Threat Of Missiles, Fear For Death: How Ukraine Athletes Trained For Paris Olympics 2024

The fear of death has been a constant in an average Ukrainian's life ever since the war with Russia broke out in 2022 and that includes the majority of the country's 143-strong athlete contingent here for the Olympics beginning on Friday. Even in normal circumstances, the pressure to perform on the biggest sporting stage can take a toll on the best in the business. In the case of Ukrainian athletes, it's hard to imagine how they were able to train for the mega-event with missile attacks and air sirens becoming a part of their lives for the past 29 months.

Electricity almost became non-existent with power grids destroyed by the conflict.

In the eyes of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the athletes who are in Paris are already "heroes" and that is what he told them in a virtual address on Wednesday.

Teenaged diving sensation Oleksiy Sereda and slalom canoeist Viktoriia Us were part of the call with president Zelenskyy.

Speaking to PTI outside the Athletes' Village, both Sereda and Viktoriia narrated their struggles for survival besides explaining how they trained for the ultimate sporting test.

"We had lots of troubles for preparation for this Olympics because there are always air alerts back home (for an impending missile strike), you have to go to a safe place and hide.

"That is why all our preparation in Ukraine was super hard. But we are here and (will) try our best to get some medals," said Sereda, who became the youngest European Diving Champion at 13 years of age back in 2019, breaking Tom Daley's record in the continental competition.

Sereda is from Mykolaiv in the south of Ukraine but trained in Kyiv for the Olympics. The constant sounds of air sirens made it almost impossible for him to focus on his craft