Threat of war back home has Ukrainian Olympians 'nervous' in Beijing

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — One’s hero is Michael Jordan.

One started figure skating when he was hit by a puck struck by older boys. One competed in the 2018 Olympics on a homemade sled. One buys new white gloves before every competition to focus judges’ eyes on his hands.

One has an Instagram page filled with photos of her cat. One is a university student with a love of traveling and photography.

One has a wife and two children, a daughter and a son. One is in ninth grade.

These are some of the 46 athletes from Ukraine, and aside from being among the very best in the world at what they do, they are so completely normal and relatable. They are sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers. And they, along with their coaches, team officials and media members, are wondering if the country they left just weeks ago will still be standing when they return.

“In Ukraine, it’s really nervous now,” skeleton rider Vladyslav Heraskevych told the AP earlier this week, shortly after holding up a "No War In Ukraine” sign after his race. “A lot of news about guns, about weapons, what's to come in Ukraine, about some armies in Ukraine. It’s not OK. Not in the 21st century.”

Imagine that for a minute. Imagine having that dread looming over you, every minute of every day. Fearing for the loss of everything you’ve known. Fearing, dreading, and yet being utterly unable to do anything but race or ski or jump or ride as your country awaits its fate.

Heraskevych and his fellow Ukrainians can only watch from afar as the Russian army encircles their country, blocking off ports and massing armies at its borders. The United States has said that intelligence reports indicate Russia could invade as soon as Wednesday, the day the Ukrainian women’s 4x6km relay biathlon team will race.

A U.S. intelligence report indicated that a war could shatter Ukraine’s government within two days, kill 25,000 to 50,000 civilians, and displace as many as 5 million people. The Biden administration and other nations have advised all embassy workers to leave Ukraine immediately. Ukrainian military forces are on high alert throughout the country.

How are you supposed to focus on the Olympics when a nightmare like that looms over you? Over your family?

“It’s difficult because you always think of the situation,” bobsledder Lidiia Hunko said. “I try concentration, but it’s hard.”

While other Olympians can joke about the beds in the athletes’ village, or the complimentary condoms, or the food, while the rest of us complain about mask restrictions and daily tests, counting the days until we return home, the Ukrainian delegation lives every day with the fact that they’re in a sterile, safe bubble that’s unlike anything their vulnerable friends and family back home are living through right now.

“My family is OK, but if the situation changes,” Hunko said, “I don’t know.”

Few Ukrainians at the Olympics want to talk right now. Several competitors in the women’s biathlon waved off an American journalist’s interview requests following a Saturday relay event. A request to the Ukraininan delegation’s press liaison went unanswered. It’s tough to blame them.

Ukraine doesn’t have a rich Winter Olympics history. Through Sunday night, no Ukrainians had won a medal at this year’s Games. The nation as a whole has won only eight Winter Olympics medals; the most recognizable to U.S. audiences is probably figure skater Oksana Baiul’s gold at Lillehammer in 1994. For Ukrainians, there’s a whole lot of competing for love of the sport, love of country … and love of peace.

“Like any normal people, I don’t want war,” Heraskevych said shortly after holding up his sign. “I want peace in my country, and I want peace in the world. It’s my position, so I fight for that. I fight for peace.”

The IOC wisely declined to even consider Heraskevych’s sign a violation of the commission’s Rule 50 preventing political speech at the Games.

"No War in Ukraine” isn’t a political statement. It’s a cry for help, from someone who’s not very different from you or me.

Henry Bushnell contributed reporting to this story from Yanquing.