Ukraine fencer's Olympic medal 'for athletes Russia killed'

First Olga Kharlan sank to her knees. Then she kissed the ground where she had just claimed an Olympic bronze medal, in acknowledgement of how it has served her over the years.

"I'm just thankful to the piste (the strip on which fencers compete) that I made it," Kharlan laughed when DW asked what was going through her mind at that moment.

It's her fifth Olympic medal. But none have been as significant or consequential as this one, with Russia's war continuing to ravage Ukraine.

"It's really special for me," Kharlan said after her win on Monday. "It's special because it's for my country. It's for people in Ukraine, it's for defenders [soldiers], it's for athletes who couldn't come here because they were killed by Russia.

"It's also for all the athletes who are here representing Ukraine. You have no idea how tough it is to prepare, to be confident, to be focused on competition when your home is under attack every day. It's really hard."

Kharlan cheered on by partisan French crowd

At one point, it looked like a medal was also far beyond Kharlan's grasp. Facing a six-point deficit, she seemed unable to pierce her stubborn opponent, Choi Sebin from South Korea. But Kharlan dug in.

"We are showing to all the world that we can fight," she said. "We don't give up, and I showed it, somehow."

Unlike in her semifinal, when she was beaten by eventual silver medalist Sara Balzer from France, Kharlan was cheered on by the mostly French crowd. Chants of "Olga! Olga!" rang out inside the arena at the opulent Grand Palais, transformed for the Olympic fencing competition, and they got louder with every point she clawed back.

"It helped me somehow," Kharlan said, adding her thanks to the crowd.

The 33-year-old admitted that she felt under a lot of pressure, with the hopes of so many Ukrainians resting on her achievements.

"You want to do it for your family, you want to do it for yourself," she said. "I've been at home five times probably for one week. It's all the sacrifices. All the news, all the tragic moments that we have, like when Russia bombs and kills people. We all take it. That's why it's tough."

A figurehead for Ukrainian athletes during wartime

In many ways, Kharlan has become the figurehead for Ukrainian athletes in standing up to Russia's aggression. 

That status was cemented in July 2023, when she was disqualified from the world championships in Milan for refusing to shake the hand of her Russian opponent, Anna Smirnova — a stance that cost her valuable Olympic qualifying points.

One month prior to that, with Ukrainian athletes forbidden from competing against Russian athletes at that time, Kharlan told DW in an interview that her chances of making it to a fifth Olympics were "ruined."

Criticizing the decision to allow some Russian athletes back into competitions as neutrals, Kharlan said in that interview: "We want to show the world that a country which is a terrorist state can't participate in competitions when the war is still going on."

And although she was given a guaranteed entry for Paris in the wake of the Smirnova incident by the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach — himself a former fencer — Kharlan and her teammates managed to qualify in their own right.

"It's incredible," she said. "First of all, I did it by myself with the team. Not with the wildcard. I'm here with a team that is third in the rankings. My team started the season from 19th in the rankings. That's why we're incredible."

Edited by: Matt Pearson