The Italian Swimming Federation (FIN) welcomed the Ukrainian national synchronized swimming team this morning, after helping it flee last Sunday from the war unleashed by Russia, the organization explained in a statement.
The team, made up of ten swimmers and two technicians, left the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Sunday to reach Budapest, from where they left on Monday night to arrive on Tuesday at the sports facilities in Ostia, a municipality near the Italian capital. , explained the END.
Among the athletes are the world and European champion Veronika Hryshkothe European medalist Olesia Derevyanchenko and the junior European champions Darya Moshynska and Anastasia Soldatenkovas well as the coaches Oleysia Zaitseva and Kseniia Tytarenkoamong other.
The operations to remove this team, which won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, have been organized by the Italian federation after the Ukrainian swimming federation asked for its help.
The president of the FIN, Paolo Barelliannounced that they are “receiving other requests for help” that they have already begun to analyze to see how to act.
“We hope that other Ukrainian athletes can be welcomed in our facilities and I hope that this initiative can be an example for other sports,” he said.
Two million people have already fled Ukraine since last February 24 the Russian president Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of the country, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR).