the essential
Ukrainian sports star, fencer Olga Kharlan says she has “unfortunately got used” to the “lottery” of bombings in her country where her family lives. In an interview with AFP before the Paris Games, the saber with four Olympic medals (2008, 2012, 2016) also said she was convinced that “sport gives hope” to those “on the front”.
How do you prepare for the Olympic Games when your country is under siege?
We have so much emotional baggage to deal with. When the war started, I went there to bring my sister and my nephew back to Italy. Nobody knew what was going to happen because Mykolaiv is right next to Kherson which was under occupation. This is our Ukrainian soul, we want to be at home. My parents live in Mykolaiv where there are about five warning sirens a day. My sister returned to kyiv where my nephew is in kindergarten. They are holding up.
And you, how do you manage this situation remotely?
There are days when I don’t look at my phone. During a competition, I saw that kyiv had been hit ten minutes before having to enter the track. I called my family and no one answered. That’s the worst thing. I started to panic because you never know, it’s the lottery. Unfortunately, I got used to it. I have been working a lot mentally with my psychologist on this subject for two and a half years.
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With five individual podiums this season, you seem to be able to manage…
This season, yes, but remember the one before. I was close to quitting fencing. In competition, I wanted so much to prove something and win for my country, for my parents because sport gives hope and positive emotions. But for half a year, I didn’t have the slightest team or individual result. When in Tunis (in January 2023, editor’s note), I won my first international medal in three years, I thought: ‘I’m going to do it, I’m going to fight’. And I received a lot of support from Ukraine, you can’t imagine to what extent we are followed by the soldiers defending us on the front.
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At the Worlds in 2023, you were the first athlete representing Ukraine to face a Russian since the invasion, before being disqualified for not having shaken the hand of your opponent Anna Smirnova, what remains of this daytime ?
When we face them on the track (the Russians, Editor’s note) or simply when they are there, we cannot be placid. This is impossible to accept. After the disqualification, I got a wild card and I was finally let back (for the team competition, Editor’s note). But this is one of the worst days of my life. I cried like never before for two hours, sitting on the floor feeling helpless, in a mixture of anger and sorrow. Then I started getting messages, a lot of messages on Instagram. I received 100,000 in one day. They thanked me for the hope and determination I gave them. I was also harassed, of course. They made my data, my address, my phone number public. People called me, they sent me photos of dead Ukrainian soldiers.
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No Russians or Belarusians will participate in fencing at the Games, is this a good thing?
It is a success. Because in some sports, they will be there. Some have the status of neutral individual athletes but they support the invasion anyway (the Ukrainian Olympic Committee contests the status of several Russian athletes, Editor’s note). In fencing, things are correct. Recently, this Olympic champion (Yana Egorian, titled in saber in Rio) broadcast a photo of her and children with the flag of the Republic of Donetsk (June 11 on her Telegram channel, Editor’s note). I couldn’t believe it. How can you be so closed-minded? That shows it all: nothing will ever change because after two and a half years, she still doesn’t understand what’s happening. These athletes have no place at the Games. But it’s the same for others. Even if they don’t have Russian colors on the podium, if they are celebrated with Russian flags, t-shirts and everything else when they come back with their medals, what’s the point?
