Japanese fencer Kano, coached by Ukrainian, won gold at Olympics in Paris.

Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight.

Japanese fencer Koki Kano won a gold medal on July 28 in the individual epee competition at the 2024 Olympic Games. Kano, 26, has been training under the supervision of Ukrainian coach Oleksandr Horbachuk, who has been working with the Japanese fencing team for over 10 years. In 2021, the Japanese fencers, together with Horbachuk, won gold in the team tournament at the Tokyo Olympics.

This was Japan's first gold in fencing at the Olympics. Kano defeated Yannick Borel of France in the final with a score of 15-9. After defeating Borel, the Japanese became a two-time Olympic champion, as he also fenced in Tokyo at the team event.

Fencing competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics will be held at the Grand Palais in Paris from July 27 to Aug.

4. In the women's and men's competitions, both in individual and team events, participants will compete for 12 sets of awards. Ukrainian epee fencers Dzhoan Feybi Bezhura, Olena Kryvytska, and Vlada Kharkova competed in the individual tournament at the Olympic Games, taking 29th, 8th, and 7th place, respectively.

For the first time in history, two Ukrainian female athletes, Kharkova and Kryvytska, reached the Olympic quarterfinals in epee fencing. Ukrainian athletes will also compete in the women's individual saber fencing tournament, as well as in the women's team epee and saber fencing events.

Ukrainian athletes who will never have a chance to compete at the Olympics Audiences from across the world tuning into the Olympics kicking off with this Friday's opening ceremony in Paris should, as they enjoy the show, be conscious of why Ukraine will not be fully represented this summer - and at future athletic competitions.

Among the tens of thousands of Ukrainians ki...