"In order to punish": Kharlan said about the planned provocation of the Russians at the World Cup

Russian Anna Smirnova and representatives of the Russian Fencing Federation prepared a plan to provoke Ukrainian Olga Kharlan during the World Cup-2023. The opponents of our compatriot knew that she would refuse to shake hands, so they decided to knock her out of the tournament by unsportsmanlike methods.

About this Kharlan herself told in an interview with TSN. According to our two-time Olympic champion, she did not give a single chance to the Russian rival, who after the Ukrainian refused to greet her, made a real circus, sitting on a chair right on the track.

"They knew I wasn't going to shake hands. They knew what to push. That was clear. They knew how to behave afterward. It was planned. There wasn't even some moment about winning: that she was going to beat me, move on, etc.... It was about punishment. When I went out on the track then, of course, I understood all these risks," Kharlan recalled that incident.

Then the World Cup organizers disqualified Olga for two months, but later the sanctions were lifted. In addition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted our saber fencer a personal license to participate in the Olympic Games 2024, where Kharlan won two medals.

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