Olga explained why she shook hands with her rival, who previously competed for the aggressor country.
Ukrainian sabre fencer Olga Harlan explained why she shook hands with her former Russian Anna Bashti, who represents Azerbaijan at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
After winning over her with a score of 15:6 in the 1/8 finals of the individual championship, the Ukrainian shook her opponent's hand and hugged her before leaving the track.
“She has been representing Azerbaijan since 2019, and believe me: I know who you don't need to shake hands with. She wished me gold yesterday, and that was very nice,” Harlan said in a comment to Suspilne Sport.
Note that Tower was born in Togliatti and until 2019 year, she competed for the Russian national team, in which she became the silver medalist of the world championship in the team.
Harlan won bronze in the individual saber at the 2024 Olympics. This is Ukraine’s first medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Parisand the 5th Olympic award in Olga’s career.
Having won the bronze medal at the 2024 Olympic Games, Kharlan repeated Ukraine’s record for medals won at the Olympics.
Kharlan’s disqualification at the 2023 World Fencing Championships: details
On July 27, Kharlan was disqualified from the 2023 World Fencing Championships for refusing to shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova after defeating her in the first round of the individual tournament.
The Russian sabre fencer staged a provocation and did not leave the fencing track for almost an hour, and also filed a protest against the Ukrainian for the lack of “display of respect”, after which the tournament organizers disqualified Harlan.
Amid the high-profile scandal, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted Harlan an automatic license for the 2024 Olympics. IOC President Thomas Bach sent a letter to the fencer, where he assured her of solidarity with the Ukrainian athletes.
After this, the FIE suspendeddisqualification of Harlan. Olga was no longer able to return to competition in the individual tournament of the World Championship, but received the right to compete in the team tournament, where she took fourth place as part of the Ukrainian team.
According to the FIE rules, after receiving a “black card”, Harlan should have been suspended for 60 days from all subsequent tournaments. However, in the end, the Ukrainian fencer escaped punishment.
