Ukraine lobbied to exclude Russia
At least 487 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed over the course of the war, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Youth and Sports, while many have been seriously wounded. Runner Yana Stepanenko lost her legs during a strike on Kramatorsk. She later ran the Boston Marathon on prosthetic legs.
And, like most Ukrainians, athletes have also loved ones. The mother of high jumper Kateryna Tabashnyk, for example, was killed in a missile attack.
The barrage of strikes has left Ukrainian athletes with fewer places to practice, as more than 500 sports facilities have been destroyed, according to the sports ministry.
War also poses logistical challenges. “It takes over a day for us to travel somewhere, because no airports are operational,” Ukrainian judo coach Dubrova said.
Matviy Bidnyi, Ukraine’s acting minister of youth and sports, said Kyiv lobbied the IOC to make sure that Russian war supporters were left “outside of the Olympic movement.”
In a phone interview with POLITICO, Bidnyi said Ukrainian authorities had identified evidence of more than 800 Russian athletes who had supported the war.
“We sent dozens of joint letters to the IOC and managed to achieve the exclusion of blatant war propagandists,” Bidnyi said.
