Olga Kharlan wins Ukraine’s first medal in Paris

Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan won the country’s first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women’s individual saber event at the Grand Palais on Monday, July 29.

Five-time Olympian Kharlan reached the semifinals by defeating Japan’s Fukushima Shihomi (15:9), Azerbaijan’s Anna Bashta (15:6), and Hungary’s Anna Marton (15:7), but she lost to top seed Sarah Balzer (7:15) of France in the semifinals.

Kharlan overturned a six-point deficit to beat South Korea’s Sebin Choi, 15-14, to earn a bronze medal.

The Ukrainian fencer was disqualified from last year's world championships, a key Olympic qualifier, for refusing to shake the hand of a Russian opponent Anna Smirnova after winning their bout.

Amid a mounting backlash, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stepped in to hand Harlan a “unique exception”, a guaranteed spot at the Games. The fencing’s governing body overturned a two-month ban it had imposed along with the disqualification and made handshakes optional soon after.

Kharlan has now earned a total of five Olympic medals in both team and individual events, but her latest medal is nothing like the others.

“I brought a medal to my country, and it is the first one, and it is going to be a good start for our athletes who are here because it is really tough to compete when your country is at war,” Kharlan said post match.

“Every medal is like gold. I don’t care that it is bronze. It is gold.”