Ukrainian swimming star Zheltyakov reveals narrow escape from Dnipro missile attack
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Two-time European junior swimming champion Oleksandr Zheltyakov revealed that he and four other athletes were at staying in a hotel at Dnipro’s Meteor sports complex when it was hit by a Russian missile on Aug. 15.
Zheltyakov, who has already qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, shared his story with Ukraine’s Suspilne Sport.
After the first explosion, he woke up his fellow athletes and they went to a bomb shelter, Zheltyakov said. After that, the missile hit a few meters from the hotel where they stayed.
“The hotel we’re staying in is closer to the entrance,” Zheltyakov said.
“The missile flew from the other side, where the parking lot is located. Another 20 meters and the missile would have hit the swimming pool.”
“One of the sides, the corner part of the sports complex building, has been damaged. The wall fragments got into the pool, we’re now cleaning outside and in the pool itself. No one was injured.”
Zheltyakov and other athletes who competed at the European Junior Swimming Championship have been training at the Meteor sports complex for about a month, the swimmer added.
“We have the end of the season in two weeks,” he said.
“It’s still hard to say when we’ll be able to resume training in our pool.”
The Russian air strike on Dnipro was criminal in nature and also destroyed a commercial enterprise, said regional governor Serhiy Lysak.
Used by hundreds of children every day for swimming lessons, the Dnipro Meteor sports complex was also used to host national swimming championships.
World champion Mykhailo Romanchuk trained there ahead of Tokyo 2020, where he won a silver and bronze medal.
Russia systematically destroying Ukraine’s sports infrastructure
It’s not the first time a Ukrainian Olympian was nearly killed in a reckless Russian missile attack.
Olympic champion sprint canoeist Lyudmila Luzan was nearly killed in Russia’s April 28 strike on Uman than killed 23 civilians, including three children.
Olympic silver medalist karateka had her former karate training hall in Odesa destroyed in a Russian missile attack on Odesa, while her European champion teammate Kateryna Kryva had her training hall damaged during Russia’s deadly July 5 missile attack on Lviv.
Russia destroyed the home arena of Ukrainian ice hockey champions Donbas Donetsk in a Jan. 3 Russian missile strike on Druzhkivka.
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