Large-scale children’s event at the Artek International Children’s Center in Kyiv region

For the second year in a row, the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine has been implementing the nationwide “DoLikeOlympians” project for children and young people, aimed at promoting sport, Olympic values and a healthy lifestyle. In 2026, the project continues to be actively implemented in different regions of Ukraine. This year, the Biathlon Federation of Ukraine joined the event with a team of coaches from Chernihiv and Kyiv teams of Biathlon 4 All project: Zhanna Zots, Mariia Parshukova, Oleksii Petrenko, Mariia Kravchenko, Dmytro Pokhylyi, Mykola Bashmakov, as well as Oleksii Kravchenko, coach of the Ukrainian National Team.

As part of the project, a large-scale sports and educational event took place at the Artek International Children’s Center on 28 August, with around 600 children aged between 6 and 16 taking part. In total, approximately 1,000 children are currently staying at Artek.

The programme included an official opening ceremony and a joint flash mob involving children and well-known Olympic athletes representing different sports. This was followed by sports activities and 21 sports masterclasses in different disciplines. The children had the opportunity to receive gifts, gain a wonderful experience through direct interaction with athletes, and share their thoughts and emotions. The main objective of the event was the socialisation of children through sport and communication, and I believe that we fully achieved this goal.

The participants mainly belonged to socially vulnerable groups, including children of fallen Heroes of Ukraine, children from low-income and large families, as well as other categories of children who require particular attention and support.

For the masterclasses, the children were divided into teams of 12 participants — six boys and six girls. They received T-shirts in different colours to distinguish each group within three age categories: younger, middle and older.

A special feature of the event was the opportunity for the children to discover a wide variety of sports, try them for themselves and perhaps find the sport that interests them most and that they may choose to continue practising regularly in the future.

During the event, the children discovered many new sports, and biathlon proved to be one of the most popular. They quickly realised that mastering this sport requires a wide range of skills, because biathlon is not only about shooting.

The children had the opportunity to develop their speed, endurance, accuracy and communication skills. Biathlon became a true headliner of the event. Even the Olympic athletes themselves were delighted to try their hand at being biathletes, setting a great example for the children and all the participants.

Lily Budzulyak, Project Coordinator in Ukraine: "We are committed to fruitful cooperation with the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine at similar events in order to further promote biathlon among children. Thanks to the Biathlon4All project, we can make children’s leisure time safe, fun and active through sport."

Lily Budzulyak, Project Coordinator in Ukraine: "Despite the extremely difficult situation currently affecting Kyiv and the surrounding region, with air-raid alerts sounding almost every day and sometimes continuing around the clock, we are extremely proud of our coaches, who, despite everything, prepared for the event and ensured that it was organised and delivered exceptionally well. We had to interrupt the activities during air-raid alerts because the safety of the children must always come first. But the fact that we were able to give them one more day of joy in their childhood gives our entire team the motivation to continue growing and developing. We believe in the future of sport in Ukraine. We believe in biathlon and in the work that we are doing."