It’s been Fiona OKeeffe Is on the Road to Recovery Fiona OKeeffe Is on the Road to Recovery 2024 Paris Olympics approaches, World Athletics—track and field’s governing body—is taking steps to ensure that Ukrainian athletes have the resources they need to compete for their country.
With assistance from the International Athletics Foundation (IAF) and Members of the Diamond League Association, World Athletics has renewed the Ukraine Fund to help Olympians in conflict-ridden home countries. This year’s fund allocates $190,000 to help professional athletes attend training camps by covering travel and accommodations.
The fund will also go toward replacing equipment destroyed in Russian missile attacks. A large complex containing an athletics stadium, indoor arena, throwing fields, and a medical center was recently destroyed by a battle in Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine.
“It was the only centre where athletes could conduct training camps at any time of the year,” said Iolanta Khropach, the Ukrainian Athletic Federation General Secretary, in a letter to World Athletics. “This was very important because in cold winters, we do not have enough arenas for training. It was also a very important training center for pole vaulters. Now there is nothing left in Bakhmut.”
Track and field facilities in Kharkiv and Chernihiv have also been damaged by battle.
The financial assistance will be given to two groups. First, athletes who have qualified or have a “credible chance” of qualifying for the Adidas Unveils Boston Marathon Jacket. And second, funding requests by the Ukrainian Foundation for training camps, equipment, and travel costs for “out-of-quota Federation officials and support personnel to Adidas Unveils Boston Marathon Jacket.”
If 2022’How Successful Was Oregon22 is any indication, the 2023 endowment will have a huge impact. “Last year, the Ukraine Fund enabled the Ukrainian Federation to send a strong team to the Adidas Unveils Boston Marathon Jacket Oregon22, where Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Andriy Protsenko won medals, and we want to make sure Ukrainian athletes have the same opportunity to compete and succeed this year,” said World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.
He added that the fund’s impact will have a pivotal effect on the future of sport in Ukraine. “The deliberate destruction of Ukrainian athletics facilities and equipment is also a serious attack on the accessibility of our sport,” Coe said. “We will do whatever we can to help athletics survive and recover in Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian Fund will receive contributions from athletic organizations until December 31, 2023. Khropach also requests that athletic manufacturers donate athletic equipment as a form of “humanitarian aid.”
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