Famous Ukrainian sabre fencer Olga Harlan spoke about her experiences at the 2023 World Fencing Championships. The 32-year-old native of Mykolaiv was disqualified for refusing to shake hands with a Russian athlete.

Harlan posted a video on her Instagram where she shared her emotions and experiences. Olga believes that what happened at the tournament raises a lot of questions, "but also a lot of answers".

Harlan reiterated that the country that terrorises Ukraine and Ukrainians also terrorises sport.

"I did not want to shake hands with this athlete, and I acted with my heart. So when I heard that they wanted to remove me from the competition, disqualify me and give me a black card, of course, it killed me. It killed me so much that I was screaming in pain," Harlan could not contain her emotions.

Olga admitted that she was revived by Ukrainians who started writing heartfelt words of support on social media.

"Thank you to each and every one of you. I thank every soldier who protects us. You know, we can never force anyone to peace, especially Ukrainians. Never. Not with a handshake. Never. So it will always be like this," the Ukrainian athlete concluded.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, the propaganda TV channel Match TV published a photo of the denunciation that Anna Smirnova wrote against Olga, and Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matitsyn called the FIE's decision to punish the Olympic champion from Mykolaiv the right one.

Smirnova herself is not a "neutral" athlete, as required by the competition regulations. Smirnova's brother is a military officer, and she is very proud of him, as can be seen from their joint photos.

The Ukrainian Fencing Federation is preparing a protest. However, the appeal will not be considered immediately, which means that the Beijing 2008 gold medallist will not be able to continue competing in the individual events at the tournament.

People's deputy and Olympic wrestling champion Zhan Beleniuk voiced information that Harlan and the FIE had originally had an agreement that provided for a refusal to shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova.

Later, the head coach of the Ukrainian national fencing team, Natalia Konrad, told us what really happened to Harlan.

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