After bolting to Ukraine to escape political persecution in her native Belarus, Olympic swimmer Aliaksandra Herasimenia never thought she would be forced to flee again, this time to save her family from a Russian attack.
Herasimenia, a three-time Olympic medalist, found herself among thousands of Ukrainians massing at the border with Poland as Russian troops advanced on Kyiv.
On the second day of the Russian invasion last month, Herasimenia and her husband, Olympic swimmer Yauhen Tsurkin, scrambled to pack some belongings and set off on a 12-hour car ride to the Polish border with their young daughter and Herasimenia's mother.