Ukrainian fencer gets automatically qualified for Olympics

Olha Kharlan, a Ukrainian fencer who was disqualified at the Fencing World Championship in Italy for her refusal to shake hands with her Russian opponent has been automatically allowed to compete in the Olympics. Source: letter to Olha from Thomas Bach, President of International Olympic Committee (IOC); Vadym Guttseit, Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, on Facebook Quote: "Given your unique situation, the International Olympic Committee will allocate an additional quota place to you for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in case you will not be able to qualify in the remaining period.

We make this unique exception also because the ongoing procedures will in no case make up for the qualification points you missed because of your disqualification.."

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Details: Guttseit stated that the procedure of removing the back card from Kharlan's record is currently ongoing in Ukraine to facilitate her participation in forthcoming competitions. Why it is important: Besides the medals, licences for participation in the Olympics-2024 were awarded to the winners of the World Cup, where Kharlan was disqualified after the first match. Since the black card issued to Kharlan meant automatic disqualification from the team tournament, her chances to win an Olympic licence were slim to none.

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Background:

  • On 27 July, Ukrainian fencer Olha Kharlan was disqualified from the World Fencing Championships in Milan for "disrespecting" her Russian opponent after defeating her.

    Kharlan defeated Russia's Anna Smirnova 15:7 at the start of the tournament.

  • The disqualification will last 60 days.
  • The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has expressed its solidarity with Ukrainian athletes and called on international federations to be sensitive to competitions between Ukrainian and Russian neutral athletes.

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