There are moments that are far beyond sports.
One such happened today (Saturday) at the World Athletics Championships in a hall held in Belgrade, Serbia, after high jumper Jaroslava from Hochich who was forced to flee her home in Dnipro after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, won gold and dedicated the medal to her bombed-out country.
The 20-year-old young athlete, the reigning European champion and bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, spent days in a basement shelter before driving three days in a car to reach Serbia, a journey of nearly 2,000 kilometers.
Mahochich won gold after leaping to a height of 2.02 meters, when Australian Eleanor Patterson took silver and Nedzhda Dubovitskaya from Kazakhstan won a bronze, but in the end, the crowd stood up and cheered for Mahochich, who surrounded the hall with the Ukrainian flag and all other competitors came to embrace.
Mahochich's jump, Photo: AFP
"It was very important for me, for my family, for my country," Mahochich said at the end.
"I did not think about the competition, for me it was difficult to get here - three days by car - and to jump here was so psychologically difficult because my heart remained in my country."
"It's so hard but I think I did very well for my country because I defend my country on the track. I think it's a very important thing for my country."
Maria Lasitzken, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, which represents the Russian Olympic Committee team, was eliminated from the competition after world athletics kept athletes and officials coming from Russia and Belarus.
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