There were emotional moments for Olha Charlan at the Fencing World Championships in Milan in July. The Ukrainian initially refused to shake hands with her Russian rival Anna Smirnova, who was allowed to compete under a neutral flag. The four-time saber world champion clearly defeated Smirnova 15:7.
Three weeks after the scandal, Fencer commented on the motives. “I called my family the day before the fight. They were in the shelter and I had to fight a Russian woman the next day. How should I shake his hand?” Charlan told ARD.
The Ukrainian also stressed that it cannot be forced to shake hands. “I don’t want that,” she clarified. His hometown of Mykolaiv has been the target of repeated Russian attacks. Charlan is disqualified after refusing to shake hands. But after some time the disqualification was lifted by the World Fencing Federation (FIE). So the fencer could participate in the team competition.
After the disqualification, Charlan addressed his followers via Instagram with an emotional message: “We have now seen that the country that is terrorizing our state, our people, our families is terrorizing our sport as well. Is. So what happened today had to happen,” Olga Charlan said at the time. The Olympic champion clarified, “She didn’t want to shake hands with this athlete, let my heart guide me.” “I was devastated when I found out I was going to be disqualified,” Charlan said.
The controversial handshake rule was also dropped. In any case, the disqualification of the fencers sparked outrage in Ukraine. IOC President Thomas Bach also spoke up and promised an Olympic spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to Charlan, who cannot qualify in the meantime,” Bach wrote in a letter to the Ukrainian fencer.
