for sabre fencer Olga Kharlan, Games in the name of the Ukrainian people – Libération

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A fencing legend, the fervent patriot who won bronze in the individual event on Monday, became known to the general public by refusing to shake the hand of a Russian opponent. She is lined up in the team competition starting Saturday.

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At the Grand Palais on Monday, July 29, at the end of the assault that awarded her the bronze medal in the sabre, Olga Kharlan burst into tears. No sadness for having once again missed out on Olympic gold. Emotion. She hugged the members of her team, greeted the Ukrainian supporters. She kissed her mask in the colors of her country, then the track, and made a 5 with her fingers. 5, like the number of Olympic medals won in her career (Monday’s was the first for Ukraine in Paris). But none in gold in the individual competition – she won the Olympic team title in 2008 in Beijing. For an athlete of Olga Kharlan’s rank, six times world champion and eight times European champion, to end her career without an Olympic victory would be like missing one of Roger Federer’s four Grand Slam tournaments. An anomaly that deprives her of the unofficial title of best fencer in history. But at the Grand Palais, we were well beyond the color of a medal, undoubtedly the most symbolic of her career, which she dedicated to her country, to