On May 8, the majestic sailboat Belem will dock in Marseille, with precious luggage on board: the Olympic flame. Twenty-seven athletes, like the number of member countries of the European Union (EU), will then take turns to wear it. They will be accompanied by a twenty-eighth athlete, who will be their captain, at only 21 years old. A Ukrainian gymnast, Mariia Vysochanska, daughter of a soldier currently on the front lines of the war against Russia.
The young woman, with a discreet smile and long hair, tells her story and her designation of her neighborhood of Pechersk, in kyiv, where “the smell of lilac flowers makes your head spin.” The rhythmic gymnastics champion continues training in the capital, interrupted by air alerts. “That’s it, I have my tickets in my pocket!” » she rejoices. Its journey to the Phocaean city will be almost as long and tortuous as that of the flame.
By night train, Mariia will cross Ukraine, where no airliner has taken off for two years, abandoning the sky to Russian missiles. After crossing the Polish border, a first plane, then a second, in Germany, will take him to his destination. “You shouldn’t miss any changes! » Three stopovers and a twenty-four hour drive to carry, on behalf of his country candidate for membership of the European Union, the Olympic flame, for a few meters, a few moments and at the same time for posterity.
A symbol for Ukraine
This May 8, her presence, Mariia Vysochanska knows, will be highly symbolic in supporting Ukraine’s European aspirations and its participation in the Olympic Games. “It’s a great pride that surpasses all my dreams,” smiles the one who was chosen by the French Ministry of Sports and by the French Institute of Ukraine. Despite her young age, Mariia Vysochanska has already accomplished the great dream of every athlete: participating in the Olympics. It was in Tokyo, in 2021. “I went there despite the painful Covid break. »
During her preparation, the champion had broken her foot twice, the second time three months before the start of the Games. Despite her doctors’ pessimistic prognosis, she was able to travel to Tokyo and compete with a pin in her foot. “I wanted to fight, like my country fights,” today the one that those close to her call “Maritchka” slips by.
As his father also fights. Originally from Lviv, in the west of the country, Oleg Vysochansky left for the Donbass front in 2014, when the separatists, guided and armed by Russia, attempted to secede. A company commander, he took part in the bloody battle for control of Donetsk airport. The siege of this site, which has become an emblem of the Donbass war, lasted two hundred and eighty-two days.
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