Ukrainian athlete Olga Kharlan was rightly disqualified for a vile act at the World Fencing Championships in Milan, when, instead of shaking hands, she pointed her saber towards the Russian woman Anna Smirnova. However, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) then suspended the suspension, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is ready to give her a license to the Games in Paris. Apparently, mayhem is now encouraged.
“Ukrainians will never shake hands with Russians” A disgraced Ukrainian who violated an important point of the rule during the tournament in Milan, without shaking hands with a Russian woman, had to go home. Perhaps this would have happened if not for the informational attack that she, together with the leadership of Ukrainian sports, brought down on the FIE and the IOC.
Firstly, Harlan's behavior provoked Ukrainians to write nasty things about our Smirnova on social networks. The poor Russian woman, who had just become a victim at the World Cup, was threatened with reprisal, they wished death on her and her loved ones. What happened there, in the normal world, should have been the subject of investigations. Of course, none of this happened. Ukrainian throughout the day did not stop complaining about Russia. She put pressure on pity and spewed negativity towards our country.
“Today I want to say that we, Ukrainian athletes, are ready to meet Russians in the sports arena, but we will never shake hands with them,” the athlete quotes AFP.
«I'm upset, but not because I regret what I did. I will never regret it. I know that Ukraine is very supportive of me now,» she said in a video interview with the Italian newspaper la Repubblica.
The decision of the IOC and the FIE is madness on the verge of idiocy. Initially, the FIE disqualified the Ukrainian. She was expelled from the number of participants in the World Cup in Milan. This should have been the end of it. However, today it became known that her suspension was canceled. La Repubblica reports that after the suspension of the suspension, Harlan will be able to compete in team competition at the world championship, where Olympic licenses are up for grabs.
But this is not all the indulgences that were given to the poor Ukrainian athlete. The IOC spit on all its principles, on the Olympic Charter, other values and granted Harlan a license to participate in the 2024 Games, which was joyfully reported by the head of the NOC of Ukraine Vadym Gutzeit. According to the IOC letter posted by Gutzeit, Harlan will be granted an additional Olympic license as an exception if the athlete cannot qualify for the Games in Paris on her own. Olympics 2024 is very high. And if she does something here, then the IOC will surely find a way to shove her into Paris. There would be a desire. And, apparently, Thomas Bach and company have a huge one. No one doubts that the IOC is no longer an independent structure.
They do only what the curators from one particular country tell them. The IOC is simply afraid of offending the Ukrainians, because the disqualification of the same Harlan would mean a victory for Russia in their eyes. Although this is complete nonsense, because according to the results of the whole story, our Anna Smirnova did not go further and lost her chances for World Championship medals.
But the IOC and FIE do not look at such trifles. Moreover, by such actions they set an example for other Ukrainian athletes, who now, in order to break into the Olympics, simply do not shake hands with the Russians.