"Nothing but a voucher": Russian Olympic champion can't calm down after Kharlan's admission to the Olympics

The President of the Russian Fencing Federation (RFF), Ilgar Mamedov, is once again outraged by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to grant Ukrainian Olha Kharlan a license to participate in the 2024 Games in Paris. At the same time, the Russian representative also accused our compatriot of violating the rules by refusing to shake hands with a rival from the aggressor country at the 2023 World Cup in Milan.

Mamedov said this in an interview with the Izvestia propaganda outlet. The two-time Olympic champion called the IOC's decision a devaluation "not only of the work of our athletes but also of those foreigners who made it to the Olympics"

"We all saw that they didn't care about these rules when they gave her an Olympic license. It's not that this has ruined our relations with the international federation as they were already non-existent in recent months. It crossed out all common sense. And it devalued not only the work of our athletes but also those foreigners who made it to the Olympics. They are fighting to go to Paris, while one of these vouchers was simply taken and given to an athlete for political reasons," Mamedov said.

Olha Kharlan did not shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova at the 2023 World Cup, who, after our fencer's action, went crazy, refusing to leave the track. She filed a protest against the result, which was rejected. Later, the Ukrainian was disqualified by the FIS under pressure from Russia.

It should be noted that the Russian representative does not meet the criteria of a neutral athlete, openly supporting the Russian Armed Forces. In an interview with OBOZ.UA, Olha Kgarlan spoke about her reaction to disqualification from the World Championships after refusing to shake hands with a Russian woman.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov accused Olha Kharlan of a wave of "hatred and threats" against the Russian after the World Cup scandal.

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