Ukrainian sabre fencer Olga Kharlan has accused the International Fencing Federation (FIE) of violating the World Championships regulations. Commenting on her disqualification from the tournament, our athlete noted that she should have been shown the so-called black card immediately after refusing to shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova, and not an hour and a half later.

Kharlan spoke about this on the air of the United News marathon. The 32-year-old 2008 Beijing Olympics champion stressed the particular cruelty of FIE officials and added that the judge of her match against Smirnova had handed down the punishment under pressure and literally in tears.

"I was already on my way to the next fight. I was in the call room and gave my equipment for inspection. The chief technical director took me away and told me that I would be disqualified. The judge who judged me is standing there... I can see that he is just white as a wall, he doesn't want to show the black card. But this proves that these people from the FIE are very tough on everyone, they don't care who you are. They forced the judge to give the card, and he left crying. We tried to prove that the card should have been shown immediately on the track, not an hour and a half later," Kharlan said.

We would like to remind you that Olga's decision to refuse to shake hands infuriated Smirnova, who staged a real circus - she brought a chair onto the track and refused to leave the platform.

The Russian representative lodged a protest against the outcome of the duel, which was rejected. The propaganda TV channel Match TV published a photo of the denunciation that Smirnova wrote against Olga. The Ukrainian later admitted what she said to the Russian after the fight.

It should be noted that Smirnova is not a "neutral" athlete, as required by the competition regulations. The representative of the aggressor country's brother is a military officer, and she is very proud of him, as can be seen from their joint photos.

Following the public outcry, the FIE cancelled Olga Kharlan's disqualification from the championships and amended the rules of the fights. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed the Ukrainian to participate in the 2024 Games.

This decision caused a real hysteria in Russia. Olympic champion Yana Yegoryan was outraged at Kharlan, and world athletics champion Yolanda Chen called Olga a criminal.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, a video has emerged proving that the decision to disqualify Olga Kharlan from the World Fencing Championships was made under pressure from Russia.

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