Ukraine's Paralympians ponder return to shattered home

"I want to go home, I want there to be peace again, I want everyone to stay alive."

This is not something usually heard from athletes returning from a sporting triumph. But it is the new normal for Ukrainian Paralympian Oleksandra Kononova since Russia invaded her country.

In previous years, she and other Paralympians would have been greeted with fanfare at Kyiv airport. After all, Ukraine has every reason to be proud of its Paralympic team: Second place in the medals table at the Beijing Winter Games with 11 golds and 29 overall is an outstanding achievement.

But the athletes cannot enjoy this success. Their thoughts are constantly in their homeland, where Russia's attack puts their loved ones in danger.

From Beijing to Warsaw and on to many different places

Due to the war, the Ukrainian team spent several days in transit during their return journey – from Beijing via Istanbul to Warsaw, where they landed on March 15. They spent one night in the Polish capital and then they went their separate ways.

"Some traveled on to different European countries where their families had already fled. Others though went to their families in Ukraine, including Kharkiv and Chernihiv, where there is fierce fighting," said Ukrainian Paralympic team spokeswoman Nataliya Harach.

She said the National Committee for Sports for the Disabled has set up accommodation with training facilities in a sports complex in western Ukraine for those who then want to continue on to Western Europe.

Despite their very successful Paralympics, Ukrainian athletes by and large did not have a good impression of the Chinese-run Games.

"We were watched around the clock by people in black clothes. We were searched and bugged. At the end, we were forbidden from wearing masks with the word 'Peace' at the closing ceremony," Harach lamented, adding: "May our victories in sports bring Ukraine closer to a victory in war."

From the Paralympics to war

Kononova, who won gold in cross-country skiing and silver in the biathlon, drove from Warsaw toward Ukraine. She had no safe place to return to because there is fierce fighting in the city of Brovary near Kyiv, where she lived before the war.

"I grew up in the village of Shevchenkov near Brovary. Almost all my friends are constantly in the basements of their houses because of the shelling," she said.

She instead planned to go to relatives in the Cherkassy region and join volunteers there.

"We are strong," Kononova said of the courage of Ukrainians. "I believe in our state, in our people, in the defenders of Ukraine." 

She believes Ukraine's Paralympians in Beijing were inspired by the fierce resistance of the Ukrainian army and the many volunteers against the Russian invaders.

"But we also believe that our victories helped to strengthen the spirit of Ukrainians," she added, fearing she probably won't be thinking about sports anytime soon.

According to Harach, Ukrainian athletes with disabilities continue to prepare for competitions despite the war.

Among them are athletes from summer sports who were in training camps abroad at the beginning of the war. Many have been allowed to stay abroad and train in the sports facilities beyond previously agreed deadlines — with anxious eyes on their homeland.

This article was originally written in Ukrainian.