the Russian assault are participating as individuals, under a neutral banner and without an anthem.