Paris Mayor Bestows City’s Highest Award to Ukrainian Olympic Athletes

This week the Paris mayor awarded the city’s highest distinction to two Ukrainian athletes competing in this year’s Olympics and paid tribute to 489 other athletes killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On Thursday, Aug. 2, the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, presented a rower, Anastasiia Kozhenkova, and a diver, Oleksii Sereda, the Grand Vermeil medal of France’s capital. The reception took place at the City Hall in the presence of around 30 Ukrainian athletes.

Kozhenkova won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the quadruple sculls event, while Sereda was fifth on Monday in the 10m synchronized final.

Hidalgo said she bestowed the awards “as a sign of recognition and friendship” and to show the Ukrainians that they are “not alone.”

Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi, a former bodybuilding champion, was also present at the event and pointed out that “Ukraine has held out for all these two and a half years and the Ukrainian flag is being raised during these Olympic Games.”

This year’s Ukrainian Olympic delegation counts 140 athletes and so far it has won two medals. At the previous Tokyo Olympic Games it won 19.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee has banned Russia and its ally Belarus from the 2024 games.

That being said, a small group of Russian and Belarusian nationals, who never supported the Russian assault, are participating under a neutral banner and without an anthem.

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