Olga Charlan was almost not allowed to take part in the Olympics because she did not want to shake hands with a Russian. Now the fencer has won the first medal for her country in Paris.
One year after the fuss about a refused handshake and her supposed Olympic elimination, fencer Olga Charlan has won the first medal for Ukraine at the Summer Games in Paris. The 33-year-old won the fight for bronze in the sabre competition after a strong comeback against the South Korean Choi Sebin. Last year, Charlan was initially excluded from the World Championships in Milan because she did not want to shake hands with the Russian Anna Smirnova, as required by the rules at the time.
After heated debates and consultations with the International Olympic Committee, the world association lifted the disqualification and a ban and replaced the handshake rule with a gesture of greeting with weapons. After the incident, IOC President Thomas Bach assured Charlan of a starting place in Paris if she did not manage to qualify.
“Every medal is like gold. I don’t care if it’s bronze, it’s gold,” said Charlan after her success in the Grand Palais. Her medal was “a good start for all our athletes who are here, because it’s really hard when your country is at war,” said the team Olympic champion from Beijing 2008.
Charlan catches up with big deficit
The scandal last year fueled the dispute over the readmission of Russian athletes to international competitions during the war of aggression against Ukraine. “I wouldn’t do anything differently,” Charlan said in retrospect. “What happened to me represents what my country has to go through,” the fencer explained.
In the battle for bronze, Charlan made up a six-point deficit and won 15:14 against the South Korean. Around 150 Ukrainians are competing at the Olympics in Paris.
Russia and its ally Belarus, on the other hand, are only represented by a little over 30 athletes. All of them must compete under a neutral flag, and their anthems will not be played for them. There was also a long dispute over the admission of Russians and Belarusians to the Summer Games.
Source: Stern
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