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Young athletes in northern Ukraine spend their days cross-country skiing through charred forests, focused on their performance until the inevitable siren breaks the silence.
They reacted quickly but without panic, ditching their skis and following their coach to the underground dugout.
It was an ordinary training session at the complex that produced Ukraine’s first Olympic medalist.
Sleeping children no longer dream of Olympic glory in the facility’s bombed-out dormitories, and unexploded ordnance has made nearby land off-limits. But about 350 children and teenagers — some of the best young cross-country skiers and biathletes in the country — continued to practice in a fenced-in area, where drones often made sporadic buzzes as they flew overhead before exploding as they were shot down.
“We have adapted well, even the kids, and sometimes we don’t even react,” coach Mykola Vorchak, 67, told The Associated Press on Oct. 31. “Even though it’s against safety rules, the kids have toughened up from the war. Adapting to that has changed their psyche.”
sporty in the crossfire
The war dealt a heavy blow to Ukrainian sports. Athletes were either displaced or drafted into combat. Football matches were frequently interrupted by air raid sirens, so attendance was limited by the capacity of the air raid shelters. Elite skaters, skiers and biathletes often train abroad, and local facilities are regularly subject to attacks and blackouts.
But the government-run Olympic Reserve Sports Ski Base is open to cross-country skiing and biathlon, a sport that combines skiing and shooting. This massive complex is located on the outskirts of the city of Chernihiv, a two-hour drive north of Chernihiv. Kyiv along the path of destruction RussiaIn 2022, the army tried to capture the capital but left. Chernihiv remains a frequent target of airstrikes targeting power grids and civilian infrastructure.
Several temporary buildings in the sports center serve as changing rooms, toilets and coaches’ offices. In winter, athletes train on snowy slopes, while during the rest of the year athletes use roller skis on blast-scarred asphalt tracks.
Biathletes aimed laser rifles at electronic targets, slinging their skis over their shoulders between shooting drills, jogging back to the start of the course, cheeks flushed with the cold.
Ukraine’s first Olympic medal
Valentyna Tserbe-Nesina spent her adolescence in the center of Chernihiv doing these same workouts and winning a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. This is Ukraine’s first Olympic medal as an independent country.
“The conditions are not great, but we couldn’t have asked for anything better. For us, it’s like a family – our own little home,” she said from her apartment, whose shelves and walls are lined with medals, trophies and memorabilia from competitions around the world.
Tserbe-Nesina, 56, was shocked when she visited the complex in 2022. Shelling destroyed buildings and fire destroyed others. Broken glass littered the floor of the room where she and her friends had excitedly examined results sheets taped up.
“I walked in and went to my old room on the second floor. It was gone – no windows, nothing,” she said. “I recorded a video and found the loot we had left at the base. They were completely burned.”
Zerbay-Nesina has been volunteering to organize funerals for fallen Ukrainian soldiers in her hometown, while her husband, a retired army officer, returns to the front. They meet about once a year, whenever his employer allows him to take short breaks.
act of defiance
An adult who served in the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Army in 2022 sometimes trains with young people at the center. Khrystyna Dmytrenko, 26, will represent her country at the Winter Olympics in Cortina, Milan, starting on February 6.
“Sports can show how strong Ukraine is,” Dmitrenko said in an interview next to a shooting range. “We represent Ukraine on the international stage and let other countries, athletes and peoples see our unity, strength and determination.”
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee imposed bans and restrictions on Russian athletes, effectively extending previous sanctions related to state-sponsored doping. But a small number of them will compete in the upcoming Winter Olympics.
After being vetted to ensure they are not affiliated with the military, they must compete without displaying any national symbols – and only in non-team events. This means Russian and Ukrainian athletes may compete against each other in some skating and skiing events. Moscow’s appeal to the federal level to allow its biathletes to compete is still pending.
This is why many Ukrainians view training for these events as an act of defiance. Former Olympic biathlete Nina Lemesh, 52, noted that some young Ukrainians who first picked up rifles and skis at the Chernihiv ski base during the war have become international champions in their age groups.
“Fortunately, Ukrainians are still here. They will always be here,” she said, standing next to the destroyed dormitory. “This is the next generation of Olympians.”
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Associated Press writer Derek Gatopoulos in Kyiv contributed to this report.