Anna Lysenko is training amid the bombings in Ukraine. He aims for the Paris Olympics.
Anna Lysenko competed at the Tokyo Olympics. PDO
Ukrainian boxer Anna Lysenko31, is currently preparing for the Paris Olympics in a year.
He trains in Kiev, even though Russia is constantly bombing the country.
– Constant bombing or other stress related to the country’s situation seems to be present all the time. It doesn’t allow me to feel calm, train and prepare thoughtfully, Lysenko commented for AP.
– It’s suffocating.
Lysenko has been practicing boxing for almost 10 years and progressed to the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics, among others. Lysenko currently trains six days a week.
He trained even in the winter, even though Russia bombed Kiev and the rest of Ukraine almost every week with the intention of destroying the energy infrastructure.
Lysenko sometimes trained without electricity.
– It was very challenging. We had to start training a little earlier to get some light.
Boycott
Even so, you won’t necessarily see him in Paris.
Ukrainian athletes have recently missed prestigious competitions in judo, fencing and taekwondo because Russian and Belarusian athletes have been able to compete in these sports.
Ukraine has boycotted the prestigious competitions in which Russian and Belarusian athletes perform.
The head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, strongly criticized the Ukrainian government last week for preventing the country’s athletes from participating in the Olympic qualifiers.
The IOC and Bach said in March that sports federations can enter individual Russian athletes in international competitions with neutral country codes.
– This is a very bad thing, Lysenko stated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has stated that the neutral country symbol of Russian athletes means nothing. According to him, the neutral flag is stained with blood.
Lysenko feels very uncomfortable that Russian citizens may have the opportunity to participate in the Olympics. According to him, despite the neural flag, the athletes represent Russia and are citizens of the country.
According to Lysenko, Ukrainian athletes compete unequally against the citizens of a country that started a war in his homeland.
– They can train in peace, nobody bombards them, they don’t lose their loved ones, their friends. They don’t lose them because of war.
Anna Lysenko aims for the Paris Olympics. PDO