At an age when most children are still discovering their favorite hobbies, Sasha Paskal has already learned what it means to rebuild a dream. The 10-year-old Ukrainian gymnast has turned unimaginable loss into a story of resilience, one that earned her a state honor from Ukraine’s President and has since carried her across five continents. Watch What’s Trending Now! Sasha, whose full name is Oleksandra Paskal, is from the Odesa region of Ukraine.
In 2022, she lost her leg in a Russian missile attack and spent 15 days in a medically induced coma before her recovery began. For many young athletes, an injury like that would have ended any hope of returning to competition. For Sasha, it became the start of a different path back to the sport she loved. “My passion for sport is bigger than my loss,” Sasha told Bioreports Sports, a line that’s since become the defining message of her comeback. Just seven months into learning how to walk again with a prosthetic leg, she stepped back onto the competition floor and won her first event back, held in Chornomorsk. “Gymnastics is one of the most important things in my life,” she said. “I like it very much.
It’s my everyday opportunity to be fit. It’s my passion.”
Her return only built momentum from there. She competed in her first official tournament back in 2023, and the following year she took part in a competition organized by 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Anna Rizatdinova, competing alongside gymnasts without disabilities.
Rizatdinova later spoke about how much Sasha’s story had come to mean inside her own gymnastics academy. “I think that Oleksandra is a very special child,” Rizatdinova said.
“Not only Ukraine, but the whole world knows that.”
Sasha now trains regularly using a modern prosthetic leg, performing dance and acrobatic routines, and her results have kept pace with her dedication, including a gold medal earlier this year at Romania’s Carla’s Rhythmic Cup. Her mother, Maria, believes gymnastics changed more than just her daughter’s physical recovery. Without it, Maria has said, Sasha might have grown withdrawn or self-conscious about her prosthesis.
Instead, competing again gave her the confidence to embrace it. In 2025, that resilience earned Sasha the “Future of Ukraine” state honor, presented by President Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska in recognition of her courage. That same spirit is now carrying her story well beyond Ukraine’s borders. Sasha Paskal refuses to give up as she continues her inspiring journey Sasha is currently in Tokyo for the final stop of the Dance of Freedom Tour, a global initiative from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation in partnership with FC Shakhtar Donetsk. The tour launched in Paris on July 17, followed by a performance on the red steps of New York’s Times Square on July 20, Rio de Janeiro on July 24, and Nairobi on July 28, where she performed at the United Nations Office as part of UNICEF’s 80th anniversary celebrations, before wrapping up in Tokyo on July 31. “It’s an unbelievable experience,” Sasha said. “Each city is amazing and beautiful in its own way.
I’m really happy to travel because it’s an opportunity to distract myself from what’s going on in Ukraine.”
Her mother has been by her side throughout. “She’s unbreakable,” Maria said. “She’s so strong and motivated. We are very proud because, although she’s very young, she’s a role model for many people with similar circumstances.
We never pushed her. What she’s doing comes from her, and we support her in her desire to do gymnastics.”
Yuri Sviridov, a member of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation’s supervisory board, sees Sasha’s journey as proof of something bigger than one girl’s comeback. “Since the war started, the role of the foundation has grown significantly,” Sviridov said.
“They have gone through a very difficult period of time, and we never want any kids in other countries to experience what they have experienced. But we believe that, one day, the war will be over and kids like Sasha will develop and be educated. Like she said, ‘My passion for sport is bigger than my loss.’ This is a very strong statement from a girl just 10 years old.”
Sasha isn’t thinking about limits either. Her biggest dream is to represent Ukraine at the Paralympic Games in Brisbane if rhythmic gymnastics is added to the program, a goal that recently earned encouragement from Olympic boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk, who told her to write down her dream of becoming a champion and read it every day. When she met President Zelensky, his message to her was simple:
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“Please never give up, and just move forward.”
Her Tokyo performance on July 31 closes out the Dance of Freedom Tour’s five-city run, but for Sasha, it marks another stop on a much longer road back to the sport, and the sense of self, she refused to let go of.
