It was a bittersweet day for Ukraine at the Winter Paralympics with nine medals and a clean sweep of two biathlon events Tuesday — just as one athlete learned her father had been taken prisoner by Russian troops, IgbereTV reports.
Despite grappling with heartbreak following Russia’s invasion of their homeland, the yellow and blue team dug deep to net two golds, four silver and three bronze medals on day four in Beijing.
In a show of girl power on international women’s day, Iryna Bui achieved her lifetime dream of Paralympic gold, sharing the podium with team-mates Oleksandra Kononova and Liudmyla Liashenko in the standing middle distance biathlon race.
“We are here to fight for Ukraine, with Ukraine and in the name of Ukraine,” the 26-year-old Bui told reporters.
Kononova said that even though she is physically in China competing, mentally she is still back home.
“All my thoughts, my heart and my soul is with my family and with my child,” the 31-year-old said.
“Emotionally it’s very difficult to focus and to concentrate on the race and the competition, so this is the most difficult Paralympic Games for me.”
Liashenko’s home in Kharkiv, which is under heavy bombing, was destroyed Monday which caused her to pull out of her cross-country race, team spokeswoman Nataliia Harach said.
The United Nations estimates 1.7 million Ukrainians have fled the country as part of the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II.
