The 29-year-old, who has disabilities in both arms, is the Paralympic record holder in the men's 100-meter breaststroke and a six-time gold medalist who topped the podium in London, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
Bohodaiko was still riding high after his victory in Tokyo when Russia invaded in early 2022. His disabilities meant he couldn't fight alongside his fellow Ukrainians.
"I called up one of my friends and asked, what are we going to do?" he recalled in an online interview with NHK in January. "And when I drove around the city and saw the queues of men at the military registration and enlistment offices…at eight o'clock in the morning, the queues were 1.5 kilometers long, and at nine o'clock in the evening they hadn't got any shorter. Tears welled up in my eyes and I knew I had to do something.
"People go to defend, to die for our country, for our homeland. And no one knows whether this or that person will come back, you know?"
At the time, Bohodaiko ran a small company that produced plastic bottles and drinks. He started handing them out to the soldiers at checkpoints.
He eventually emptied his warehouse, bankrupting himself in the process and forcing the sale of his business. "At that time, I didn't think about money at all," he says. "I didn't think about how much I could lose. I only knew that it was necessary."
Sacrificing his company wasn't enough for Bohodaiko, who was determined to do more. That's when he hit on the idea of giving up one of his most prized possessions: his Tokyo Games gold medal.
"The medal was fresh in everyone's memories, and after consulting various people, I decided to auction it off," he says. "If it helps people, I will not regret the decision at all."
Bohodaiko used the proceeds to purchase relief supplies, which he delivered to soldiers on the front line.
Some athletes moved to locations outside Ukraine to train for the Paris Games, but Bohodaiko was adamant he would stay and show his support for the soldiers.
"If I don't stay, who would stay?" he said. "If everybody leaves the country, who are the soldiers fighting for? What motivation will the soldiers on the front line have?"
Bohodaiko says his preparations for Paris have been far from ideal. After Russia invaded, he stopped training for six months. "My results dropped," he said. "I went to my first competition after the Paralympics in Tokyo and didn't even take a single prize. I was fifth or sixth, I don't remember."
Since then, Russian attacks have regularly interrupted his sessions. But he says he finds motivation in the thought that Ukraine will likely still be at war when the Paris Paralympics opens in August.
"With our flag in the sports arena, we will definitely tell everyone that we are at war, that we need help," he says. "We need victory. And not just for us, but for the entire civilized world."
