meeting with Olha Kharlan, the fencer who does not flinch

2023-08-15 19:34:12

In a brand new fencing hall in Kiev, two young fans wait impatiently to sign a fencing glove for one, a cap for the other, before claiming an essential selfie. Their star is called Olha Kharlan, a multi-medal Ukrainian fencer: Olympic team gold in 2008, six-time world champion, and nine times in Europe…

At 32, the young woman already has a great sporting career behind her, but there is something else that appeals just as much to her little groupies: on July 27 at the World Fencing Championships in Milan (Italy), Olha Kharlan became a heroine national. Within weeks, she refused to shake hands with her Russian opponent, was disqualified and eventually reinstated, and pushed international sports bodies to reconsider their position barely a year before the Paris Olympics. For The cross, today she looks back on this historic episode.

“One of the most difficult experiences of my life”

Olha Kharlan first recounts her relief: “The whole world championship was really very hard and exhausting. It was one of the most difficult experiences of my life. » Six months earlier, a match between Ukraine and Russia would have been impossible. The international fencing federation had decided in March to reinstate nationals of the country which invaded Ukraine, and of its faithful ally Belarus, on the condition that they participate as “neutral international athletes” (AIN) and that they did not actively support the armed aggression against Kiev (an e-reputation company and a law firm are carrying out the necessary checks).

For its part, the Ukrainian power forbade its nationals to meet Russians and Belarusians, even under a neutral banner. This rule had been shattered less than 24 hours before the Olha Kharlan match with the publication of a new decree. And there was this twist of fate: in the first round, Olha Kharlan fell to a Russian, Anna Smirnova, unknown to the general public and the top rankings.

For the Ukrainian, it’s the “emotional lift”: “There was a good chance that I wouldn’t meet any Russian athletes during the competition… And now, in the first round, I found myself against a Russian after the draw. But my God, why me? » She tells it starting with a loud laugh, but the pre-match was a test. “I cried, I didn’t sleep all night. It was too much pressure.” remembers the swashbuckler.

Blue and yellow mask on the head

On July 27 around 10:15 a.m., when she appeared on the red runway at MiCo, the congress center in the Italian fashion capital, Olha Kharlan regained her serenity: “I said to myself that I just had to do fencing, that I locked up my emotions in a box for ten minutes. That I practice my sport, that I behave like a professional, while remaining Ukrainian. » She, experienced, accustomed to sport at the highest level, may well win against this young 23-year-old athlete who peaks at 172nd place in the world, she says to herself. Because Olha Kharlan can’t imagine for a second not winning.

Saber drawn, blue and yellow mask on her head, she parades before her eyes the soldiers who are fighting on the front line, and the devastated buildings of her invaded country. At that time, she is invulnerable. Nothing will prevent him from surpassing his adversary. “I had to fight like our soldiers fight to protect us. »

Originally from Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, Olha Kharlan knows what war has done to her country. In the first weeks, his city found itself on the front lines. The Russian fire continues to fall there regularly. The fencer left the regional capital for kyiv in 2017, but her relatives still reside there: her godfather, who was also her first fencing master, and her parents. Last summer, a missile passed just above their home before exploding nearby. When she called them the day before her match, her relatives had taken refuge in a cellar because of the bombardments. Unthinkable therefore, not to win against a Russian athlete in Milan.

Black card for Olha Kharlan

15-7: his victory is final. Then begins a new battle, which far exceeds the 28 m2 track. As Anna Smirnova approaches her with her hand forward, Olha Kharlan presents her sword, blade down. A greeting that obeys the Covid protocol in force for two years, she justifies. Smirnova has placed hers behind her back and ostensibly refuses to allow the game to end without a handshake.

At the World Fencing Championships in Milan (Italy) on July 27, as her Russian opponent approaches her with her hand forward, Olha Kharlan presents her sword, blade down. / Tadashi Miyamoto/Aflo/Sports Press

Striking, the image will go around the world. The cameras do not pick up the few words that Kharlan speaks: “I told him that I would not shake his hand,” she assures. After a few seconds, the Ukrainian returns to her locker room as Smirnova camped out on the track to show her disapproval. The sanction finally falls: black card for Olha Kharlan who, thus disqualified, loses all her chances of going to the Olympic Games in Paris. “I was mentally devastated,” slips the athlete with yellow green eyes.

The judges’ decision provoked a wave of indignation. President Zelensky’s spin doctor posts a photo of Smirnova displaying support for the Russian military. The president of the IOC in person, Thomas Bach, defends Kharlan in a letter which informs him of his qualification for the Paris Olympics on a derogatory basis. The international fencing federation, suspected of still being under the influence of Moscow, has no choice but to backpedal the next day and suspend the sanction. “We do not know who decided on his disqualification, the current situation (on the suspension of the sanction) is not always clear, we have no written document”, criticizes the president of the Ukrainian fencing federation, Mikhailo Ilyashev.