Olga Kharlan
Olha Hennadiivna Kharlan ( (also known as Olga Kharlan); born 4 September 1990) is a Ukrainian sabre fencer. She is a four-time individual women’s world sabre champion, and a four-time Olympic medalist. She has been ranked #1 in the world in women's sabre for five years: in 2012–14, 2017–18, and 2019–21. Kharlan is also a two-time team world sabre champion, six-time individual European champion, and two-time team European champion. Also a four-time Olympian, she is a 2008 team Olympic champion, 2016 team Olympic silver medalist, and two-time individual Olympic bronze medalist. Kharlan competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2012 London Olympics, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Kharlan was inducted in the hall of fame of the International Fencing Federation (Fédération Internationale d'Escrime; FIE). She briefly pursued a political career. Competing at the 2023 World Fencing Championships in Milan, Italy, on 27 July 2023, a key ranking event for Olympic qualifying, Kharlan defeated Russian Anna Smirnova 15–7. After her defeat Smirnova extended her hand to Kharlan, who in turn extended her sabre in an offer to the Russian to tap blades. Kharlan said her choice of salute was meant as a sign of respect for her opponent, while still acknowledging the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. After a long delay during which Smirnova protested, sat on the strip for 45 minutes, and refused to move, Kharlan was ultimately black-carded and eliminated from the championship by FIE officials. The Ukrainian delegation filed an appeal. The following day, in order to compensate Kharlan for her loss of an opportunity to earn Olympic qualifying points in the individual world championship and for the humiliation of the prior day's disqualification, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach wrote that the IOC would automatically qualify her for the 2024 Summer Olympics. In addition - after consultation with the IOC - the FIE reluctantly reversed its decision barring her from the competition, opening up the opportunity for her to compete in the team world championships. However, since the individual competition had already concluded at that point, the FIE's reversal came too late to allow Kharlan to pursue her fifth world individual championship. Personal life Kharlan was born in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Her father was a sailing and swimming coach, and taught her to swim when she was still a baby. He also moonlighted as a construction worker and a cab driver. Her mother worked as a painter and plasterer. Kharlan's first interest was samba, cha-cha, and ballroom dancing, but the lessons were too expensive for her parents. When she was 10, her godfather, sabre coach Anatoly Shlikar, suggested that she take up fencing, where the lessons were free; she settled on the sabre as her weapon a year into training. For the first two years that she fenced, because she could not afford her own equipment, she borrowed the shoes, sabre, and fencing attire of others. She came under the training of Artem Skorokhod, who remained her coach as of