At the near end of the pool hangs a banner depicting a soldier, standing in a field of golden corn underneath a rich blue sky. A column of tanks stretches behind him and overhead flies a national flag that the scene’s essential elements are designed to replicate. “I believe in the armed forces, glory to Ukraine!” reads the accompanying slogan. Beneath it, as the image catches the early morning light, Mykhailo Serbin climbs in and sets off down the middle lane.
Serbin cuts through the water with speed and grace, which is to be expected from one of the best para swimmers on Earth. At the end of each length he is guided by sticks held out by members of staff, so that he knows when it is time to turn. His local pool in Kharkiv was ruined by Russian bombs; it has been an adjustment to live and train here in Kamianske, a dormitory city of Dnipro, along with a tranche of athletes living in forced exile from their homes.
