AP exclusive series shows how Russian invasion is dismantling Ukraine as an Olympic powerhouse

By HANNA ARHIROVA, JOHN LEICESTER, EVEGENIY MALOLETKA, FRANCISCO SECO, EFREM LUKATSKY, VASILISA STEPANENKO, ALEX BABENKO, ANTON SHTUKA and VOLODYMYR YURCHUK 

In 2023, multimedia reporters Hanna Arhirova and John Leicester identified Ukraine’s sporting decline as a must-have story for AP before the Olympics this month. Through months of aggressive reporting and source-building — squeezed into their jobs of news reporting in Ukraine and France — the pair identified, tracked down and interviewed athletes, coaches and others in Ukrainian sports, uncovering a broader story of war’s impact across generations in Ukraine. Tapping his expertise from his previous beat in sports, Leicester combed through 30 years of Olympic medals tables to tease out proof of Ukraine’s sporting decline — caused by conflict’s toll on athletes, sports facilities and the country’s sporting future. 

The pair’s reporting provided the vision and foundations for the ambitious series, many months in the making. Ukraine coordinator Susie Blann’s smart planning brought it to fruition for the Olympic deadline. While directing AP’s award-winning coverage of the Ukraine war, Blann carved out time and financing for Arhirova, photographers Evgeniy Maloletka, Francisco Seco and Efrem Lukatsky and video journalists Vasilisa Stepanenko, Alex Babenko and Anton Shtuka to gather the series’ compelling, character-driven all-formats reporting. Blann coordinated across bureaus and departments for additional reporting from a Ukraine training camp in Portugal by photographer and videographer Emilio Morenatti and Arhirova. Producer Volodymyr Yurchuk’s fieldwork yielded arresting images of an athlete in a bombed-out stadium. Arhirova, Leicester, Blann and others gathered user-generated content and Olympic archive footage. Howie Rumberg coordinated a stunning interactive presentation; artist Jake O’Connell turned medals data into graphics. Editor Lori Hinnant polished text. 

The exclusive series was unmatched in its depth, scope and ambition and was delivered to AP clients and audiences just as interest is peaking for the Paris Games, where the controversial participation of athletes from Russia and Ukraine’s thinned-down delegation will be in the global spotlight. The stories received some 15,000 pageviews on AP News. The Instagram post about 2,500 likes and 51 comments. 

For their ambitious, exclusive and impactful work Arhirova, Leicester, Maloletka, Seco, Lukatsky, Stepanenko, Babenko, Shtuka and Yurchuk are earn this week’s Best of AP — Second Winner. 

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