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War, anger cloud Ukrainian athletes' path to Paris Olympics

cbc.ca

Ukrainian diver Stanislav Oliferchyk proudly bears the name of his late grandfather, who died in brutalized Mariupol. Russia's troops turned the Ukrainian port city into a killing zone in the process of capturing it.

The elder Stanislav could no longer get the cancer treatment he needed in the ruins, his grandson says. He was 74 when he died last October.

Another victim of the months-long Russian siege of Mariupol was its gleaming aquatic centre. Oliferchyk had planned to use the refurbished sports complex as his training base for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But it was bombed the same day last March as the city's drama theater. The theater airstrike was the single deadliest known attack against civilians to date in the year-old Russian invasion.

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