Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan has been disqualified after refusing to shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova at the World Championships in Milan on Thursday.
Kharlan, a four-time Olympic medallist and world champion, won the individual saber bout 15-7 and then refused to shake hands with her opponent, instead offering her saber to tap blades.
Smirnova remained on the piste for over half an hour after the incident, speaking with a number of officials before leaving.
Ukrainian athletes in other sports - including tennis players Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk - have also refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Moscow using Belarus as a staging ground for what it calls a "special military operation".
In fencing's rules, shaking an opponent's hand is mandatory and failure to do so results in a 'black card'.
"We fully support Olga Kharlan in this situation. We are preparing a protest," Mykhailo Illiashev, president of Ukraine's fencing federation (NFFU), said in televised comments. "We will appeal this decision, because the referee who judged this match did not give directly a black card or disqualify her.
"It was only later that the underhanded games began and this disqualification appeared already after the next opponent was determined, already after a judge for the next competition was determined."
Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Huttsait described the incident as "an obvious provocation from the Russian side".
Huttsait, a gold medallist in team sabre at the 1992 Barcelona Games, told a press conference that Smirnova "approached (Kharlan), provoked her, holding her hand up for a long time and waiting.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, writing on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, said Smirnova "lost the fair competition and decided to play dirty with the handshake show. This is exactly how Russian army acts on the battlefield."
Illiashev said the NFFU anticipate the appeal to be considered within the next few days.
"In this case, we will seek to cancel this black card because this disqualification will make it impossible for her to participate in the team competition, which will be held in Milan in a few days," Illiashev said. "And it is important for us that our team performs."
The women's team sabre event begins on July 29.
Kharlan is representing Ukraine at the competition after the country's sports ministry on Wednesday relaxed its rules over national sports teams competing in Olympic, non-Olympic and Paralympic events that have competitors from Russia and Belarus.
Smirnova was competing as a neutral.
The International Fencing Federation (FIE) did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
© Thomson Reuters 2023.
27 Comments
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falseflagsteve
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Don’t need this in sporting events, shame on her for being a bad sport.
Mr Kipling
She broke the rule even if it is a stupid rule. No competitor gets to choose which rules to follow and which not to.
falseflagsteve
Mr Kipling
I agree, there’s an arrogance in these Ukrainians lately, obviously encouraged by the regime.
Eastman
good move.
rules are rules.
regardless political views or narratives.
ebisen
Rules are rules? As in "Rusians can kill children and deserve to have their hands shaken?"
TaiwanIsNotChina
What the heck was the Russian doing standing around? I hope it was because she knew she could get the Ukrainian disqualified and not because she thought she was morally entitled to anything but the barest acknowledgment that she exists.
Ed Kaihatsu
The title of this article is misleading!! I’ve been in the fencing world over 50 years. While it is in the rules that fences are required to shake hands after the bout, since Covid, to today, it is still acceptable to tap blades after the bout.
Why the FIE (International Fencing Federation) allows Russians to fence is a mystery. Most Russian athletes are the property of the state. Government funded through the military. She said she renounced the Russian military but she didn’t. Because the officials found out that, she was also black carded.
Kharlan did the appropriate minimum required to end the bout. The Russian felt she was entitled to a handshake (possibly for propaganda purposes). The RUSSIAN SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO COMPETE.
Kharlan is an honorable and ethical athlete. I’ve met her personally.
if you’re going to comment please read the article, not just the headline
JJE
It's also important to actually watch the video of the event.
After Smirnova removed her mask, Kharlan menacingly pointed her sabre right at her almost touching her. Clearly an unsporting, threatening and potentially unsafe gesture.
Politics out of sports and vice versa.
JJE
And why should one country have its people banned from sport for military action that impacts another country when other countries blatantly go around invading and attacking others, yet their citizens are never banned.
Double standards.
Peter14
A stupid idea to have sports played between players who's nations are at war. Not a normal circumstance and normal rules should be interpreted with some common sense. Clearly not done in this instance.
The solution is to not have such matches in any sport while the invasion is ongoing.
How many Russians would have happily shaken hands with Nazi sportsmen during the WWII carnage? Poor planning.
JJE
Fair point.
However, in an overall competition it will still be likely that they may face off sometime.
On your next point, during WWII there was a declared state of war between states (not the case at the moment).
The 1940 Olympics was meant to be Tokyo (cancelled obviously). The 64 games heralded as a kind of replacement for that venue.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Putin's war is the first war we've seen to gain territory in 80 years. Seems like a pretty clear standard to me.
cleo
If you watch the video, it's clear that Kharlan offered to tap blades, which, as Ed Kaihatsu points out, is a covid-friendly acceptable alternative to the handshake. There was nothing at all 'menacing' about it.
The russian on the other hand, far from offering a handshake, kinda flopped her left hand (a handshake is with the right hand) about in front of her, with her elbow tucked into her side, and then held it against the front of her body. If someone performed a manoeuvre like that in front of me, I would not assume they were offering a handshake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH0FxQG6r_8
Having a tantrum after a 15-7 defeat is hardly the epitome of sportsmanship. Poor loser. (Like Putin).
JJE
So the cutoff date for invasions and annexations for territory was 80 years ago (before then it was acceptable).
How about Israel and its multiple invasions that seized territory that has been annexed?
TaiwanIsNotChina
The UN charter made it expressly illegal about 80 years ago.
You can get exercised about the Golan Heights if you want and I would not object.
JJE
Hang on. You are saying a war without annexation is just fine. So, if Russia was just bombing them and had some troops there temporarily (say 20 years like the Afghanistan war), you wouldn't have any problem with that.
I find that hard to believe! You'd still be calling for them to be banned.
Dr.Cajetan Coelho
In victory or defeat, "Namaste" or warmly shaking hands with the other are time-tested practices among citizens of the Planet.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Maybe for the duration of the bombing, yeah. Since land is forever, Russia should expect to have its flag and anthem treated as hate symbols forever.
Peter14
In WWII Hitler only ever declared war against the USA. Never the UK, France, Russia or anyone else. But it was obviously a war, as is the invasion of Ukraine who have said they are at war with Russia.
JJE
You might want to check Wikipedia on that.
falseflagsteve
Still cannot understand why people are condoning unsportsmanlike like behaviour. It’s intolerable showing a total lack of respect. Sport is beyond politics and those competitors who cannot or will not behave in a decent manner should be disqualified. The decision was correct and I applaud it.
lostrune2
Rules are rules
Same as when the Russian sports institution cheated by doping their athletes, they're rightly banned for breaking the rules
TaiwanIsNotChina
Sports shouldn't require particular ceremonies unrelated to the activity. And Russians who haven't fled their country should not expect to be greeted with anything but the barest acknowledgement that they exist.
falseflagsteve
Taiwan
Its not a ceremony you silly sausage, stuff a handshake and it’s civilised and decent and sport should be just that not an exclusionary event for those you hallen to hate.
TaiwanIsNotChina
People will understandably not shake hands with people that want their country eliminated from the Earth.
TaiwanIsNotChina
That's why they get to be treated as human beings albeit under suspicion until they demonstrate that they are actually complicit. Adults have the ability to move from their fascist homelands, particularly ones that aren't poor. They could instead speak out but we know that lands them in prison.
Eliminating the democratically elected Zelenskyy government is tantamount to wanting the country eliminated. Now you can find several who have said that.
Just like babies that were born into Nazi Germany, we have to hope that the regime is ended in time for them to have a better education.
cleo
Have you watched the video? It's the russian who displayed unsportsmanlike behaviour and a lack of respect.
Her behaviour was not the offering of a handshake.
She lost the match, and went into a self-centred, wrist-flicking sulk.