Ukraine Pool Where Mykhailo Romanchuk Trained for Olympic Medals Hit by Russian Missiles

Another Ukrainian aquatic center has been struck by Russian attacks overnight, a video posted on Instagram this week shows.

The Ukrainian national swimming pool in Dnipro was struck by Russian missiles on Tuesday. The pool was the one where two-time Olympic medalist Mykhailo Romanchuk trained for the Tokyo 2020 Games, where he won a silver medal in the 1500 free and a bronze medal in the 800 free.

Regional governor Serhiy Lysak says that a commercial complex was also destroyed, and that seven Kh-101/555 missiles were intercepted over the area during the attack.

The 27-year-old Romanchuk took to Instagram to share a video of the site, expressing outrage over the attack.

“Sport is not politics?” Romanchuk said, sharing photos of himself at the facility before the Tokyo Olympics, and now after it was hit by Russian attacks.

He tagged the International Olympic Committee, World Aquatics, and LEN, the European governing body, in the post.

Romanchuk’s post comes shortly after World Aquatics delayed a decision on Russian and Belarusian participation in international aquatics events at its latest meeting,

The IOC has taken a stance that sports and politics should be kept separate, and has actively sought a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to international sporting ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a number of aquatics facilities and personnel have been dramatically impacted. In March 2022, the Olympic pool in Kharkiv, which was scheduled to host the Cup of Ukraine meet last May, was damaged in an attack. The Neptune Pool in Mariupol in the center of the fighting, which was a planned training base for Ukraine’s powerful Paralympic team, was also destroyed in March 2022.

Aiyna Morozova, the Ukrainian National Swimming Team coach, spent two hours trapped under rubble after a building she was in was stroke by a missile. Former Ukrainian National Water Polo team captain Eugine Obedinskiy was killed in a bomb attack that month as well.

The direct impacts of the war on Ukrainian athletes and sporting infrastructure create an increasingly-difficult opposition for those who claim that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be insulated from the impact of the consequences of their countries’ war on Ukraine.

Romanchuk, like many Ukrainian athletes, is now training outside of the country. He finaled in both of his pool races at the World Championships, placing 6th in the 800 free and 7th in the 1500 free.

At least one of Ukraine’s top swimmers, Oleksandr Zheltyakov, is still training in Ukraine. He had a breakout meet at the European Junior Championships, winning gold in the 200 back and breaking the Meet Record previously held by Russian Kliment Kolesnikov.

Estimates of the death toll in Ukraine vary widely, but the United Nations and Ukrainian government have been able to confirm at least 9,369 civilian deaths, with tens-of-thousands more wounded.

International estimates of soldiers killed in the fighting are more than 10,000 Ukrainians and at least 50,000 Russians.