From our special correspondent at the Grand Palais – Author of a demonstration in the team final against South Korea, sabre fencer Olga Kharlan offered Ukraine its first gold medal in the 2024 Olympics, while winning the title that was missing from her immense list of achievements. A reward after a winding path to Paris that saw her life turned upside down by Russia’s invasion of her country.
Published on: 03/08/2024 – 22:42
4 mn
A final touch with the scent of eternity. By scoring the 45th point of the duel between Ukraine and South Korea, Olga Kharlan offered her country the first of the 2024 Olympic Games in the setting of the Grand Palais in Paris.
Upon realizing, the 33-year-old Ukrainian took off her mask and knelt down. Tears began to flow down her face, overcome with emotion. In the delirious room, she was greeted for a long time by the “Olga”, chanted in rhythm by the 8,000 spectators won over to her cause. One could have believed that the French had won tonight.
Adopted by Paris
Moreover, like the French during the last football World Cup, she started dancing and celebrating to “Freed from Desire” by Gala, joined by her friends, Alina Komashchuk, Olena Kravatska, Yuliia Bakastova, who wrapped her in a Ukrainian flag.
Olga Kharlan celebrating Ukraine’s title to the sound of “Freed from Desire” © Franck Fife, AFP
“The spectators were incredible. We received so much encouragement. I saw so many Ukrainian flags. Paris, you were amazing!”, she thanked after her extraordinary performance of the evening, her throat still tight with emotion.
By winning this gold medal, Olga Kharlan becomes the athlete who has brought the most Olympic medals to Ukraine. On a personal level, she finally conquers an Olympic title, the only missing trinket in her immense collection that makes her one of the greatest fencers of all time.
“The war is always in our heads”
However, Olga Kharlan has not thought about herself or her sporting achievements for a long time. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, she has been one of the most vocal voices in favour of excluding Russians from sports competitions.
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“The war is always in our heads. We have become accustomed to our soldiers fighting and dying. It motivates me. Training cannot be difficult because people are going through much harder times,” says Olga Kharlan. “I have no excuses.”
When her country was invaded by Russia in February 2022, she rushed to Ukraine to bring her sister and nephew back to Italy, where she has put down roots with her partner, sabre fencer Luigi Samele, who won a bronze medal in Paris on Saturday.
The road to Paris was winding: at the World Championships in Milan, important for Olympic qualification, she was disqualified for refusing to shake the hand of her Russian opponent Anna Smirnova.
“A year ago, I was on the verge of quitting fencing with my disqualification,” she rewinds. “But I came back! And that’s the message I want to convey: keep believing, keep working and never give up. Like Ukraine!”
Drafted by Thomas Bach
A personal invitation from International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach to the Games changed the situation. His suspension was eventually lifted by the International Fencing Federation, which until the invasion of Ukraine was chaired by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
It would have been a shame if she had missed these Olympic Games. The spearhead of Ukrainian fencing delivered a masterpiece in the gallery of the Grand Palais. She practically carried the team on her back: 22 hits scored out of the 45 needed for victory for only 10 conceded. Above all, she erased a deficit of three hits in the last relay, under the encouragement of a room won over to her cause.
And now? She warned before the Games of her need to take a break after two and a half years of wearing herself out by months of political fighting against the Russian return to sport, the anguish for her loved ones back home and the injuries.
For the time being, she promises above all to bring her medal back to her country as soon as the closing ceremony is over, aware of the symbol that it now represents.
