It was a night of celebration for Ukraine amidst its ongoing conflict.
Thousands of Ukrainians tuned in on YouTube as high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh won gold for her country, which she had to leave due to the war. She celebrated with two teammates who also won medals at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Iryna Gerashchenko earned bronze in the high jump, and Mykhaylo Kokhan won bronze in the hammer throw, bringing Ukraine’s total medal count from three to six within about an hour.
“Medals are very important for Ukraine because they bring joy to the people, allowing them to cheer for us and momentarily forget about the war,” Kokhan said.
Mahuchikh, who had to flee her hometown due to the conflict with Russia, secured Ukraine’s first individual gold of these Games, following a previous gold in women’s team saber fencing.
She is from Dnipro, a city close to the front lines. When Russia invaded, she quickly packed her car and left, witnessing gunfire and shells falling from afar. She plans to return to Dnipro as an Olympic champion.
After winning their medals, Mahuchikh and Gerashchenko ran down the track waving Ukrainian flags, receiving a standing ovation at the Stade de France.
The two high jumpers were then given special permission to join Kokhan, and the three Ukrainian medalists posed together with their blue and yellow flags.
Despite the celebration, Mahuchikh also remembered the “almost 500 sportsmen who died in this war.
“They will never compete. They will never celebrate. They will never feel this atmosphere,” she said, adding that her gold medal is “really for all of them.”
Mahuchikh takes over from Tokyo gold medalist Maria Lasitskene, a Russian who, along with all other athletes from Russia, has been banned from international track and field events since the invasion of Ukraine.
Despite constant attacks on Ukraine’s power grid by Russian missiles and rockets, Gerashchenko noted that the electricity was working on Sunday.
“Today we have internet, we have light, and on the YouTube channel, around 160,000 people watched online,” she said.
Mahuchikh cleared 2.00 meters to win, while Nicola Olyslagers from Australia also cleared 2.00 meters but missed all three attempts at 2.02. Eleanor Patterson from Australia and Gerashchenko shared the bronze with a height of 1.95 meters.
Mahuchikh thought about jumping again to try and beat her world record of 2.10 meters set less than a month ago in another Paris stadium. But she decided to stop and start celebrating instead.
When asked why she didn’t attempt any more jumps, she said, “Why not? I was Olympic champion.”
Mahuchikh also attracted attention for her unique routine of lying down and wrapping herself in a kind of sleeping bag between jumps. She said it helps her relax: “Sometimes I can watch the clouds…not think about that I’m at a stadium.”
This is Mahuchikh’s first Olympic gold, adding to the bronze she won in Tokyo. She also won gold at last year’s world championships.
“It’s all medals for our country, Ukraine, for our defenders,” she said. “Only thanks to them we have the opportunity to be here.”
