I’ve been translating lots of interviews of Ukrainian athletes. Yes, they are not trained in Ukraine. 1) you think they can be calm like nothing had happened? 2) let’s ignore the long-term consequences like rebuilding facilities which will take time - until the war ends and then until the funds come and restoration completes. So what, train in Europe for how long? 5 years? 10 years? All of those are short term contracts. Very stable environment. This btw also affects Ukrainian athletes as some of them think with despair of new generation of athletes that couldn’t receive the training. That’s directly the words of biathlon athlete. How would you do the training for teens, get a team? It’s not like the regular “go to this street 5 times a week” it’s “get on the bus, drive 24 hours, live there for half a year”. Add to this how many Ukrainian athletes have died in the war and what trauma it gets to the people performing at Olympics. And facing the citizens of a country whose fault it is, who don’t even feel the consequences on them - they can train as usual. And all of these thoughts get into your head while training for something big…

This isn’t about everyone else. It’s about russia, about facing consequences and about trauma. I think - and this is a completely Ukrainian pov - that this “sports transcends politics” situation is heiwa boke or being ignorant. You simply putting more trauma to traumatised people.

Ok imagine there’s a school shooting, and you have to go to other school because yours is damaged, and face the person who killed your classmates and everyone tells you that school must transcend your pain, anger and missing the pre-tragedy times. Besides, the shooter might do or say something provocative again - and you’re supposed to do nothing.