This Ontario man’s flag was raised at an Olympic protest in 1976. It’s now in Ukraine as a symbol of defiance
From Montreal to Ukraine by means of northern Ontario, a flag utilized in an anti-Russian protest on the 1976 Olympics is getting used once more as a logo of resistance, this time for Day of the Nationwide Flag celebrations in Ukraine.
Danylo Myhal, who was born and raised within the Thunder Bay space and lives within the close by small city of Lappe, has roots in Ukraine and has had the flag since 1972.
Nevertheless it was 4 years later that the flag, and Myhal himself, discovered themselves on the worldwide stage, throughout an Olympic soccer semifinal match between the united statesS.R. (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the transcontinental nation that existed till 1991) and East Germany in Montreal.
The united statesS.R. staff, Myhal stated, was largely comprised of gamers from Ukrainian Premier League staff Dynamo Kyiv.
“So I made a protest,” he stated. “I ran from the highest of the stadium all the way in which down previous safety, hit the railing, [jumped] 12 ft down, and ran round yelling in entrance of the staff and to all people ‘Freedom for Ukraine’ in English.”
Through the 15-second protest, Myhal additionally did the Ukrainian folks dance hopak.
Police then hauled Myhal out of the stadium. He was stored in a Montreal jail till 11 p.m. He had stuffed the flag down his shirt, nevertheless, and managed to carry on to it.
The matter garnered protection within the Western media, together with the New York Occasions, which wrote in regards to the incident in its July 27, 1976, version.
“A neighborhood group calling itself the Ukrainian Olympic Committee staged a protest tonight within the Olympic Stadium throughout a soccer match between the Soviet Union and East Germany,” the transient story stated.
“The group of about 100 waved banners and one of many demonstrators ran onto the sector at one level, waving a blue and yellow Ukrainian flag.”
The newspaper goes on to cite a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Olympic Committee who stated the group exists “solely to attract consideration to the truth that whereas the Ukraine, which has a inhabitants of greater than 50 million, is a member of the United Nations, it isn’t permitted to compete within the Olympics separate and aside from the Soviet Union.”
Regardless of the protest, the Soviet staff gained the match in opposition to East Germany 2-1.
Yulia Kovaliv, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada, advised CBC Information that the protest was “a really well-known second for exhibiting the Ukrainian feeling of freedom.”
“That was a really courageous transfer on the time.”
She stated that on the time, the united statesS.R. was “making an attempt to undermine all the Ukrainian tradition and Ukrainian identification.”
Now, almost 50 years later, Myhal’s protest has garnered additional consideration, this time from Ukraine itself.
Final week, Myhal acquired a sudden name from the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa, asking if he’d be keen to half with the flag, so it may very well be dropped at Ukraine for Tuesday’s Day of the Nationwide Flag and Wednesday’s Ukraine Independence Day, which marks Ukraine’s 1991 declaration of independence from the united statesS.R.
The request, Myhal stated, apparently got here from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Oleksandr Shevchenko, consul basic of Ukraine in Toronto, got here to Thunder Bay final week to retrieve the flag, assembly Myhal on the metropolis’s airport.
He stated that on the time, Myhal’s protest wasn’t seen in Ukraine, as Western media broadcasts could not be considered there.
Shevchenko stated final week the flag was returning to Toronto with him, and was then set to make its journey again to Ukraine, seemingly through Poland.
“When the folks in Ukraine will see this this flag and we are going to study in regards to the story of Danylo and the way he demonstrated, even in a time when it was unimaginable, in the Soviet occasions. … it provides braveness to the folks,” Shevchenko stated. “[A] battle is now happening … in opposition to the management in Kremlin, that are dreaming to revive the Soviet Union and the Soviet empire.
“And we should always battle.”
Russia launched what it calls a “particular navy operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24 to demilitarize its smaller neighbour and shield Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and its Western backers accuse Moscow of waging an imperial-style battle of conquest.
The battle, Europe’s greatest because the Second World Warfare, has destroyed cities and cities, killed hundreds of individuals, compelled thousands and thousands to flee overseas, and deepened a unstable geopolitical standoff between Russia and the West.
Zelenskyy warned on the weekend of the chance of extra extreme assaults forward of the anniversary of the nation’s independence from Russian-dominated Soviet rule.
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Kovaliv confirmed this week the flag has safely arrived in Ukraine.
Along with being proven Tuesday throughout the Day of the Nationwide Flag, Myhal’s flag will be proven in a number of cities at Ukrainian Premier League matches after the league restarted play this week.
Myhal stated he is “honoured” the flag was despatched to Ukraine.
“I am shocked, and I am honoured and blessed that the president of Ukraine want to see this flag,” he stated. ” Possibly he’ll maintain it.
“I am simply overwhelmed.”
