"Calls from Moscow" and the "man in black". A new twist has emerged in the Kharlan scandal at the Fencing World Cup

The head coach of the US national fencing team, Yuriy Gelman, said in an interview with the well-known Russian writer and journalist Yuliya Latynina that the decision to punish Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan was supervised by Moscow. According to Gelman, he learned about it from people from the commissions and from Harlan herself.

The coach said that the Ukrainian had already been awarded the victory, and the protocols showed that she won and passed to the next round. He spoke to the Ukrainian fencer 20 minutes after the match and she was sure that everything was fine, but then everything changed.

"There was some person. It's not clear who he was or what he was. In a black suit with a tie. He was on the phone with someone all the time and was demanding that it all be carried out. This lasted until it was pointed out that he had someone else's accreditation and was escorted out. It was clearly not a fencer because we know each other. Nobody knew him," Gelman noted.

When Latynina asked who the stranger on the phone was talking to, the coach suggested that the second end of the line was the International Fencing Federation (FIE) leadership from Moscow.

"I understand, as I was told, there were calls from Moscow to make sure protocol was followed and technically, yes, that's correct. They put together a commission which decided on the 'black card'. They say he demanded that all the rules be followed. That there had to be a handshake. If they didn't shake hands, then it was a 'black card' and he demanded that all of them comply with it," Gelman added.

Gelman summarized that the FIE is the most corrupt federation in the world.

"It was ruled by the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov until March 2022. All the management is put by him and they lobby for him and Russian interests," summarized the specialist of the American national team.

As reported OBOZREVATEL, Kharlan defeated Russian Anna Smirnova in 1/32 of the world championship 2023 in Milan. Our compatriot after the fight refused to shake hands with her opponent, who made a real circus, refusing to leave the track.

The representative of the Russian Federation filed a protest against the result of the duel, which was rejected. The propaganda channel Match TV published a photo of the denunciation that Anna Smirnova wrote on Olga. As a result, the FIE disqualified Kharlan from the World Cup-2023, but the next day suspended its decision.

Our saberist herself noted that she was simply killed by the decision to exclude her from the tournament.

Note that Smirnova is not a "neutral" athlete, as required by the regulations of the competition. The brother of the representative of the aggressor country is a military man, and she is very proud of him, which is evident from the joint photos.

After the high-profile publicity in the world media, the IOC also reacted to the scandal by making a sensational decision on the Ukrainian.

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