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In March last year, Yaroslava Mahuchikh fled the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. More than 60 hours in the car to Belgrade, where the high jumper won the World Indoor Championships. Gold followed in the summer at the European Championships in Munich and now gold again at the World Championships in Budapest. At just 21 years old. For our newspaper, after her success, Mahuchich took time to talk about the meaning of the gold medal and her thoughts on Olympics with Russian participation.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh, you were longing for the gold medal at the World Championships. What’s going on in your head right now?
I’m happy, I can’t stop smiling. It is extremely important for our country. Every medal currently means so much. Every success is good for us. This medal is for my Ukrainian friends. For the people who support us. Finally I won this gold medal. I couldn’t believe it at first when I was declared the winner. I had to calm myself down a bit as I wanted to jump even further.
Jump for an entire country: Yaroslava Mahuchikh. © IMAGO/Eibner/Memmler
Do you hope to give your country a little friend with this medal?
It is Ukraine’s first gold medal in high jump in 24 years. This is a little balm for the soul of our country, especially for our soldiers. I know that they support us, cheer them on, that they watch our competitions. They are happy when we achieve success. And now I have the gold medal hanging around my neck. I’m really happy, and a bit tired too (laughs).
At the medal ceremony you looked into a sea of Ukrainian flags. Maryna Bech-Romantschuk was also in the audience.
That was impressive. A few days ago Maryna won silver. It was really fantastic to see that. Uysk boxed last night and won the world title. I saw it and thought to myself: Now I have to win too. It was a great honor to be up there singing our anthem. Ukraine won’t give up, we stand together.
The World Athletics Federation is clearly on the position that Russian athletes have no place in world sport as long as the war of aggression continues.
I am so thankful for this position. The world association shows solidarity with us. They understand how difficult it is for us to compete. At a time when you can’t train at home, when you can’t live at home because it’s too dangerous. Or because your training ground was destroyed by bombs. It is all the more important that we continue to represent our country at such major events. We are ambassadors for Ukraine.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh: “We have to pay such a high price, and is it supposed to be unfair if Russian athletes are not allowed to participate?”
It is still unclear whether Russian athletes will take part in the Paris Olympics. What does that trigger in you?
I imagined what it would be like if that really happened and I cried. It was just pain inside me. When I imagine Russian athletes participating in Paris, I have to think of our destroyed cities. To the many people who died for our freedom. To friends, family, athletes. We have to pay such a high price, and it’s supposed to be unfair if Russian athletes aren’t allowed to participate? We have so many athletes in Ukraine who retired and went to the front. We will never forget that. We will always remember our heroes. But I am sure that we will rebuild our country. A friendly nation with a good economy, everything will be fine. I believe in that.
What are your plans for the future? Is it safe enough for you to travel to your hometown to present the family medal?
That’s never for sure. There are many explosions in our city. On Independence Day there was an explosion at a bus stop, luckily at night. You can imagine how tragic it would have been if the explosion had taken place during the day. My mother and sister will take the gold medal to Ukraine. To my father. He’s been waiting for this for so long. I still have a few starts, after that I want to go back to Ukraine for a month. There is no safety for me there, but it is my home. And home is always best. I was there for two weeks at the beginning of January. I look forward to hugging my father again. And show him the gold medal again in person. I’m sure he’s very proud of me.
Interview: Nico-Marius Schmitz
2023-09-07 01:21:48
#pain #Russians #sports
