PARIS — With cups of borscht in their hands, the fans from many countries who had gathered at the Ukrainian Olympic pavilion in the French capital kept their eyes trained on the big screen as they watched high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh launch her body skyward.
Mahuchikh — the world record holder — cleared two meters. She had just one challenger left.
Some 1,500 miles away, fans at an outdoor watch party in downtown Kyiv lounged on beanbags and savored the moment. “Everyone is expecting this golden medal,” grinned Anton Nahornyak, 19.
Then Mahuchikh clinched it. She beat out Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers to secure Ukraine’s first individual gold in the Paris Olympics, while Ukrainian Iryna Gerashchenko and Australian Eleanor Patterson shared the bronze.
In Paris, the fans spilled out into the evening. In Kyiv, they rushed home before curfew.
The 140 Ukrainian athletes at the Paris Olympics are competing under the slogan “the will to win.” They know that people back home, and refugees displaced throughout Europe, are counting on them — not only to excel in their sports, but to make their nation feel victorious again, and to plead Ukraine’s case to the world.
Mahuchikh, riding high after winning gold, slept for only an hour on Sunday night, she said. But on Monday, she was seated in front of an audience of sports fans and foreign journalists at the Ukrainian pavilion — called Volia Space — to speak about the political significance of her victory, “because we are ambassadors for Ukraine.”
“I’m fighting to the end, and I show the people that Ukrainian people will never give up,” she said in an interview with The Washington Post afterward. “We will fight to the end for our independent country.”
It is a mission that has taken on particular urgency 2？ years into the grinding war, as Western fatigue over supporting Ukraine’s defense grows. Ukrainian officials are warily eyeing the U.S. election, fearful that a Donald Trump victory would bring pressure to bow to Russia in negotiations over a settlement to the conflict.
Russia, along with Belarus, was banned from fielding a team in these Olympics. Only 15 Russian athletes have been allowed to compete as “Individual Neutral Athletes,” after screening meant to ensure they have not supported Russia’s campaign in Ukraine.
As a result, Ukrainian athletes haven’t encountered many Russian competitors in Paris. But Russia’s invasion of their country upended their lives and training regimens, forcing many to contend with fear, displacement, air raid sirens and the loss of loved ones and fellow athletes.
More than 3,000 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have fought in the war, and nearly 500 have died, Ukrainian Sports Minister Matvi Bidny said. Russian attacks have damaged 520 sports facilities in Ukraine, with more than a hundred of them beyond repair, according to Ukrainian officials.
The fact that Ukrainian athletes are here in Paris at all, competing under their flag rather than as individual refugees, is an enormous feat, Bidny said in an interview in Paris. “It’s very symbolic to demonstrate our will to win, to demonstrate our country has resilience and strong partners.”
Some athletes have continued their training in Ukraine. Twin synchronized swimmers Vladyslava and Maryna Aleksiiva, who are scheduled to compete in Paris later this week, have recounted how their pool sessions in Kyiv and Kharkiv were interrupted by air-raid sirens.
Mahuchikh has moved between European cities since fleeing her native Dnipro under gunfire shortly after Russia invaded in February 2022.
“I am 22 years old, but I feel that I’m 30,” she said. “Russia took my energy and really my young age.”
Her euphoria when she broke the world record in the high jump last month was punctured by news the next day that a Russian strike had destroyed a Kyiv children’s hospital, she said.
Fencer Olga Kharlan — who gained prominence for refusing to shake her Russian competitor’s hand at an international fencing competition last year — said she had to learn to turn off her fears for her family in Mykolaiv as she and teammates trained in Italy.
“We watch the news, where missiles are going … but then when we train, we decided to just put it aside,” she said at a news conference in Paris on Sunday.
Kharlan carried the women’s saber team to a gold medal over South Korea on Saturday night — a come-from-behind victory that drew praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and reinforced the message that an underdog, with determination and international support, can stave off the toughest of adversaries.
Their grit makes Ukrainian Olympians “heroes,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said last week at the sumptuous H？tel de Ville, where she presented the athletes with the Grand Vermeil Medal, the city’s highest honor.
Decrying Russia’s invasion as a breach of “all the rules of international law,” Hidalgo told the athletes, “The victory of Ukraine is indispensable for all of the Ukrainians, but also, of course, for Europe.”
Attendees bowed their heads for a moment of silence for Ukrainian athletes killed during the war. Black-and-white portraits filled a projector screen in a grim tableau.
Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s office, called in via video to thank French officials for their support. He bemoaned the International Olympic Committee’s decision to allow some Russians and Belarusians to compete as neutrals — an objection shared by many Ukrainian athletes here.
Still, Yermak said, Russia’s exclusion from this Olympics represented a global denunciation of “evil” and a recognition that “Russian sport is a part of Russian imperial propaganda, and propaganda is important for the outcome of the war.”
The Ukrainian team, meanwhile, has received a warm welcome in France. A Ukrainian athlete carried the Olympic torch through Marseille in May. Cheers resounded when the team’s boat floated down the Seine during the Opening Ceremonies. At the packed Grand Palais fencing arena on Saturday, French fans decked in their country’s tricolor apparel screamed “Olga! Olga!” to pump up Kharlan during the gold medal match.
The French government provided financial and logistical support to help Ukraine set up Volia Space in Parc de la Villette, where national teams have created fan zones to celebrate their athletes and showcase their cultures.
Most of the pavilions are full of games, alcohol and party music. The mood at Volia Space is decidedly more subdued. Displayed by the entrance are rows of cracked bleachers from a Kharkiv stadium destroyed by Russian shells. Next to them lies a rusted barbell fashioned from car tires that high jumper Andriy Protsenko used to continue training while living under Russian occupation in the Kherson region in 2022.
Volia Space organizers screen documentaries about the impact of the fighting on athletes and children. And each evening, members of Ukraine’s Olympic team share their personal stories of war and displacement.
“The first goal of this place is to show the world the reality and some difficulties which we face every day,” said Victoria Riasna, Ukrainian vice minister of sports. “It’s like a scream to the world.”
For some Ukrainians, the participation of some Russian athletes has soured them on the Games. At a sports bar in Kyiv last week, Illya D’yakov, 31, ignored the fencing competition playing on the television. The presence of any Russian athlete in Paris “signifies disrespect to all of humanity,” he said.
But for others, the Olympics have brought a much-needed morale boost. Kharlan said she has received messages from soldiers on the front line who say her fencing successes had energized them. In Paris, she dedicated her medals to Ukrainian troops.
“They’re fighting for your life, the life of your family and everything,” she said. “This is what motivated me a lot, and I think all my team as well.”
Galouchka reported from Kyiv. Isabelle Khurshudyan in Kyiv contributed to this report.