\n<\/p>\n
Young athletes in northern Ukraine spend their days cross-country skiing through a scorched forest, focused on their form \u2013 until a siren inevitably shatters the silence.<\/p>\n
They respond swiftly but without panic, ditching their skis and following coaches to an underground bomb shelter.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n It\u2019s an ordinary training session at the complex that produced Ukraine\u2019s first Olympic medallist.<\/p>\n Sleeping children no longer dream of Olympic glory in the facility\u2019s bombed-out dormitories, and unexploded ordnance has rendered nearby land off limits. But about 350 kids and teens \u2013 some of the nation\u2019s best young cross-country skiers and biathletes \u2013 still practise in fenced-off areas amid the sporadic buzz of drones passing overhead, then explosions as they\u2019re shot down.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have adapted so well \u2014 even the children \u2014 that sometimes we don\u2019t even react,\u201d Mykola Vorchak, a 67-year-old coach, said. \u201cAlthough it goes against safety rules, the children have been hardened by the war. Adapting to this has changed them psychologically.\u201d<\/p>\n War has taken a heavy toll on Ukrainian sport. Athletes were displaced or called up to fight. Football matches are often interrupted by air raid sirens, so attendance is capped by bomb shelter capacity. Elite skaters, skiers and biathletes usually train abroad, with attacks and frequent blackouts shuttering local facilities.<\/p>\n But the government-run Sports Ski Base of the Olympic Reserve is open for cross-country skiing and biathlon, the event which combines skiing with shooting. The sprawling complex is on the outskirts of Chernihiv, a city two hours north of Kyiv along the path of destruction that Russia\u2019s army left in its 2022 attempt to capture the capital. Chernihiv remains a regular target for air attacks aimed at the power grid and civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n Several temporary structures at the sports centre serve as changing rooms, toilets and coaches\u2019 offices. Athletes train on snowy trails during the winter and, throughout the rest of the year, use roller skis on an asphalt track pocked by blast marks.<\/p>\n Biathletes aim laser rifles at electronic targets and, between shooting drills, sling skis over their shoulders and jog back to the start of the course, cheeks flushed from the cold.<\/p>\n Valentyna Tserbe-Nesina spent her adolescence at the Chernihiv centre performing these same drills, and won bronze at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer. It was Ukraine\u2019s first Olympic medal as an independent country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe conditions weren\u2019t great, but we had nothing better. And for us, it was like a family \u2014 our own little home,\u201d she said inside her apartment, its shelves and walls lined with medals, trophies and souvenirs from competitions around the world.<\/p>\n Tserbe-Nesina, 56, was shocked when she visited the complex in 2022. Shelling had torn through buildings, fire had consumed others. Shattered glass littered the floors of rooms where she and friends once excitedly checked taped-up results sheets.<\/p>\n \u201cI went inside, up to my old room on the second floor. It was gone \u2014 no windows, nothing,\u201d she said. \u201cI recorded a video and found the trophies we had left at the base. They were completely burned.\u201d<\/p>\n Tserbe-Nesina has been volunteering to organise funerals for fallen Ukrainian soldiers in her hometown while her husband, a retired military officer, returned to the front. They see each other about once a year, whenever his unit allows him brief leave.<\/p>\n One adult who in 2022 completed a tour in a territorial defence unit of Ukraine\u2019s army sometimes trains today alongside the centre\u2019s youngsters. Khrystyna Dmytrenko, 26, will represent her country at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that start on February 6.<\/p>\n \u201cSports can show that Ukraine is strong,\u201d Dmytrenko said in an interview next to the shooting range. \u201cWe represent Ukraine on the international stage, letting other countries, athletes and nations see our unity, strength and determination.\u201d<\/p>\n The International Olympic Committee imposed bans and restrictions on Russian athletes after the invasion of Ukraine, effectively extending earlier sanctions tied to state\u2011sponsored doping. But a small group of them will participate in the upcoming Winter Games.<\/p>\n After vetting to ensure no military affiliation, they must compete without displaying any national symbols \u2014 and only in non-team events. That means Russian and Ukrainian athletes could face one another in some skating and skiing events. Moscow\u2019s appeal at the federation level to allow its biathletes to compete is pending.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why many Ukrainians view training for these events as an act of defiance. Former Olympic biathlete Nina Lemesh, 52, noted that some young Ukrainians who first picked up rifles and skis at the Chernihiv ski base during wartime have become international champions in their age groups.<\/p>\n \u201cFortunately, Ukrainians remain here. They always will,\u201d she said, standing beside the destroyed dormitories. \u201cThis is the next generation of Olympians.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Young athletes in northern Ukraine spend their days cross-country skiing through a scorched forest, focused on their form \u2013 until a siren inevitably shatters the silence. They respond swiftly but without panic, ditching their skis and following coaches to an underground bomb shelter. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list It\u2019s an ordinary training […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Ukraine\u2019s first Olympic medal<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"