Thousands of Ukrainians tuned into YouTube to witness high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh clinch a gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, a poignant victory for an athlete forced to flee her homeland. Mahuchikh was joined in celebration by two fellow Ukrainian athletes who also medaled that day: Iryna Gerashchenko shared a bronze in the high jump, and Mykhaylo Kokhan secured a bronze in the hammer throw, doubling Ukraine’s Olympic medal tally from three to six in just about an hour.
“Medals are very important for Ukraine because the people are having a very happy time, and they can cheer us and they can celebrate this with us and not think about the war for one day,” Kokhan remarked.
Forced to leave her home due to the ongoing conflict with Russia, Mahuchikh captured Ukraine’s first individual gold of these Summer Games, following a victory in women’s team saber fencing on Saturday. Mahuchikh hails from Dnipro, a city of nearly 1 million residents situated roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the front lines of the war. When Russia invaded, she quickly packed her car and fled, witnessing gunfire and distant shelling along the way.
As she stood victorious, Mahuchikh and Gerashchenko raced down the track waving Ukrainian flags, earning a standing ovation from those at Stade de France. The two high jumpers were then granted special permission to embrace Kokhan, and the trio posed with their blue and yellow flags for a memorable photo.
But the celebration came with a somber reflection. Mahuchikh remembered the “almost 500 sportsman (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 succeeded Tokyo gold medalist Maria Lasitskene, a Russian barred from international competition along with other athletes from her country due to the invasion of Ukraine. Despite regular disruptions from Russian rockets and missiles, Ukrainians managed to follow the event. “Today we have internet, we have light and on the YouTube channel, around 160,000 people (watched) online,” Gerashchenko shared.
In her gold-medal performance, Mahuchikh cleared 2.00 meters, finishing ahead of Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers, who also cleared 2.00 but failed at 2.02. Eleanor Patterson of Australia and Gerashchenko shared the bronze at 1.95. Although Mahuchikh considered attempting to break her own world record of 2.10 meters set less than a month ago, she chose to join in the celebrations instead. When asked why she didn’t continue jumping, she responded, “Why not? I was Olympic champion.”
Mahuchikh also drew attention for her unique routine of lying down in a sleeping bag between jumps to relax. “Sometimes I can watch the clouds…not think about that I’m at a stadium,” she explained.
With her first Olympic gold now in hand, adding to a bronze from Tokyo and a gold from last year’s world championships, Mahuchikh dedicated her victory to Ukraine and its defenders. “Only thanks to them we have opportunity to be here,” she said.
