The silhouette of Oleksandr Komarov, in a fluorescent yellow jacket, was easy to spot in the panoply of colors of a Stade de France vibrating with emotion on September 8, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). The Ukrainian swimmer returned to the stage of the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in a wheelchair, the yellow and blue flag shimmering in front of him, to the tune of Travel, Travelfrom Desireless.
The moment was loaded with symbolism for this native of Mariupol, a martyred city in southeastern Ukraine that was destroyed and occupied by the Russian army. A survivor of the deadly siege, the 36-year-old swimmer, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, was preparing to leave Paris after bringing back three medals for Ukraine, including a gold (in freestyle), the first for the country.
It was in front of a BBC camera that Oleksandr Komarov had learned, two days earlier, that he would carry the flag. The video of the athlete, moved to tears, went viral in Ukraine. An honorary citizen of Mariupol, the Ukrainian received dozens of messages from Mariupol residents delighted with his victories.
Between his hometown, a port city of half a million inhabitants, and him, it is the story of a great affection. Double medalist at the Rio Games in 2016, he popularized sport in schools and among disabled children throughout his twenty-one-year sports career: “I have always tried to be useful to my city and make it more inclusive”explains Oleksandr Komarov, reached by telephone on September 10, upon his return from Paris.
Living “under Russian bombing”
“I consider that the people who survived the siege of Mariupol won the jackpot »he says, with bitter irony. He is well placed to talk about it. He experienced the Russian invasion in February 2022, before embarking, two months later, on a 2,000-kilometer journey to settle in Kapfenberg, in eastern Austria, where he now lives in a 20-square-meter social housing unit with his wife, Kateryna.
It was she who woke him up on February 24, 2022, to tell him that the Russian army was at the city gates. The day before, a municipal councilor since 2020, he had come home late after spending six hours discussing the installation of cycle paths – the project had been accepted. What happened next? Taking refuge with his parents, they lived “under Russian bombardment, twenty-four hours a day”deprived of water, electricity and internet connection. Until March 16, when part of their house collapsed following a shelling.
You have 49.16% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
Source: Lemonde
