Former figure skater Oksana Baiul-Farina proudly shows the gold medal she won for Ukraine at those Games as a 16-year-old while donning her blue and yellow tracksuit from the 1994 Olympics.
The thought of seeing athletes from Russia and Belarus compete at the Olympics while her country is at war gives Baiul-Farina’s maiden Olympic gold, which Ukraine won after achieving independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, even greater significance. She told Reuters while crying, “It weighs way more now than it ever has.” “It hurts so much.”
In February of last year, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, initially utilizing its ally Belarus as a staging area for troops traveling in the direction of Kiev. Tens of thousands have died in the war, which has also destroyed towns and displaced millions.
Following the invasion, the majority of international sports federations followed the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) recommendations to ban athletes from Russia and Belarus.
However, the IOC released fresh criteria last month allowing Russian and Belarusian competitors to gradually return to international contests as neutrals. Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, stated that their participation “works” in spite of the conflict in Ukraine.
Baiul-Farina vehemently objects. She doesn’t want Russians to compete when her nation is being attacked. “If I were Thomas Bach, I wouldn’t permit Russian competitors until the war was over. Simply put,” she said. I swore I wouldn’t let them in.
The American figure skater Baiul-Farina offered to assist Ukrainian skaters in traveling to train at American skating rinks. Nevertheless, the skaters have resisted leaving the country in spite of difficult conditions, such as air raid sirens sounding during practice.
“I frequently compare sportsmen to soldiers. We are individuals who defend our nation and ourselves, she remarked. Ukraine has prohibited its national teams from participating in Olympic, non-Olympic, and Paralympic competitions where Russians and Belarusians are participants.
Sports federations and Ukrainian athletes should make that choice on their own, according to Baiul-Farina. They are earning money by participating in competitions, she claimed. “Ukrainian sport will be discontinued if they can’t make money. And only God knows when they will be able to stand up again.
