Olympic hopes double as act of defiance in war-ravaged Ukraine

Olympic hopes double as act of defiance in war-ravaged Ukraine At a war-ravaged sports centre in Ukraine, the hope for Olympic glory persists as athletes defy danger while training. Young athletes in northern Ukraine spend their days cross-country skiing through a scorched forest, focused on their form - until a siren inevitably shatters the silence. They respond swiftly but without panic, ditching their skis and following coaches to an underground bomb shelter. Recommended Stories list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Yin-yang of tennis: ‘Sincaraz’ rivalry back in focus before Australian Open list 2 of 4 Feuds, boycotts, sacking: What’s the Bangladesh cricket crisis all about? list 3 of 4 Fifteen former NCAA players charged in US-China basketball rigging case list 4 of 4 Australian Open 2026: All to know about the first tennis Grand Slam It’s an ordinary training session at the complex that produced Ukraine’s first Olympic medallist. Sleeping children no longer dream of Olympic glory in the facility’s bombed-out dormitories, and unexploded ordnance has rendered nearby land off limits. But about 350 kids and teens - some of the nation’s best young cross-country skiers and biathletes - still practise in fenced-off areas amid the sporadic buzz of drones passing overhead, then explosions as they’re shot down. “We have adapted so well - even the children - that sometimes we don’t even react,” Mykola Vorchak, a 67-year-old coach, said. “Although it goes against safety rules, the children have been hardened by the war. Adapting to this has changed them psychologically.” War has taken a heavy toll on Ukrainian sport. Athletes were displaced or called up to fight. Football matches are often interrupted by air raid sirens, so attendance is capped by bomb shelter capacity. Elite skaters, skiers and biathletes usually train abroad, with attacks and frequent blackouts shuttering local facilities. But the government-run Sports Ski Base of the Olympic Reserve is open for cross-country skiing and biathlon, the event which combines skiing with shooting. The sprawling complex is on the outskirts of Chernihiv, a city two hours north of Kyiv along the path of destruction that Russia’s army left in its 2022 attempt to capture the capital. Chernihiv remains a regular target for air attacks aimed at the power grid and civilian infrastructure. Several temporary structures at the sports centre serve as changing rooms, toilets and coaches’ offices. Athletes train on snowy trails during the winter and, throughout the rest of the year, use roller skis on an asphalt track pocked by blast marks. Biathletes aim laser rifles at electronic targets and, between shooting drills, sling skis over their shoulders and jog back to the start of the course, cheeks flushed from the cold. Ukraine’s first Olympic medal Valentyna Tserbe-Nesina spent her adolescence at the Chernihiv centre performing these same drills, and won bronze at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer. It was Ukraine’s first Olympic medal as an independent country. “The conditions weren’t great, but we had nothing better. And for us, it was like a...

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