IOC Guarantees Ukrainian Fencer to Compete at Paris Olympics

IOC Guarantees Ukrainian Fencer to Compete at Paris Olympics After 'Disqualification for Refusing to Shake Hands'

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has promised to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics for Ukrainian athlete Olha Harlan, who was disqualified after refusing to shake hands with a Russian player at the fencing world championships.

The IOC said in a letter on the 28th (local time) to Harlan, “If you do not qualify for the Paris Olympics for the rest of the period, 카지노사이트 considering your special circumstances, additional quotas will be allocated to Harlan.”

Harlan defeated Russian player Anna Smirnova 15-7 in the round of 64 in the women's saber individual event at the 2023 World Championships held in Milan, Italy the day before, but was disqualified after not shaking hands with Smirnova.

International Fencing Federation (FIE) rules state that the two fighters must shake hands once the match results are out, but Harlan refused to shake hands with Smirnova, who is from Russia at war with her country.

After her Harlan left first, Smir Nova sat in a chair on her piste and she stayed on the pitch for 50 minutes to express her protest and Harlan was disqualified.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year, athletes from Russia and Belarus, a supporter of the invasion, have been subject to sanctions such as banning them from participating in various international sports events.

Various restrictions were imposed, such as blocking the participation of players from teams belonging to the Russian and Belarusian military or contracted with the military, and preventing them from participating in team matches at all.

Except for women's professional tennis, the first case in which players from these countries faced each other on the international stage was the match between Harlan and Smirnova.

Controversy arose when a Ukrainian player was disqualified for refusing to shake hands.

Olympic fencing tickets are distributed based on world rankings, and in particular, the World Championships are the events that give the most ranking points.

The IOC first expressed its intention to invite Harlan in case Harlan could not qualify for the Olympics due to the disqualification of the event.

In the letter, the IOC said it would "continue to maintain full solidarity with Ukrainian athletes and Ukraine's Olympic community during this extremely difficult time."

"The most important thing for an athlete is to be able to compete for my family, team, country and everyone who supports me," Harlan told Reuters. said. He again urged the FIE to change the rules , emphasizing that

"during this war, we cannot shake hands (with Russian players). You must respect us." 

Harlan is a Ukrainian fencing hero who has won the World Championships four times in the individual event alone and helped win the women's saber team event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Chairman Bach, who leads the IOC, is also a former member of the German fencing team, and won gold medals in the men's foil team event at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the men's foil team event at the 1977 World Championships. 

Meanwhile, the FIE allowed Harlan to participate in the team event at the World Championships held on the 29th and 30th.