His smile breaks the video screen. Oksana Kozyna, Ukrainian para-badminton world champion in 2022, lit up the Creps d’Île-de-France for ten days, as her determination and enthusiasm swept over those around her. “Ukrainians are super nice. There is a real human encounter with all the services here. We are at their service to help them prepare for the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” explains Michel Godard, director of the Île-de-France resource center for expertise and sports performance (Creps).
At 29, the Ukrainian sportswoman, who plays with a carbon prosthesis in the SL3 category, where players are limited in their ability to move, is ambitious. She measures the “luck and pleasure” of training in a country “without bombs or warning sirens”. “When the war started, I was stressed by these horrible noises. » Originally from Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine, Oksana Kozyna left her country in the spring of 2022, shortly after the start of the war, and was welcomed in northern France, where she resides and s now leads.
“I grit my teeth”
From February 5 to 15, she was, with two other Ukrainian players, their coach and their physiotherapist, welcomed to Châtenay-Malabry to prepare for the world championships which take place from February 20 to 25 in Thailand. The world number 3 hopes to secure one of the first three places, synonymous with qualification for the Paralympic Games in Paris. “I will do everything possible to get on the podium. I fight for Ukraine in front of my badminton net, sending the shuttlecock to score points. »
For her, as for the hundreds of high-level Ukrainian athletes exiled to continue training in decent conditions, being away from loved ones is difficult. But the Ukrainian athlete also draws mental strength from exile. “Probably the hardest thing to deal with is being away from home. Morally and even physically, it’s complicated, she explains through her translator. At home, in Dnipro, the bombings continue. I watch the news every day and it makes me sad. But I grit my teeth because I know that any competition I can win is a gift to my fighting people, a small dose of satisfaction to boost their morale. »
Deeply Ukrainian
“At Creps, we pay particular attention to their sensitivity and we ask the question beforehand whether they agree to talk about the situation in their country. The Ukrainians come here above all to prepare for the Games, we must not lose sight of that,” specifies Michel Godard.
Oksana Kozyna began her sporting career at the age of 17 with bodybuilding, before trying sitting volleyball in 2015 and switching to para-badminton. Sport that she has now chosen and in which she won a world gold medal in October 2022 in Tokyo. Very religious, the badminton player still believes in a return to Ukraine, “when the war is over”.
Concerning the possibility of facing Russian or Belarusian players in Paris this summer, Oksana Kozyna prefers not to think about it: “I will respect the rules of the tournament. But I agree with the 261 Ukrainian athletes who wrote a letter to President Macron, the mayor of Paris and the organizers of the Games asking them not to follow the IOC’s decision. » Indeed, on December 8, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) finally authorized Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Paris Games. Under a neutral banner, that is to say without a flag or national anthem. And with the certainty that they did not support the invasion of Ukraine.
“This is my way of fighting for my country”
According to the latest figures from Ukraine’s Ministry of Sports and Youth, more than 400 Ukrainian athletes have died since the Russian invasion began, and more than 3,000 have joined the armed forces to fight Russia. On the IOC side, there are eleven qualified athletes – eight Russians and three Belarusians – who meet the neutrality criteria. And around sixty Ukrainian athletes won their ticket. Some of whom, like Oksana Kozyna, benefited from help from France.
Oksana Kozyna spent ten days at the Île-de-France creps to prepare for the para-badminton world championships in Thailand. – Île-de-France creps
“We had already welcomed Ukrainian Paralympic swimmers at the start of the war in 2022 for three months. They are very pleasant people, even if the context is very complicated for them, the relationship with their families, with their loved ones who have gone to combat,” recalls Michel Godard. The Creps d’Île-de-France, which has had a makeover thanks to more than 40 million euros financed by the Region, must welcome, as part of a state system, several teams from the Ukrainian delegation to the Games. “We received a grant of 200,000 euros to pamper them.”
Our file on the war in Ukraine
“I know how lucky I am to be here,” insists Oksana Kozyna. This is my way of fighting for my country. Even if it’s harder for me, it makes me stronger and more resilient, psychologically and physically. I will fight until the end. I thank everyone who welcomed and helped me. » A true champion’s speech, which proclaims loud and clear that it is “the state of mind of a nation, the strength of character of the Cossacks”, she concludes, the smile still firmly attached, like her determination.
2024-02-24 12:22:00
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