A few hundred kilometers separate Sochi from kyiv and Russia from Ukraine. A distance which seems even smaller since the start of clashes between demonstrators and police forces, which left 26 dead in the Ukrainian capital. The crisis shaking the former Soviet republic was invited to the Sochi Games. The opposite would have been shocking.
Sergei Bubka, the former pole vaulter who is now president of the Ukrainian Olympic committee, was one of the first to react. “I am shocked by what is happening in my country, especially since the violence is taking place during the Olympic Games,” he wrote on his website. “For the future of our children, let’s do our best to return to the negotiating table and obtain a compromise,” also suggested Sergei Bubka, asking for respect for the Olympic truce.
Shaken by the rise in violence, the Ukrainian Olympic Committee very officially asked the IOC for authorization for its athletes to wear a black armband in tribute to the victims of the kyiv clashes. Categorical response from the Olympic institution: “No way. » Its spokesperson, Mark Adams, explained very diplomatically that wearing a black armband would violate the Olympic Charter.
According to Mark Adams, several Ukrainian athletes have already left Sochi and the Games to show their support for the demonstrators. The IOC spokesperson did not name any names. He also did not indicate their number. But he explained that Sergei Bubka had made it known, in his capacity as president of the Ukrainian Olympic committee, that he respected everyone's rights in such a situation.
The athletes, for their part, are trying as best they can to keep their heads at the Games. Dmytro Mytsak, an 18-year-old giant lifter from kyiv, explains: “It becomes difficult to stay focused on our competition because people keep asking us about the situation in our country. But we have received many messages of encouragement and support from the Russian population. »
In a press release, the Ukrainian Olympic Committee indicated that its athletes would do their best to ensure that the flag of Ukraine flies above the podiums. Thursday morning, the country was ranked 25th in the nation rankings, with only one bronze medal, won by Vita Semerenko in the biathlon sprint event.
