At the near end of the pool hangs a banner depicting a soldier, standing in a field of golden corn underneath a rich blue sky. A column of tanks stretches behind him and overhead flies a national flag that the scene's essential elements are designed to replicate. The accompanying slogan reads: "I believe in the armed forces, glory to Ukraine!" Beneath it, as the image catches the early morning light, Mykhailo Serbin climbs in and sets off down the middle lane.
Serbin cuts through the water with speed and grace, which is to be expected from one of the best para swimmers in the world. At the end of each length he is guided by sticks held out by members of staff, so that he knows when it is time to turn. His local pool in Kharkiv was ruined by Russian bombs; it has been an adjustment to live and train here in Kamianske, a dormitory city of Dnipro, along with a tranche of athletes living in forced exile from their homes.
"We had no hopes, no expectations," Serbin says of those months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "Would we get a salary? Would our fees be paid? It was all unknown. We lived one day at a time and just started training.
You couldn't know what would happen tomorrow."
Through all the uncertainty and upheaval he will compete in Paris over the next fortnight. He hopes to retain his Paralympic title in the 100m backstroke S11 category, which is for swimmers who are almost completely blind, and has a 200m individual medley silver to build on too. At 20 he has a formidable bank of achievements behind him, a world championship gold in Madeira last year among the most recent.
"The first goal is to prove to yourself that you haven't worked in vain for the last few years," he says of the task ahead. "The next is to make sure people don't forget about Ukrainians, who are such strong people."
Esta historia es de la edición August 27, 2024 de The Guardian.
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