Ukrainian boxer overcomes war to reach Paris Olympics

KYIV: Boxer Anna Lysenko trains for next year’s Paris Olympics in a small Kyiv gym despite the eerie sounds of explosions.

Lysenko nearly won a medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine about 17 months ago has hampered her training.

As the Russian army targets the capital, she hears bombs exploding outside her well-lit, big gym with high windows.

“It’s oppressive. “It probably doesn’t allow me to feel at peace, to train and prepare in a measured way,” Lysenko said, donning an orange sports jacket with “Tokyo 2020” on the back, evoking a quieter training routine.

“Constant shelling or other country-related stresses always seem to be present.”

Lysenko, 31, keeps training despite these obstacles. She reached the quarterfinals in Tokyo but lost to the eventual gold medalist. Knowing the Paris Games may be her last, she trains six days a week to improve, grow faster, and win.

Her Paris chances are questionable.

Ukrainian sportsmen have missed global or European championships in judo, fencing, and taekwondo, when Russians and Belarusians competed as neutral athletes.

Last week, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach criticised the Ukrainian authorities for preventing Russians and Belarusians from qualifying for the 2024 Games.

In January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Bach to visit the destroyed city of Bakhmut, saying any neutral flag is tainted with blood.

In March, the IOC and Bach defined neutrality as not vocally supporting the conflict, not being connected to the military since February last year, competing without a flag, anthem, or national colours, which sports governing bodies must apply.

Lysenko called the Russian-Belarusian neutral flag “very bad.”

As a Ukrainian athlete, she finds it “very unpleasant” that Russians can compete in the Olympics. “They represent it,” she continued, despite the neutral flag.