Olga Kharlan, the Ukrainian fencer who was disqualified from the saber on Thursday at the World Fencing Championships for not shaking hands with her Russian opponent Anna Smirnova, gave her version of the episode. TO Sky Sport he recounted having informed the International Fencing Federation (FIE) the day before of his intention not to shake hands with the Russian opponent, but of wanting only to offer her the saber (as was done during the pandemic) for personal matters related to implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Kharlan had therefore asked the FIE not to be sanctioned for this, and according to her the FIE would have reassured her in this sense. After Thursday’s fight she was also authorized by the referee to leave the platform without a salute or disqualification. She had therefore returned to the locker room to prepare for the next match, and in the meantime Smirnova had occupied the platform in protest (some journalists present they argue did so on purpose, with the support of his staff, to enforce the disqualification). Shortly thereafter the referee’s clearance was overridden by the FIE, who disqualified Kharlan from the tournament.
“I am mentally destroyed, but at the same time I have received a lot of support and that makes me happy. I pushed a lot to participate in this event, not so much to qualify for next year’s Olympics, but to show people all over the world that Ukrainians are there.” he said Kharlan a Sky. Instead, he did not speak of Smirnova’s responsibility behind the incident, as had initially been hypothesized on Thursday. On the Russian adversary she limited herself to saying that if she had reciprocated her greeting with the blade nothing would have happened.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also intervened on Thursday on the issue, asking the federations to pay special attention to Ukrainian athletes, also considering the recent readmission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions. Until now fencing has been one of the few disciplines to readmit them, and this had already created several discussions in recent months, including regarding Russian influence within the FIE, chaired for over a decade by an oligarch of Uzbek origin, Alisher Usmanov, recently sanctioned for his close ties to the Russian government.
The World Cup underway in Milan will end on Sunday and it is not yet known whether Kharlan’s disqualification will be lifted or whether it will lead to that of the entire Ukrainian saber team, as usually happens in the event of an individual disqualification.