In between jumps, Yaroslava Mahuchikh returns to her bench, crawls under a sleeping bag she always brings with her into the arena, rests her head on her backpack and lets her eyes drift closed. She lets her thoughts wash over her. Sometimes, she opens her eyes and stares up at the night sky. In the cauldron of an Olympic final, among a crowd of 80,000: this, ironically, is the only place Mahuchikh can find peace.
She doesn’t actually fall asleep. “But I close my eyes,” Mahuchikh says. “I have a camping blanket that’s cool for any temperature. It can be hot or cold and it will be good. It’s my relaxation before jumps, trying to think only about jumps, noticing how I feel comfortable.”
Certainly there is precious little peace available to her here, in the packed La Villette folly Ukraine have made their base for the Olympics. The room is packed with photographers and journalists and dignitaries from all over the world, and all of them want a piece of the new high jump gold medallist: a selfie, an autograph, an interview.
There is a glazed, dazed look to her. She’s barely slept an hour. Straight after this interview she has to return to the stadium to collect her medal.
There is precious little peace available to her back home. She comes from Dnipro, in the centre of Ukraine, a city of one million in the good times but considerably fewer than that now, a city still under constant shelling by Russian missiles. Friends and family keep her updated with the latest news. Rocket attacks are conveyed to her on the family WhatsApp group.