War minus the shooting: What Mahuchikh's gold & other Oly medals mean to Ukraine

FOR a few, the Olympics is beyond sport.

- INDRANEEL DAS

It's an embodiment of resilience and hope.

Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh's is one such story - a woman fighting a different battle to give a moment of peace to those in the frontlines. In her own words, Mahuchikh's gold in the women's high jump was "for the people of Ukraine".

Mahuchikh doesn't have a home. She lives a life of a vagabond shifting between countries — Portugal, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Estonia, USA to train and compete. She was forced to flee her home in Dnipro, Ukraine, in 2022 when Russia invaded the country. Shelling could be heard when she left for her coach's house in the countryside. She could still hear those scary noises even now. She could see those faces of friends who are still fighting and those who are dead and gone.

Mahuchikh lowered her head and was trying to take a gulp, perhaps looking for words that could describe her feeling at the mixed zone on Sunday night. She was asked about friends and families fighting against Russian troops. The eyes were blinking and looked moist. Yet, she couldn't find words that would capture her emotions raging inside. Her life is riddled with bullets and bombs from the war in Ukraine.