IZhan Beleniuk, an Olympian and Ukraine’s first black member of parliament, said he was in no position to think about it now. This was obviously what he was thinking deep down. He had his own ideas about what his fellow athletes might do, or even what they should do: If there was a chance of failure, it would be better not to compete at all.
But for the 33-year-old Berenyuk, the only Ukrainian to win a gold medal at the last Tokyo Olympics, and the prospect of facing a Russian competitor in his Greco-Roman wrestling event in Paris, it must be The problem of the moment.
“It will be a big responsibility for any Ukrainian athlete who decides to compete against Russian athletes,” he said at the Koncha-Zaspa Olympic Training Center on the southern outskirts of the capital Kiev. “Because this is sport, we understand that, but the responsibility is going to be two, maybe three, four times – because in our sport we are in full contact with each other and we are expected to win the game. This fight is for our soldiers, for our country. If you lose…” He paused. “Well, you’re going to be… angry. It’s not nice when you get home and say you lost to the Russians. It’s going to be hard for them. Now, I don’t think about it. I’m just ready, if God Send me these opponents and I will fight the Russians and the Belarusians – but now I don’t think so.
Belenyuk is one of more than 120 Ukrainian men and women competing in Ukraine’s eighth Olympics since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It would be the first attempt to reverse history since Vladimir Putin, with the support of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, launched a full-scale invasion of the country of Belarus in February 2022 .
Despite being in the same party as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and enjoying privileged access to information in parliament, Beleniuk never thought an invasion would happen. A renewed war of this magnitude in Europe seemed an absurd prospect, but in the early hours of February 24, he heard an explosion from his bed. At 7 a.m., he was in the Ukrainian parliament to vote on martial law.
Like more than 100 other athletes, he ended up camping at the Olympic base for a month. “There are a lot of different people, not just athletes, but many relatives of these athletes, like grandmothers, mothers and fathers,” he said. “Because, you know, the northern part of the Kiev region is occupied by the Russians, and our base is closer to the south, so we have a good path out of Kiev if we need to.”
Ultimately, the Russian team withdrew from Kiev, and Beleniuk, who took a year away from the sport after the 2021 Olympics, is slowly starting to see the value in returning to the sport again.
“I have a close relationship with my coach, who is the captain of our national team, and I know that after the situation with the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kiev region, our coach believes that sports should continue in our country, and our president also talks about it Got to this point.
About 400 national-level athletes died in the war. When asked if he had lost friends, he nodded. “A lot,” he said. He struggled to understand the International Olympic Committee’s decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete this summer. They must wear gender-neutral uniforms. They will not appear at the opening or closing ceremonies or on the medal tally, and they will each be subject to independent review to ensure they never openly supported the war in Ukraine. “But for us, it’s the wrong way and it’s not good for us,” he said.
It is unclear whether he will face 26-year-old Russian opponent Milad Alirzaev, who won a bronze medal in the 87kg category at the 2021 European Wrestling Championships in Warsaw. However, Alizayev has earned the status of a neutral athlete.
Is it difficult for Beleniuk to control his emotions? “If you don’t control your emotions, it’s difficult to defeat any opponent, not just Russia,” he said. “You should understand what it takes to win and what you should do at different moments. I only think about the game on game day. I wouldn’t have thought about it that way before because, you know, if you think about three things day in and day out Officially a month ago, I thought it would be a very bad result and it would be very difficult mentally when you try to do that.
He said a duel with a Russian opponent might not be for everyone. “If a Ukrainian athlete decides not to compete against the Russians, I don’t think anyone can say to him: ‘No, you should compete.'” It’s their decision, their responsibility. If I’m ready to win, then why not? But if you understand that you’re not ready mentally, physically, and you understand that you’re not going to be able to get good results and show up and fight and give all your strength and energy into this fight, then I think it’s better not to Participate in the competition.
Belenyuk agreed with guidance recently issued by Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee on not shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian athletes. “If you shake hands, you show respect for these people, but we cannot show respect for athletes who support this war and do not say anything against it,” he said. “Some of these athletes are asking people to support the military. I think our soldiers will not understand this behavior. When the Russians are trying to kill us every day, you shake hands with them? No.”
Belenyuk is expected to win a medal, but in these Olympics, his last, he has another responsibility. “In Ukraine we talk about minimum and maximum exercise,” he said. “The minimum job you have is to talk about Ukraine. If you can get good grades and talk more, it will only be better for your country.
