Olga Kharlan leads Ukraine to first gold win at Paris Olympics – Technologist

The fencing arena was transformed into a dance floor. As the notes of the hit “Freed From Desire” by Gala echoed through the Grand Palais on Saturday, August 3, Olga Kharlan began to dance on the dance floor where, moments earlier, she had scored the decisive touch, waving a Ukrainian flag to the ovations of an emotional audience. Today, the sabre-wielding Ukrainian is more than just a fencer. She became a symbol on July 27, 2023, when she refused to shake hands with the Russian opponent she had just beaten at the World Fencing Championships in Milan, Italy.

Kharlan remains an exceptional sportswoman who just achieved virtually the same feat 16 years apart. She became known to the world at the 2008 Beijing Games: With all the nerve of a 17-year-old, she upset the first-ever Olympic women’s sabre team final. When she took the final relay, Ukraine was four touches behind China. Kharlan coolly reversed the course of the match and won the title for her team.

On Saturday, at the age of 33, she did it again. She took over from her teammates three touches behind, this time against the South Korean team. Relentlessly, supported by an audience chanting her name, she took the upper hand over her opponent, the young Jeon Hayoung. At the final whistle (45-42), she didn’t immediately let out her signature victory cry but turned to the referee in disbelief.

‘War is always within you’

“Today, I was a kind of like a robot,” she declared, as she descended from the podium. The strategy was to put emotions aside. “At some point I just relaxed and I said ‘I’m going to have fun, I’m going to enjoy this moment.” This was the first Olympic title won at the Paris Games by the Ukrainian delegation, which also won a silver medal in the 50 m three positions rifle thanks to shooter Serhiy Kulish and a bronze medal won by Kharlan in the individual sabre event, after being beaten by France’s Sara Balzer in the semi-final.

Ukraine now succeeds Russia, which won the Olympic women’s sabre team title in 2016 and 2020, but whose representatives were – with a few exceptions – declared unwelcome at the Paris Games because of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. The conflict was of course evoked by Kharlan, who shared the principles she followed to achieve her goals: “Believe, work, never give up – like Ukraine.”

“We’re competing in the Olympic Games while our country is at war: It’s something inconceivable and, at the same time, it’s always in your head,” she added. “The fighters on the front line, they don’t make excuses, they fight, they die for our freedom. That’s where I get my motivation.”

You have 48.53% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.