As the Olympics are now becoming a more distant memory,
just one more Olympian who deserves our praise and respect.
From Aleteia:
Ukraine’s rhythmic gymnast Taisiia Onofriichuk came to Paris, despite having recently witnessed some of the most lethal airstrikes from Russian forces. Her trainer Iryna Blokhina shared with Reuters: “We didn’t know if we would even get here, because during the last attack before we left, we thought we wouldn’t survive.”
She went on to explain that training for the event had also proved incredibly difficult, with the noise of the airstrikes leaving gymnasts unable to hear the music that was going to be accompanying them during their routines. They eventually had to find a location where fewer attacks were taking place.
However, this did not stop Onofriichuk from getting to the finals in the Women’s Rhythmic Individual All-Around, and placing an impressive ninth!
Kudos to Taisiia Onofriichuk, not only for coming in ninth, but more importantly for just competing under the most dire of circumstances.
8/18/24