Israeli swimmer of Ukranian parents tries to forget conflicts as she competes at the Olympics

NANTERRE, France (AP) — Anastasia Gorbenko considers herself caught between two world conflicts.

She's an Israeli Olympic swimmer with Ukranian parents. So the Russia-Ukraine war touches on her emotions and nerves just as the Hamas-Israel one does.

Gorbenko uses the pool as her refuge.

Once inside La Defense Arena, she can clear her mind and just swim.

“It's been a pretty hard year for me. I've overcome a lot of things but I'm trying to do what I can, which is swimming fast,” she said following her 400-meter individual medley heat Monday. “I have a lot of staff around me — which is psychologist, my coach, everyone is trying to push me to think just about swimming and not about everything that's going on.”

It helped that her parents arrived in Paris on Sunday night. The animated fans in the stands have meant so much to Gorbenko and her Israeli teammates.

“I think there are a lot of Israelis here who have come to support us and watch the Games,” she said. “We're all here to do sports and that's what's special about the Games.”

Israeli swim officials said security was heightened Monday around the country's athletes after a weekend rocket strike that killed 12 youth soccer players in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

Gorbenko expressed her gratitude for the efforts to keep everyone safe in Paris amid the on-going Middle East conflict back home.

“We have really tough security so I'm really thankful for their job and what they are doing for us here and creating a safe environment for us,” she said. “Yes, it does sometimes interrupt, but usually I'm trying to focus on (the benefits).”

She has a couple of days to rest before resuming a full racing slate in the Paris Games: the 200-meter backstroke, 200 individual medley and a pair of relays. Gorbenko, who will turn 21 on Aug. 7, swam five events in the Tokyo Games three years ago.

Born in Haifa, Israel, she was one of a small contingent of Israeli swimmers who decided to attend the world championships in Qatar earlier this year.

“I would love this sport to be only about swimming and nothing about political stuff and about the countries' situations,” she said. “We're here to do sports and I think the celebration of the Olympics is we're celebrating all the differences that we are, and we're all coming here for just the sports.”

David Marsh, Israel's technical advisor who was Gorbenko's longtime youth club coach in San Diego, is in awe of her ability to compartmentalize everything going on in the world and somehow push it all aside when it's time to step onto the starting block.

“I think the pool is a respite for lots of people, I think that's what you hear about when you talk about our sport, the people getting in the water and the noise goes away, and so I think in many ways it's a very therapeutic sport in that way," Marsh said. "So in times of high stress it's one of those sports that is very healing. I think she uses it that way.”

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games