Ukraine’s first medal at the 2024 Olympics belongs to fencer Olga Harlan, but she insists it’s not just hers.
Karlan overcame a six-point deficit to beat South Korea’s Choi Se-bin 15-14 to win the bronze medal in women’s sabre fencing on Monday, a medal she later dedicated to her country as it remains at war with Russia.
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“I brought a medal home to my country. It’s my first medal. It’s a good start for all the athletes here because it’s really tough to compete when your country is at war,” Karlan told reporters after the match. “Every medal is the same as a gold medal. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bronze medal, it’s a gold medal.”
Sebin Choi and Olga Carlson will compete in the bronze medal match in the women’s sabre individual fencing event at the Paris Olympics. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
Just 140 athletes will represent Ukraine at the Olympics, the country’s smallest ever participation in a Summer Olympics due to hundreds of deaths during the war.
A display of sports equipment has been set up in London’s Parliament Square to commemorate the 487 Ukrainian athletes killed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The war between Russia and Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, just a few days after the closing of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, has now lasted for two years, five months and one week. This conflict indirectly caused Karlan to lose the chance to even compete in the Paris Olympics if there had not been a “special exception.”
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At the 2023 World Fencing Championships, Karlan was disqualified from the competition after refusing to shake hands with a Russian opponent she had defeated. As the World Championships are a key Olympic qualifier, this disqualification also resulted in Karlan being suspended for two months, putting her Olympic dream in jeopardy.
However, the International Olympic Committee later granted her a “special exception” to ensure she could compete in Paris, and fencing’s governing body also overturned her disqualification and two-month suspension, and passed an official rule making post-match handshakes optional.
Olga Karlan celebrates winning the bronze medal in the women’s individual sabre fencing event at the Paris Olympics. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
The ruling allowed Karlan to compete and win her country’s first Olympic medal since the Russian invasion.
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“I can tell you I wouldn’t want to change anything,” Karlan told reporters about her trip. “What I’ve been through is representative of what my country is going through. I wouldn’t want to change anything. This is my story.”
Meanwhile, Russia will likely not win any Olympic medals in Paris.
At the women’s sabre individual awards ceremony at the Paris Olympics, Olga Harlan, bronze medalist for the Ukrainian team, erupted in joy on the podium. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
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When Russia invaded Ukraine just four days after the end of the 2022 Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee deemed the attack a violation of the Olympic Truce, which calls for all nations to lay down their arms and refrain from participating in conflicts from one week before the start of the Olympics until one week after their end.
As a result, Russian athletes are not allowed to compete under their country’s flag in Paris, but they can compete as “individual neutral athletes”.
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