PARIS: In a powerful tribute to the hundreds of Ukrainian athletes who have perished since the Russian invasion of their homeland, the Union of Ukrainians of France led a peaceful march of several hundred people in Paris on Saturday.
The rally, held in the run-up to this month’s Olympics, was intended to honour these fallen sporting heroes and highlight the ongoing impact of the conflict on Ukraine’s athletics community.
Several hundred athletes, including some who competed at elite levels, plus coaches and others closely involved in professional and amateur sports in Ukraine have died in the large-scale invasion since 2022, some while fighting as soldiers on the front lines.
The loss of life, ongoing war and widespread destruction of sports facilities threaten to erode Ukraine’s advantage, both at the Paris Games opening on July 26 and in the future, as an Olympic sporting power following the breakup of the former Soviet Union.
“The tragedy today is that hundreds of Ukrainian athletes will not have the opportunity to participate in the Paris Olympics because the Russian Federation senselessly killed them,” said Volodymyr Kogutyak, vice president of the Franco-Ukrainian association. “Some died fighting in the Ukrainian armed forces, but many others simply died as civilians.”
Among the athletes remembered is Maksym Halinichev, a promising boxer who won a silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018 and was European junior champion in 2017. Halinichev joined the Ukrainian army and died at the front in March 2023 at the age of 22. Other notable athletes include Ivan Bidnyak and Yehor Kikhitov, both pistol shooters and members of the Ukrainian national team. Bidnyak won a silver medal at the European Championships in Osijek in 2013.
Also commemorated are Stanislav Hulenkov, a 22-year-old judoka whose body was identified just 10 months after his death, and Oleksandr Peleshenko, a weightlifter who represented Ukraine at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Anastasiia Ihnatenko, an acrobatic gymnastics coach, was killed in a Russian missile attack along with her husband and 18-month-old son.
The event attracted a large number of participants, including Ukrainian, French and other citizens, all united in their grief and determination to honour the memory of the deceased athletes. Participants wore T-shirts with the names of the deceased athletes and a minute of silence was observed, followed by speeches by the organisers.
“These athletes were killed at a time when they could have been training to be selected for the Olympics. That is significant. Russia did not give them the option to train and go to Paris. That is the saddest thing,” Kogutyak stressed.
Ukraine won 11 medals at the 2016 Rio Games, its fewest as an independent nation, and fell to 22nd in the country rankings. Ukraine recovered to 16th at the pandemic-delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but only one of its 19 medals was gold, another new low.
The peaceful protest also had a political purpose: to send a clear message about the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the upcoming Paris Games. “The protest aims to loudly and clearly express that Belarusian and Russian athletes, regardless of the flag or colours with which they come to Paris, are not welcome,” Kogutyak said.
He also expressed his sadness that some of these Russian athletes had been decorated by various ministries and had met with President Vladimir Putin.
The human cost of the ongoing war, coupled with the widespread destruction of sporting facilities in Ukraine, poses a serious threat to the country’s future in Olympic sports. The loss of these athletes deprives the nation of its current talents and jeopardizes its sporting future.
It is not yet known how many Russian athletes will take part in the Olympics, which will be held from July 26 to August 11. The IOC has already banned them from taking part in the opening ceremony of the boats sailing on the River Seine.
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