Ukrainian swimmer Mykhailo Romanchuk insisted he was ‘ready to kill’ his former Russian friend Evgeny Rylov, after his fellow competitor attended a pro-Vladimir Putin rally. Romanchuk’s nation still find themselves under attack from Russia, after the initial invasion in late February.
There have been a whole manner of sanctions implemented against the Eastern European country across all walks of life, including in sport. Punishments against Russian athletes have been a common theme from a number of sporting governing bodies, including FIFA, UEFA, the FIA and Wimbledon bosses at the All England Tennis Club.
Swimmer Romanchuk is fully behind the sporting sanctions, with the war effort close to his heart as his father is part of the home-defence force in Ukraine.
His relationship with Russian Rylov comes after the pair were team-mates for International Energy Standard as part of the International Swimming League. Rylov has since been banned by swimming’s governing body Fina, after being pictured at the Putin rally displaying the ‘Z’ symbol, which is renowned with the Russian president’s harsh regime.
Despite once describing themselves as ‘brothers in sport’, Romanchuk claimed had some hard-hitting words for his former teammate. Per The Times , he said: “If someone tells me that sports is not politics, I will tell them that sport is the biggest [realm of] politics. Unfortunately, it’s true and it is the right decision that the Russians are not here because if I saw some of the Russian guys I don’t know how I would react towards them.
“Maybe I would be aggressive. I don’t know. Especially when the backstroke guy [Rylov] joined the Putin rally at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow in March. I was ready to go and kill him. We were friends before but everything changed."
The war has of course had hugely damaging effects on the swimmer’s country, causing more than 13 million Ukrainians to flee their homes due to the conflict. Discussing the brutal damage the war has had on Ukraine’s sport, Romanchuk commented: “The war is not over and it’s getting harder and harder.
“They have destroyed a lot of our cities, a lot of infrastructure and [in sport] they destroyed more than seven [swimming] pools in Ukraine, they destroyed 50 stadiums of track and field, a lot other sports facilities. More than ten top sportsmen died during the war and I don’t know how many coaches will die.”
