Yaroslava Mahuchikh High Jumps for Ukraine But Can’t Go Back

Mahuchikh wore blue and yellow eyeliner and a pendant in the shape of Ukraine. Gerashchenko wore a blue-and-yellow ribbon in her hair and a blue-and-yellow ring on her hand. A small group of Ukrainian spectators, displaced and living in Brno, cheered them on, saying, “Jump, jump, jump, let’s go, you can do it!”

The excitement and nearness of the small crowd, amid a backdrop of war, lent urgent energy to the competition. Mahuchikh prevailed with a jump of 6 feet 8 inches, or 2.03 meters, the best in the world this year, her back and legs seemingly as peaked as the roof of a house as she cleared the winning height.

Russians, including the reigning women’s Olympic high-jump champion, Mariya Lasitskene, are barred from the world championships in Oregon because of the invasion. It is right to exclude the Russians, Mahuchikh said, adding, “Human life is more important than some competition.”

This fall, she hopes it will be safe to return to Dnipro to see her father and grandmother. She feels it is her duty to tell her story, and her country’s story, but Mahuchikh is only 20 and it has not always been easy to be a high jumper and a wartime ambassador.

“Mentally, it’s so difficult,” she said. “I must focus on competition and training, but sometimes I am crying in the room. Now I think all Ukrainians live the same way. They want to go home. They want to see their husbands and their fathers.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/sports/olympics/ukraine-track-field-world-championships.html