From the moment you learned that you would be allowed to participate by your government to the announcement of your disqualification, it must have been a tidal wave of emotions…Olga Kharlan: Yes, I knew it would be like that. The day was very hard. When I understood yesterday (Wednesday) that I could do fencing, nervousness caught up with me. At that moment, the question was no longer whether I was going to shoot or not but how I was going to approach this match against a Russian, finally a neutral athlete… So I started to think, to channel my emotions , I did my job and pretty well since I won 15-7. It was an overflow of emotions. When I left the track, I fell to my knees at the first corner and started crying so hard. It’s so hard for us to even see them (the Russians). But we have to face them, we know that, and that’s what I did. The black card (synonymous with disqualification, editor’s note), I did not expect it because I had had a conversation with the president of the International Fencing Federation (Emmanuel Katsiadakis, editor’s note).
What did he tell you? I wouldn’t say he promised me anything. But we had talked about the possibility of this situation. I told him that it was possible that I take part in the competition and that it was necessary to expect provocations from the Russians. Reaching out is a big one. It was enough to check normally with the blade of the saber and that was it, we could move on. That’s not what she did (Anna Smirnova). The president had told me that it was possible not to shake hands. I thought I had his word, to be safe, apparently not. (…) This Federation (chaired by the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov until the invasion of Ukraine, editor’s note) will never change. In any case, I don’t know if I’ll still be alive if that ends up happening. I hope the fencing world understands. Not only that something is wrong, but that something needs to be done to change it. Because guys today it’s me, tomorrow it can be you.
This disqualification as well as the suspension probably cost you your place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games… All I know is that I really made the right choice. You know, medals, I have them. I am Olympic champion (by teams in 2008), I am quadruple world champion. But there is something more important than medals: my country, my family. I just couldn’t shake his hand. I do not wish anyone to be in my situation or that of my country. I hope one day people will understand. My phone saturates. I got support from so many people… from the government, from athletes, from celebrities and also from soldiers on the front line. A guy who flies a helicopter sent me a video to tell me he was proud of me. It brings me to tears because I am very grateful to them. And if they’re proud of me, it’s because I did something that cost me dearly.
Something symbolic too? My message today is that we Ukrainian athletes are ready to face the Russians on the sports fields or on the tracks but we will never shake hands with them. They will never force us to peace. That’s what they’re doing right now in my country, they’re forcing us to lay down our arms and make peace. We will never make peace. We can face them with respect on the track but we will never shake hands with them.
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