At first glance, it’s just normal track cycling training. Around a dozen teenagers do lap after lap in the Velodrome Grenchen on this Tuesday afternoon. Including the two 17-year-olds Kateryna Badiak and Leonid Fomenko. Two weeks ago Ukraine was still her home. Now they live in Magglingen and train in Grenchen while their families face the war.
Kateryna and Leonid are two of the 27 athletes who have found shelter in Switzerland thanks to the commitment of Swiss Cycling. The first group, which included Kateryna and Leonid, were competing in Lviv, western Ukraine, when war broke out. They fled to Poland, where they were picked up by Swiss Cycling and taken to Switzerland.
A few days later, 14 mountain bikers followed. It took some of the minors five days to cross Ukraine from Donetsk to safety in Poland. Unaccompanied by adults!
The family is still in Kyiv
More than 2000 kilometers away from their home and their families, Kateryna and Leonid, who both belong to the national track cycling squad of Ukraine, provide information before their training session in Grenchen. They speak softly, seem shy, understandably not quite settled in a world that is new to them.
Kateryna tells that her family still lives in Kyiv with her older brother. That she only had a few clothes with her when she escaped. That she feels very welcome here in Switzerland. That she is very grateful to everyone.
The man behind this campaign is called Thomas Peter and is the managing director of Swiss Cycling. In the last few days he organized a racing bike for everyone and made sure that they could start English lessons immediately. A psychologist organizes that the teenagers can turn to.
A matter of course for Peter. “We regularly talk about values in sport. For me, these often fall short. Sport is more than just gold, silver and bronze.” It is only understandable that Peter has repeatedly reached his limits in the last few days. “Of course I have a crisis from time to time, because I feel responsible for 27 young people.”
How Kateryna and Leonid are really doing can only be guessed at. Kateryna says: «On the bike I can forget my worries for a moment. Yes, cycling is good therapy for me.”
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