Olympic Training During a War: Rafał Milach In Ukraine

In February and April of 2024, Rafał Milach traveled to the Olympic Training Center in Kyiv with journalist Anna Conkling. There, he documented Ukrainian athletes as they prepared for one of the biggest competitions of their lives in three sporting disciplines: canoeing, gymnastics and wrestling.

The series is another step for the personal project that Milach began in February 2022. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Poland-based photographer has been documenting how civilian infrastructure adapts to wartime conditions, primarily in Kyiv and western Ukraine. “The connection was relevant in terms of how the Olympic preparation complex adapted facilities to wartime conditions, depicting people who were forced to adapt to the context of war,” the photographer says, reflecting on the concept of resilience, which he finds to be a large part of the mindset of the Ukrainian people.

As a result of massive bombardments in recent months, Ukraine has lost about 80 to 90% of its thermal power generation capacity and about 45% of its hydroelectric capacity, according to a 2024 report by the Center for Eastern Studies. Relatively secure compared to the rest of Ukraine, the Kyiv region is still home to power plants that are highly significant in terms of Ukraine’s energy production. A few weeks before Milach’s journey in April of this year, Russian missiles destroyed the Trypilska Power Plant, the main energy supplier for the Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Zhytomyr regions, which is located next to the lake where the canoeists were training.

Although all athletes have the same highly political stake in competing in this year’s Olympics and putting their country in the spotlight, Milach saw a difference when he engaged with Greco-Roman wrestler Zhan Vensanovych Beleniuk. Not only is the Ukrainian a 2020 Olympic gold medalist in the 87 kg weight class, he also became the first Black Ukrainian lawmaker to serve in the Ukrainian parliament in 2019. 

“He wouldn’t be competing in the Olympics if he didn’t have a chance to give the Ukrainian cause a platform at the Olympics,” Milach says of his understanding of the athlete’s mindset. 

Politicians or not, athletes have to face the same challenges associated with bombing threats. “The best way to show the aggressor that our spirit is strong is to continue what you do in peaceful times,” the Magnum photographer adds, referring to sports and the perseverance in training of the athletes he followed. For these athletes, “It was never just about the sport, it was also about giving Ukraine visibility and empowering Ukrainians in their struggle.”

Milach also spent time with Oleg Yuriyovych Verniaev, the 2016 Olympic parallel bars champion, as he prepared for competition at the Koncha Zaspa Olympic training facility. When the athletes hear an air raid siren, they must take refuge in the gym’s bomb shelter, which was set up to protect athletes in case of a Russian attack. 

“You’re always focused on your training routine, and it’s kind of habitual or automatic, but there’s always something much heavier in the background,” the photographer says. 

Discussing what kind of missiles are crossing the sky has become as much a part of everyday life for Ukrainians as discussing which concert to go to. “You would not discuss the perfect flip, but you would share videos or pictures of the missiles flying over the houses and facilities where you train,” Milach adds, referring to the fact that the athletes use their cell phones to track missile trajectories.

The 30th Edition of the Summer Olympics opened on July 26, 2024, with a team of 140 athletes representing Ukraine. At the time of writing, they have picked up seven medals: two Gold, two Silver, and three Bronze. 

Milach’s images were published by Men’s Health in the article “Ukraine Goes for Gold.” Read the piece here.