Episode description

Ukraine’s athletes are preparing to represent their country at the Olympics - we speak to 400m hurdler Victoriya Tkachuk about the difficulties of training in a warzone as her brother fights on the frontline.

Greco-Roman wrestler Zhan Beleniuk won Ukraine’s only gold medal in Tokyo, and will be trying to retain it in Paris. He’s also a Ukrainian MP and told us about his opposition to the limited inclusion of Russian athletes at this year’s games.

And to discuss how the Olympics finds itself stuck in the middle of a global diplomatic row, we’re joined by Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Skema Business School in Paris.

Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko.

The producers were Arsenii Sokolov and Nathan Gower. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The editor is Richard Fenton-Smith. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480

You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord