Ukrainian men's gymnastics team wins last spot at Paris Olympics.

The Ukrainian men's gymnastics team won 12th place at the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, on Oct.

1, qualifying for competition in the 2024 Olympic Games. The Ukrainian team beat out Brazil by 166 thousandths of a point to secure the final available spot in the Paris Olympics. Oleg Verniaiev, Donetsk native and leader of the Ukrainian men's gymnastics team, spoke about the difficulties of training in the midst of Russia's full-scale war.

"There were about five or six months that I couldn't properly train because of the situation," Verniaiev said. "It's getting better, we're getting back on track. It used to be that we had three to five incoming threat alerts daily -- when rockets fly to Ukraine -- and each time we'd have to go down to the basement and wait it out."

At the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Russia won the gold medal in men's gymnastics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not invite Russia to the 2024 Games, effectively freeing a spot for another country's team. However, Russian athletes will be allowed to participate in the Paris Olympics under a neutral flag.

In July, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) announced a similar decision, saying that "individual neutral athletes" from Russia and Belarus could compete in FIG events.

News Editor

Abbey Fenbert is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent.

She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University.

Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.