Ukrainian and Russian Athletes Hug to Have fun Olympic Medals

Oleksandr Abramenko of Ukraine took second in males’s aerial snowboarding on Wednesday, incomes the nation’s first medal of the Beijing Video games.

Abramenko, the defending gold medalist, celebrated by embracing the Russian skier Ilia Burov, who earned bronze, in a gesture that transcended the rising tensions between the international locations.

On the rostrum, Qi Guangpu of China, who gained the occasion, and Abramenko held up the Chinese language and Ukrainian flags, whereas Burov pointed to the Russian Olympic Committee brand on his arm. The Russian flag is barred on the Olympics as a consequence of the nation’s doping scandal.

Earlier within the Video games, Abramenko’s Ukrainian teammate Vladyslav Heraskevych held up a sign reading “no war in Ukraine” after ending a run within the males’s skeleton competitors.

“It’s my place,” Heraskevych, 23, told The Associated Press after his competitors. “Like every regular folks, I don’t need conflict.” He added: “I would like peace in my nation, and I would like peace on this planet. It’s my place, so I struggle for that. I struggle for peace.”

Tensions have been mounting between Russia and Ukraine. For weeks, greater than 150,000 Russian troops and a gradual stream of autos and gear have been stationed close to the border with Ukraine. U.S. and NATO officers have stated that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia seems to be getting ready for a large-scale invasion.

Russia stated on Tuesday it was pulling some troops again from positions close to the border with Ukraine, however Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO officers stated they’d seen no evidence of a withdrawal.

No different Ukrainian athletes have protested in competitors, and whereas most protest gestures are banned by the Worldwide Olympic Committee, motion was not taken in opposition to Heraskevych. The Ukrainian Olympic Committee subsequently wrote a “unanimous name for peace” on social media: “Being 1000’s of kilometers away from the Motherland, mentally we’re with our households and buddies.”