Ukrainian Champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh Donates $24,000 to Animals from Olympic Winnings

Ukrainian high jump athlete Yaroslava Mahuchikh donates one million hryvnias (around $24,000) to help animals. This is part of her prize for winning the high jump at the 2024 Olympics.

The money was sent to the animal rescue and environmental organization UAnimals and four animal shelters: Shelter Pegasus Dnipro, Helping Animals in Sumy, Homeless World, and Dnipro Animals.

"There are a lot of homeless animals in Ukraine right now, and shelters need support to take care of each one. In addition to financial and volunteer support, you can adopt animals from verified shelters into your families, regardless of breed,” said Mahuchikh. “My cat is also from a shelter and also not purebred, but he is the best in the world and my favorite jumper. So if you have the opportunity to save an animal, save it!"

The day before, Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh announced on her Instagram page that she would also donate part of the prize money to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to a psychological support fund.

The Head of the UAnimals communications department, Lyudmila Smolyar, thanked the athlete for drawing attention to animal protection.

"We are extremely grateful to Yaroslava for her good deed, thanks to her, thousands of animals will receive medicine, food, and a warm place to sleep. At the same time, we are grateful for the willingness to talk about animal protection and draw the attention of a large audience to this issue. We dream that one-day helping animals will become a common and everyday thing in Ukrainian society, and it is such powerful voices as the voice of Yaroslava Mahuchikh that bring this moment closer," Smolyar said. 

Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh has cemented her place in sporting history by winning gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics. In her performance, Mahuchikh cleared a height of 2.04 meters.

Mahuchikh first set the world record on July 7, 2024, at the Diamond League meeting in Paris becoming the first woman to clear 2.10 meters, surpassing the previous record of 2.09 meters set by Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova 37 years ago.