Yaroslava MAGUCHYKH: “I decided to answer the haters with this phrase. And why not?”

Ukrainian track and field athlete Yaroslav Maguchih told how she used the iconic phrase Oleksandr Usyk to communicate with critics.

– You responded to haters and critics on Instagram by recording a clip with “Don’t push the horses”.

– Actually, I very rarely react, because I understand that everyone says something, everyone writes something. But there was just this phrase “Don’t push the horses”, and when they started writing, I thought: “Why not do “Don’t push the horses?” And we did so.

I usually don’t answer, I don’t waste my energy on it, because I don’t see the point, I’d rather prove on the track what I should do. But here was the nuance: this was probably the moment when the phrase “Don’t push the horses” peaked, it was very popular, everyone used it everywhere, on Instagram, on YouTube. And I decided: why not?

– Was it after you visited Oleksandr Usyk’s fight?

– Yes, after. I met Alexander in 2024, I saw him live at a battle in London

– What were your impressions? To what extent did you pay attention to boxing?

– Of course, I watched boxing on TV, but I did not have the opportunity to watch it live. Of course, when you watch it live, it was cool, but, like all Ukrainians, I was related to the number that I came for the first time – and it all ended so quickly.

Then they posted on Instagram and Tiktok: they just came, opened something, sat down, didn’t manage to do anything – it’s all over. But it was cool, said Maguchih.