Rashi Mehta
The 33rd Summer Olympics will take place from July 26 to August 11 in Paris and 16 other French cities. This will be the third time Paris hosts the Games, following 1900 and 1924, making it the second city after London to do so three times. As preparations are already underway, Ukrainian olympians take inspiration from frontline troops.
Events will be held at 35 venues, featuring iconic Paris landmarks. Fans can enjoy beach volleyball beneath the Eiffel Tower and equestrian events at the Palace of Versailles. The opening ceremony will showcase athletes parading across the Seine. Additionally, some events will be held outside Paris in various locations across France.
Ukraine Olympics high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh takes inspiration
Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh broke a 37-year-old high jump world record earlier this week. Mahichikh was seen sporting a Yellow and Blue colored eyeliner, the same as her country’s flag.
As a world and European champion, she now aims for gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, expressing her honor to represent her country’s soldiers fighting Russian forces.
“It’s only because they protect us I have the opportunity to jump,” Mahuchikh, 22, said in one of several interviews she gave to NBC News between last September and April. She added that she took inspiration from letters she’d received from some of the troops.
“How can we talk about peace if…” Yaroslava Mahuchikh bashes Russia
Over two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, supported by Belarus, athletes from both countries can compete in Paris only as neutrals, without flags or anthems. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) requires additional checks to ensure these athletes have no military connections.
Like many Ukrainian athletes, Mahuchikh was upset that some Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to attend the Games.
“If you talk about the Olympic Games, it’s about peace. How can we talk about peace if Russia invades my country in the center of Europe? It’s crazy,” she said.
“When I see Russian athletes, I imagine every city, every building destroyed, every life that Russia takes,” she added.
The International Olympic Committee had permitted the Russian athletes to compete under neutral status, without representing their national flag or anthem.
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