2023-07-27 17:12:20
The saber, Olga Kharlan, became this Thursday, July 27 at the Fencing Worlds the first Ukrainian to face a Russian in almost a year and a half. After beating her opponent, she was disqualified for refusing to shake his hand.
Published on: 07/27/2023 – 17:12
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Olga Kharlan had accepted this sporting confrontation against the Russian Anna Smirnova, with the agreement of kyiv. This seemed to demonstrate that Ukraine was moving away from a boycott of the Paris Olympics in the event of the participation of Russians or Belarusians under a neutral banner. But the disqualification of the Ukrainian fencer for refusing to shake hands with her opponent shows that this issue is far from settled.
The referee who already awarded the victory to Olga Kharlan, Anna Smirnova, was not drafted. Mikhaïlo Podoliak, a close adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, hastened to describe the disqualification of the Ukrainian as ” absolutely outrageous “. The latter defended Olga Kharlan’s gesture by posting on X (new name of Twitter) a photo of Anna Smirnova alongside a young man in military fatigues: ” As you can see, she openly admires the Russian army, which kills Ukrainians and destroys our cities. »
More than an ordinary game
It was more than an ordinary match this Thursday, July 27 in the Milan convention center, where around twenty members of the Ukrainian delegation pushed Kharlan loudly, multiplying the ” Glory to Ukraine » (« Glory to Ukraine “). Quadruple world saber champion and headliner of Ukrainian sport, Olga Kharlan was only given final permission to participate on Thursday morning after a final meeting of her country’s sports bodies.
After beating Anna Smirnova, Olga Kharlan contented herself with a ceremonial salute to the referee. Instead of shaking his hand, she presented her saber so that the blades clash, a gesture that was common in the weapons rooms at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Faced with this refusal with a handshake, the Russian fencer protested and refused to leave the track for almost an hour after the end of the match. The refusal to salute being liable to disqualification in the FIE regulations, she won her case.
There had been no competition between athletes from the two countries since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, except on the ATP and WTA tennis tours, where players are not part of an official delegation. “ I’m really proud of our tennis players and I imagine myself in their place, facing the people whose country is bombing and killing our compatriots “, had confided a few weeks ago Olga Kharlan, pleading to face the Russians.
Amended decree
A decree from the Ukrainian Sports Ministry has so far prohibited athletes from these official delegations from participating in competitions involving Russians or Belarusians. Modified this Wednesday, July 26, it now only concerns “ athletes representing the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus “. This allows Ukrainian athletes to compete against athletes under a neutral banner, which is in line with the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implemented by several international federations, including fencing (FIE), to reinstate Russians and Belarusians in world sport.
This amendment is likely to dissipate the threat of an absence of Ukraine at the Paris Olympics, a hypothesis that was taking more and more shape with the absences of Ukrainian athletes in several qualifying competitions for the Olympics. Officially, Ukraine has not made a decision. ” We are waiting for the final decision and whether Russians and Belarusians will be allowed to participate or not. “, had indicated to the newspaper The worldon Tuesday, Ukrainian Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Olympic Committee Vadym Gutzeit.
Fencing was the first sport to reopen the door to Russians and Belarusians in March. Thirty Russian fencers and 51 Belarusian fencers were granted in April the status of ” neutral individual athlete after reviewing their file. But no big name in the discipline among them. The reigning individual and team saber Olympic champion, Sofia Pozdniakova, daughter of Stanislav Pozdniakov, himself a former saber champion and president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), has been dismissed.
The IOC reacted on Thursday after the disqualification of Olga Kharlan. In a press release, the International Olympic Committee calls for ” sensitivity towards Ukrainian athletes. He also welcomes the change made by the Ukrainian government concerning the neutral banner. This will allow, confirms the IOC, Ukrainian athletes to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024 “. As for the Ukrainian federation, it protests against the decision taken at the World Fencing Championships on Thursday, and says it hopes that Olga Kharlan will be reinstated.
« We submitted our protest to the office of the International Fencing Federation. We expect the immediate consideration of this protest, so that this disqualification is canceled “, declared to the press the president of the Ukrainian federation Mykhaïlo Illyachev.
Read alsoParis 2024 Olympics: the thorny question of Russian and Belarusian athletes
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