Awards ceremonies are usually something for the record, shaking hands, pinning medals, receiving flowers, national anthem, a little waving. But this ceremony on Tuesday evening in Budapest’s Duna Aréna is unlikely to be forgotten in a hurry. It was the goose bumps moment of the World Swimming Championships in Budapest so far, on a day when emotions took over.
The medal ceremony is always opened there by a small orchestra playing high above the pool on the Danube side. The violinist then gracefully plucks her melody with which the athletes are welcomed. Then they came in, Mykhailo Romanchuk, Florian Wellbrock and Robert “Bobby” Finke, in that order the bronze, silver and gold medalists in the 800-meter freestyle. And when Romanchuk, the Ukrainian from Rivne, stood on the podium, precious metal around his neck, medal in hand, he closed his eyes and began to cry.
His trainer Petro Nahornyj followed everything from the stands, which was not at all a matter of course. Nahornyj is currently fighting as a soldier in the war, on the Odessa front. However, the Ukrainian government had given him permission to leave the country, and Nahornyj was allowed to take off his camouflage suit and slip into a training suit by the end of the World Cup. Then he has to go back to the front.
His father stayed in Ukraine – he gets in touch once a day
It all came together that evening in Budapest, the tears, the suffering, the never-ending war, the World Cup medal in the pool. Romanchuk, who had even led the race for a long time, later made a dedication: “The medal is for all Ukrainians, for my family, the army, for my father. Yes, he defends my country, my home. Writes once a day me if all is well.” His father is fighting at the front in Donbass.
Mykhailo Romanchuk jumps into the pool – in the end it will be a bronze medal.
(Photo: Petr David Josek/dpa)
The story has a second level, and it’s about friendship, even if it sounds cheesy. Because of course Romanchuk can no longer train in Ukraine, his training pool at home: bombed. But then at the end of February, when the horror began, his biggest rival reported via Instagram. And Romantschuk followed Florian Wellbrock’s suggestion to come to him in Magdeburg and train in his pool, in the group of national coach Bernd Berkhahn. A German world champion and Olympic champion, together with a Ukrainian Olympic and World Cup runner-up.
Since then, they have been swimming side by side hour after hour, day after day, giving each other tips and learning from each other, which is actually unbelievable in top-class sport with its irrepressible competitive spirit. Especially in swimming, where everyone looks at the others, what you can do at the start, at the turn, at the breathing. But the striking thing is, as Berkhahn says: “The longer it takes, the more they experience together, the better the relationship gets. It’s already very close and family and has grown on an emotional basis. That’s unique.” When Wellbrock saw Romantschuk crying next to him on the podium, according to the national coach, he “would have liked to run over to hug him”.
Wellbrock and the others got Romantschuk an apartment in Magdeburg, help him with organizational things, he is now in a way part of the DSV delegation in Budapest: Berkhahn often talks to him, prepares him tactically for the races – also to the 800 meters on Tuesday evening. Romantschuk knows what is being done for him, also on an emotional level. In every interview he says thank you for the help and support he gets from the Magdeburg training group. “And the Ukrainian flags are hanging all over the city, in the streets,” says Romanchuk. “It’s very nice.”
Romanchuk’s family is expected to arrive in Budapest in the next few days; he hasn’t seen them in four months. And everyone is already watching the 1,500-meter final on Saturday, the last day of competition for pool swimmers at this World Championships. Wellbrock and Romantschuk will then swim side by side again – and make their own political statement against the war in the pool.
