March 19, 2025 • 13 mins
Welcome back to The Most Painful Podcast! We’re wrapping up our Live from Invictus series, bringing you one last inspiring conversation from the 2025 Invictus Games in Vancouver, BC. Today, I have the great opportunity to speak with Oleksandr Androschuk, an athlete competing with the Ukrainian team. He shares his journey of resilience, the challenges of preparing for the Games, and what it means to represent his country on the international stage. From training to competition, Oleksandr’s story is one of determination, strength, and the unbreakable Invictus spirit.
Thank you for joining us for this special series. Stay tuned for more episodes of The Most Painful Podcast!
For more about the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence visit https://www.veteranschronicpain.ca/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/chronicpainCOE
Twitter https://twitter.com/chronicpainCOE
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chronicpain_coe/
Thank you for joining us for this special series. Stay tuned for more episodes of The Most Painful Podcast!
For more about the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence visit https://www.veteranschronicpain.ca/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/chronicpainCOE
Twitter https://twitter.com/chronicpainCOE
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chronicpain_coe/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is SSN Story Studio Network. Welcome to this special
series of the Most Painful Podcast, recorded live from the
twenty twenty five Victus Games at Vancouver BC. I'm your
host Tom Hoppey. On this episode, I have a great
(00:21):
opportunity to speak with Alexander Ondershok, an athlete from the
Ukrainian team, and he's on his second Invictus Games. Alexandra,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
After injury, I had surgeries and rehabilitation and then I tried.
My wife made me to try in Victors Games. We
have a trail competition in Ukraine and after that I
was elected to the Ukrainian team.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And the trial is not looking just for sports, it's
looking for other things.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Then yes, uh sport is uh sport has smallest part
to be for for sports. Results is the last thing
that you need to be involved to Ukrainian team. And
(01:26):
the main thing is like small talk with psychologists, They yeah, uh,
look at your look at you and they think, how
is it? How important is it for every participant two
to be involved in in Victus And it's first of
(01:51):
all two to make better conditions mentally and uh and physically.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, I think that's important with invectors for any soldier
in the world is mental and health as well. So
what kind of training so you got on the team
and what kind of training were you doing for getting
ready to come here in Vancouver.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Our Australian camp it was in summer, and as we know,
it's winter sports and we have no snow in Ukraine
in summer especially, so we trained traditional sports and also
tried like preparing for snowboarding on the water. It was
(02:40):
a wake boardian, so we try to to work with
our balance. That should be helpful for our snowboarding skills
and maybe for seed skin. And also we had camps
for UH for common sports as wheelchair basketball and volleyball.
(03:07):
Unfortunately we had no wheelchairs for rugby, so we we
were not able to train rugby until now. Now we're
next Ukrainian team will have such possibility, so probably they
will will be prepared better UH and a lot of
(03:31):
different trainings like swimming in the rowing and in January
we had training camp with winter.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Sports okay yeah yeah, and then conditioning, muscle conditioning and
that kind of thing too, right to strength tradition. Yeah,
So when you came to Vancouver, you did the skeleton race, right, yeah,
and that was your first time going down the track.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Probably it's not only about Ukrainian team. I think that
almost all in Victors Games Novice in a skeleton there
runs not a lot of opportunities to try the sport
all over the world.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Well, and and for people don't know, skeleton is when
you go head first down the track, down the bop
sled track right, head first, yeah, head first? Yeah? How
how how was that? How did you find that?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Firstly, when you think about it, it's sounds crazy and
maybe it's a little bit scary, but when you lie
on this sled slid yeah, and after that you realized
that you will see using except the ice because you
(04:50):
shouldn't up your head because it will make you slowly really,
so you just look on ice in front of you.
And for the first race, it's just you didn't realize anything.
You just feel like you go from one from one
(05:15):
ball to another on the turns, that's all. And it's
really quickly. It was such a three seconds thirty three seconds,
and our coach told us that when you do it
more every next time, you will see much more every time.
(05:37):
While your reaction became fast and you will realize every
turn some marks on ice. I didn't see no one
I see. I didn't see any marks on ice, but
they were here.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, and you're pretty fast too, I think one hundred
and thirty kilometers or something.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
No. One hundred sort is if you go from a
first turn and we started from ten stones, so we
have only six turns and we reach I'm personally I
reach ninety five kilometers and the fastest probably like one
hundred kilometers.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
That's still pretty fast though, to go down face first
on a Yeah? Is that was that the best sport
you did? That you were here.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I enjoy snowboarding more because you you have I have
more control and the snowboarding than than in skeleton skeleton.
It's like just entertainment because really don't really anyone of
(06:46):
us don't know how to influence on your speed and
in snowboard and you could you control every scene at
least you could try to control everything.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, no, that's fair enough. And that was your first
time snowboarding too, or.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah? In January I first try snowboarding. I had seven
days four days in Ukraine and three days camp in
Visco before in Victors Games. We are grateful for Ukrainian Jaspara,
who helped us to make it possible to make this
camp for us, so totally it was yeah, seven days
(07:29):
of snowboard trainers and it was my first race. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So what do you think of Invictus as as I
guess both an athlete and as a soldier, what do
you think of in Invectus.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It's a great opportunity to not only to compete to
do some sports, it's a great opportunity to speak with
other veterans. Even in Ukraine. It gather our Ukrainian veterans community.
We some of us find new friends and make a
(08:06):
veteran hubs in their cities and also bold the veterans community,
you could share your experience and maybe find something useful
for you in experience of other veterans. And also it's great,
(08:29):
great feeling to see all the support which would give
to Ukraine and to Ukrainian soldiers. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, well, I mean that's what soldiers do, right, It
doesn't matter what country you're from. Soldier job is the same.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah. It maybe there are some difference.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Oh, there's difference, but yeah, generally yes, generally, yeah, I
mean there's difference with culture and all that, and I'm
we're so happy to see the team here, you know,
taken heat. And I guess this is your first time
in Canada too, is it.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, it's my first time in Canada. It's first time
on this continent. Yeah, I've firstly fly over Atlantic Ocean.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
What do you think of Vancouver?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Vancouver is amazing, but probably it's expensive a lot. It's
the worst, the worst part of Vancouver, but generally it's awesome.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yeah, well 's living here find it expensive too, So
it's you know, it's an expensive city. So Invictus was
when you finished with Invictus, what will you take away?
What will be important to you when you leave Invictus
or when it finishes?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Sorry? Probably emotions. All these emotions I will carry with me,
with myself and a lot of different minds. I saw
the world and also great friends. I make a lot
(10:11):
of new friends, not only from Ukrainian teams, but also
from other teams. And also probably I find the new
entertainment for me because before my injury, I used to
play football every week and now I'm not able to
(10:33):
play football. But how Ukrainian volunteers who live in the
United States. She gave us ten view chair for rugby,
and now it is it will be able to play
l chair rugby in the Ukraine and probably we will
(10:54):
try make some gatherings for playing l chair rugby for veterans.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
That's awesome for you guys to do that, to keep
keep it going. When when you leave here? And how
many sports have you done here in Invictus in Vancouver.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I've already done snowboard and skeleton, wheelchair rugby and swimming,
and I had one more. It's indoor Robin nice.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
And that's that's today, isn't it? The roy tomorrow tomorrow? Yeah,
Sunday Sunday, So Sunday, February sixteenth, and then the closing
ceremonies tomorrow. And when are you guys heading back.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Home on Monday? We have our red eye Yeah, and
probably at the eighteen's we will.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Be home back. And you're from Kief, you said, yeah,
was there anything else you wanted to add to the podcast?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I wanna tells the awards that I want. I want
to tell you that I'm grateful for all Canadians and
all people who support Ukraine. I really felt it here
(12:09):
just walking across the street and people stop me and
tell me a word of of supports and it was
really ah it it means, it means a lot for
me and it was really kindful.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Well, we we appreciate you taking the time to out
of your busy schedule to be here on the podcast,
and I thank you for doing that.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Thank you. It's a great pleasure to be here. Thank you.
Thank you much.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Opportunity for feedback about the show more information on chronic pain,
you can visit our website Veterans Chronicpain dot ca A.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
And if you want more information on Invictus, you can
go to their website Invictusgamesfoundation dot org. Remember to like, follow, subscribe,
and share this podcast. Thanks for listening to the special
Invictus Live series as part of the Most Painful Podcast.
I'm your host, Tom Hoppy. Stay safe and keep the
hope alive.
This is SSN Story Studio Network. Welcome to this special
series of the Most Painful Podcast, recorded live from the
twenty twenty five Victus Games at Vancouver BC. I'm your
host Tom Hoppey. On this episode, I have a great
(00:21):
opportunity to speak with Alexander Ondershok, an athlete from the
Ukrainian team, and he's on his second Invictus Games. Alexandra,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
After injury, I had surgeries and rehabilitation and then I tried.
My wife made me to try in Victors Games. We
have a trail competition in Ukraine and after that I
was elected to the Ukrainian team.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And the trial is not looking just for sports, it's
looking for other things.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Then yes, uh sport is uh sport has smallest part
to be for for sports. Results is the last thing
that you need to be involved to Ukrainian team. And
(01:26):
the main thing is like small talk with psychologists, They yeah, uh,
look at your look at you and they think, how
is it? How important is it for every participant two
to be involved in in Victus And it's first of
(01:51):
all two to make better conditions mentally and uh and physically.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, I think that's important with invectors for any soldier
in the world is mental and health as well. So
what kind of training so you got on the team
and what kind of training were you doing for getting
ready to come here in Vancouver.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Our Australian camp it was in summer, and as we know,
it's winter sports and we have no snow in Ukraine
in summer especially, so we trained traditional sports and also
tried like preparing for snowboarding on the water. It was
(02:40):
a wake boardian, so we try to to work with
our balance. That should be helpful for our snowboarding skills
and maybe for seed skin. And also we had camps
for UH for common sports as wheelchair basketball and volleyball.
(03:07):
Unfortunately we had no wheelchairs for rugby, so we we
were not able to train rugby until now. Now we're
next Ukrainian team will have such possibility, so probably they
will will be prepared better UH and a lot of
(03:31):
different trainings like swimming in the rowing and in January
we had training camp with winter.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Sports okay yeah yeah, and then conditioning, muscle conditioning and
that kind of thing too, right to strength tradition. Yeah,
So when you came to Vancouver, you did the skeleton race, right, yeah,
and that was your first time going down the track.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Probably it's not only about Ukrainian team. I think that
almost all in Victors Games Novice in a skeleton there
runs not a lot of opportunities to try the sport
all over the world.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Well, and and for people don't know, skeleton is when
you go head first down the track, down the bop
sled track right, head first, yeah, head first? Yeah? How
how how was that? How did you find that?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Firstly, when you think about it, it's sounds crazy and
maybe it's a little bit scary, but when you lie
on this sled slid yeah, and after that you realized
that you will see using except the ice because you
(04:50):
shouldn't up your head because it will make you slowly really,
so you just look on ice in front of you.
And for the first race, it's just you didn't realize anything.
You just feel like you go from one from one
(05:15):
ball to another on the turns, that's all. And it's
really quickly. It was such a three seconds thirty three seconds,
and our coach told us that when you do it
more every next time, you will see much more every time.
(05:37):
While your reaction became fast and you will realize every
turn some marks on ice. I didn't see no one
I see. I didn't see any marks on ice, but
they were here.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, and you're pretty fast too, I think one hundred
and thirty kilometers or something.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
No. One hundred sort is if you go from a
first turn and we started from ten stones, so we
have only six turns and we reach I'm personally I
reach ninety five kilometers and the fastest probably like one
hundred kilometers.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
That's still pretty fast though, to go down face first
on a Yeah? Is that was that the best sport
you did? That you were here.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I enjoy snowboarding more because you you have I have
more control and the snowboarding than than in skeleton skeleton.
It's like just entertainment because really don't really anyone of
(06:46):
us don't know how to influence on your speed and
in snowboard and you could you control every scene at
least you could try to control everything.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, no, that's fair enough. And that was your first
time snowboarding too, or.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah? In January I first try snowboarding. I had seven
days four days in Ukraine and three days camp in
Visco before in Victors Games. We are grateful for Ukrainian Jaspara,
who helped us to make it possible to make this
camp for us, so totally it was yeah, seven days
(07:29):
of snowboard trainers and it was my first race. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So what do you think of Invictus as as I
guess both an athlete and as a soldier, what do
you think of in Invectus.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It's a great opportunity to not only to compete to
do some sports, it's a great opportunity to speak with
other veterans. Even in Ukraine. It gather our Ukrainian veterans community.
We some of us find new friends and make a
(08:06):
veteran hubs in their cities and also bold the veterans community,
you could share your experience and maybe find something useful
for you in experience of other veterans. And also it's great,
(08:29):
great feeling to see all the support which would give
to Ukraine and to Ukrainian soldiers. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, well, I mean that's what soldiers do, right, It
doesn't matter what country you're from. Soldier job is the same.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah. It maybe there are some difference.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Oh, there's difference, but yeah, generally yes, generally, yeah, I
mean there's difference with culture and all that, and I'm
we're so happy to see the team here, you know,
taken heat. And I guess this is your first time
in Canada too, is it.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, it's my first time in Canada. It's first time
on this continent. Yeah, I've firstly fly over Atlantic Ocean.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
What do you think of Vancouver?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Vancouver is amazing, but probably it's expensive a lot. It's
the worst, the worst part of Vancouver, but generally it's awesome.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yeah, well 's living here find it expensive too, So
it's you know, it's an expensive city. So Invictus was
when you finished with Invictus, what will you take away?
What will be important to you when you leave Invictus
or when it finishes?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Sorry? Probably emotions. All these emotions I will carry with me,
with myself and a lot of different minds. I saw
the world and also great friends. I make a lot
(10:11):
of new friends, not only from Ukrainian teams, but also
from other teams. And also probably I find the new
entertainment for me because before my injury, I used to
play football every week and now I'm not able to
(10:33):
play football. But how Ukrainian volunteers who live in the
United States. She gave us ten view chair for rugby,
and now it is it will be able to play
l chair rugby in the Ukraine and probably we will
(10:54):
try make some gatherings for playing l chair rugby for veterans.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
That's awesome for you guys to do that, to keep
keep it going. When when you leave here? And how
many sports have you done here in Invictus in Vancouver.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I've already done snowboard and skeleton, wheelchair rugby and swimming,
and I had one more. It's indoor Robin nice.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
And that's that's today, isn't it? The roy tomorrow tomorrow? Yeah,
Sunday Sunday, So Sunday, February sixteenth, and then the closing
ceremonies tomorrow. And when are you guys heading back.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Home on Monday? We have our red eye Yeah, and
probably at the eighteen's we will.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Be home back. And you're from Kief, you said, yeah,
was there anything else you wanted to add to the podcast?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I wanna tells the awards that I want. I want
to tell you that I'm grateful for all Canadians and
all people who support Ukraine. I really felt it here
(12:09):
just walking across the street and people stop me and
tell me a word of of supports and it was
really ah it it means, it means a lot for
me and it was really kindful.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Well, we we appreciate you taking the time to out
of your busy schedule to be here on the podcast,
and I thank you for doing that.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Thank you. It's a great pleasure to be here. Thank you.
Thank you much.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Opportunity for feedback about the show more information on chronic pain,
you can visit our website Veterans Chronicpain dot ca A.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
And if you want more information on Invictus, you can
go to their website Invictusgamesfoundation dot org. Remember to like, follow, subscribe,
and share this podcast. Thanks for listening to the special
Invictus Live series as part of the Most Painful Podcast.
I'm your host, Tom Hoppy. Stay safe and keep the
hope alive.
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