Ukraine at Olympics: Fencer Olga Kharlan wins first Ukraine's medal at 2024 Games.

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Key developments on July 29, day three of the Olympics: Fencer Olga Kharlan has won Ukraine's first medal, taking bronze in the women's individual saber event. Kharlan beat South Korea's Choi Se-bin 15-14 in a fiercely contested match.

She made her way to the Olympic semi-finals, beating Japan's Shihomi Fukushima, Azerbaijan's Anna Bashta, and Hungary's Anna Marton before losing to France's Sarah Balzer. Kharlan is a 15-time world championship medalist. The bronze makes her Ukraine's equal-most decorated Olympian in history by number of medals, and the first Ukrainian to win medals in four separate Olympic Games.

The pair of Oleksii Sereda and Kirill Boliukh took fifth place in the men's synchronized 10m platform final. After six rounds, they scored 412.65 points. Gymnasts -- Oleh Verniaiev, Ilia Kovtun, Ihor Radivilov, Nazar Chepurnyi and Radomyr Stelmakh -- took fifth place in the men's artistic team all-around gymnastics final with 254.761 points.

Fencer Olga Kharlan celebrates winning the fencing women's saber individual bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics on July 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

Who has advanced?

Rowers Stanislav Kovaliov and Ihor Khmara qualified for the semi-finals, finishing second in the repechage.

Tennis players Marta Kostiuk and Dayana Yastremska advanced to the second round of the 2024 Olympics in doubles, defeating Polish athletes Magda Linette and Alicja Rosolska 6-4, 6-1. In another tennis victory, Liudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok also qualified for the second round, beating Wang Xinyu and Zheng Saisai from China 6-1, 6-4. Finally, tennis phenom Elina Svitolina advanced to the third round of the singles competition, defeating the American No.

5 seed Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. ??

Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk (L) playing with Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska (R) returns against Poland's Magda Linette and Poland's Alicja Rosolska during their women's doubles second round tennis match at the Roland-Garros Stadium at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on July 29, 2024. (Photo by Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images)

Who has lost?

Judoka Daria Bilodid, a bronze medalist of the Olympics 2021, dropped out of the Games in Paris in the 1/8 final. She competed in the 57kg weight division and lost to Japanese athlete Haruka Funakubo. Bilodid earned three shidos (warnings) and was disqualified.

Swimmer Mykhailo Romanchuk failed to qualify for the men's 800-meter freestyle race. He finished the last with a time of 7:49.75 minutes. At the Tokyo Olympics, Romanchuk won bronze in this discipline and set the Games record in the qualifying round, 7:41.28.

Mykhailo Romanchuk competes in the men's 800m freestyle heats on day three of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on July 29, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Olena Kostevych and Viktor Bankin did not qualify for the finals of the 10-meter air pistol mixed team event.

They finished 13th in the qualifying round. Swimmer Nika Sharafutdinova made her debut at the Olympics but did not advance to the semi-finals of the 100-meter backstroke, finishing 22nd in the qualifying round. Fencers Alina Komashchuk and Olena Kravatska, as well as table tennis player Yaroslav Zhmudenko, dropped out of the Games.

Boxer Dmytro Lovchynskyi suffered a knockout defeat by Australia's Teremoana.

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...

Kateryna Denisova

News Editor

Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent.

She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics.

Kateryna holds a bachelor's degree in international journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv.

She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.Read more