Message To Bach: "There is No Festival of Peace For Us"
"Each of us thinks about the people who are defending our country," says Olympic champion Olha Kharlan. "It's hard, but that makes us even stronger!" - Jens Weinreich hears the voices of Ukrainian athletes in Paris
"It was all meant seriously," Vadym Guttsait tells me shortly before the opening ceremony tonight. "We really thought about boycotting. But now we're happy to be here. We can deal with the situation that some Russians are here, we're just focussing on the Games."
You could see Guttsait wrestling with himself and biting his tongue in the hour before, when he, the Olympic champion and Ukrainian NOC President, and five athletes were answering questions at length in the Main Press Centre. There would have been many moments to criticise the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its all-powerful president Thomas Bach. But Guttsait resisted the temptation. He was clear on the matter - and yet, let's put it this way: with the necessary diplomatic humility. So he even praised Bach for his (now truly modest) support.
And when the colleague from the Süddeutsche Zeitung asked how the Ukrainians felt when they saw that Bach also had his picture taken in the Olympic Village with a Russian swimmer and the GIVE PEACE A CHANCEmessage, Guttsait remained as calm as can be.
He briefly recapitulated that Bach's recommendations had changed slightly since the start of the war.
Jens Weinreich
Then Guttsait, Olympic fencing champion like the IOC president, answered the question of whether these Olympic Games could be a festival of peace, as the IOC is promoting it:
"For us, there is no festival of peace."
Every Ukrainian feels that way. What do you think our children think when they are bombed? In another answer, Guttsait became clearer:
"In war, Russia must not participate. Ukrainians are being killed every day.As long as there is war, Russia must not be part of Olympic sport."
