Ukrainians Artem Darenskyi, 20, and Sofia Holichenko, 17, would never have imagined that their first participation in the world figure skating championships (which end on March 27 in Montpellier) as a couple could take place in such circumstances. Without training, or almost, since the Winter Olympics (OG) in Beijing, in February. And after a six-day journey from Dnipro, in central Ukraine, to Poland, passing through Romania and Italy, before finally reaching France. Above all, leaving behind them a country in the throes of war, after the invasion of Russian troops on February 24.
The couple had few illusions about their chances of shining on the ice of the Sud de France Arena. So he threw in the towel for the free program. “We are not ready”, summarized the young woman. Before recalling, as if to apologize, the speed with which his life changed: “We took a little break on the way home after the Olympics, and just after the war broke out. »
They had already scaled back the technical elements of their short program. The duo had also chosen to change the soundtrack, opting for a piece by the Kievan group The Hardkiss with the unequivocal title: Жива, translatable as “living”. A tribute to his compatriots, explains Artem Darenskyi. His father and several of his friends, who remained in Ukraine, took up arms. The relatives of Sofia Holichenko are trying to survive in the capital, kyiv, “where bombs go off every day”.
“Many people have not seen, on television or on the Internet, what is happening [en Ukraine]. We have seen it with our own eyes. We saw the rockets above our houses. We saw the planes dropping bombs”says, for his part, ice dancer Maxim Nikitin, 27, in a video posted on Instagram on March 21.
He and his partner, Alexandra Nazarova, are from Kharkiv, a besieged city in the north of the country. On the recording, the 25-year-old young woman, head bowed, her brown hair framing a serious face and her eyes unfocused, listens. Before lifting your chin and speaking: “The worst thing is waking up in the morning and not reading messages from loved ones and family saying they are alive and well. »
In tears on the ice
This anxiety, Ivan Shmuratko, 20, aligned in the men’s individual event, also knows it. His mother and brother managed to get out of Ukraine to take refuge in Munich in Germany, but his father is still in kyiv, ” at home “. For his short program, he wore black tights and a blue T-shirt, with a blue and yellow heart on the chest and the name of his country on the back. And it was in tears that he left the ice at the end of his performance.
However, when asked if it was difficult to participate in a competition under these conditions, the young man of 20, with piercing blue eyes and still childish features, sweeps with a backhand: “When your loved ones die under the bombs, it’s difficult. The rest is life… Skating is not difficult. Being there is not difficult. Being in Ukraine is difficult. »
“We know how hard it is for those who stay in Ukraine to think about sport, to find the time to watch it between two siren breaks or even worse between two bombings”had recognized the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation in a message relayed on social networks at the start of the Worlds.
But the participation of its skaters in Montpellier is just as symbolic as the absence of the Russians and Belarusians, decreed personae non gratae ” until further notice “ of all competitions under the jurisdiction of the International Skating Union. “We want to show that Ukrainian athletes are there to fight and that we are strong”argues Artem Darenskyi. “It is important for Ukraine that its athletes are present on the international scene”abounds Ivan Shmuratko.
The opportunity also to send a message, like Alexandra Nazarova and Maxim Nikitin, who started their rhythmic dance on 1944 of their compatriot Jamala. A title in reference to the Crimean offensive during the Second World War with a straightforward first verse: “When strangers arrive. They invade your house. They kill you all. And say, we are not guilty. Not guilty. »
Public support
At the opening ceremony on March 23, the Ukrainian delegation was greeted with a minute of applause and a standing audience. Several skaters, like Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, Britons Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadji or Austrian Olga Mikutina – who was born and raised in Ukraine – wore stickers and other signs in the colors of the country.
Valuable support. Especially since images taken on March 18 in Moscow came to stir up an already stubborn anger. On that date, which marks the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the Kremlin held a rally at Luzhniki Stadium, where Vladimir Putin praised his “special operation” in Ukraine.
As the national anthem sounded in the enclosure, several Olympic athletes took to the stage, including ice dancers Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov and skating couple Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov. Silver medals around the neck, under a banner proclaiming “a world without Nazism”they wore the letter “Z” on their down jackets, a sign of support for the military intervention.
After these Worlds, Artem Darenskyi and Sofia Holichenko will go to Poland, to Torun, where a club has offered to host them. Ivan Shmuratko has not yet decided. “One Step at a Time”, he justifies. Alexandra Nazarova and Maxim Nikitin, too, have not decided, even if joining Kharkiv seems complicated. “But you know, here, with the blue sky, the clean air, without the whistle of the bombardments, I am almost more tensesummarizes the young man. All my relatives, the people I love are in Ukraine. »