Like all her compatriots, the four-time world sabre champion is suffering from the war launched against her country by Russia. She worries about her loved ones. His father has been sleeping for a year in an air raid shelter, for fear of bombing.

She is especially furious that the IOC and the International Fencing Federation (FIE) have allowed the Russians and their Belarusian allies to return to international competitions, even if individually under a neutral banner. But she also blames her own government for banning its athletes from competing in events where the Russians are fighting.

"How many chances should we give the Russians? The war is not over yet," she said. IOC President "Thomas Bach says there are other wars in the world, but to my knowledge, no one except Russia has started three in recent memory."

"How are Ukrainian athletes supposed to feel? The IOC should stand with us and do justice, when in fact they are doing things totally against us," she said.

"On the front"

For Kharlan, it is even a double penalty, since due to Kiev's policy, the double individual Olympic bronze medallist - she also won team gold in 2008 and silver in 2016 - could miss out on qualifying for the Paris Games because she fails to participate in the qualifying tournaments.

She therefore pleads for fencers to be able to do like their tennis counterparts, who grit their teeth and play against the Russians and Belarusians. "I'm really proud of our tennis players and I imagine myself in their shoes, facing the people whose country bombs and kills our compatriots."

"It must be very hard," she admits, "but you know you have to do it because it's a way to fight, you're a fighter in your own way," said the Ukrainian, who fully justifies the refusal of the Ukrainians to shake hands with the Russians and Belarusians after the matches.

"They're right not to shake their hands, I can't imagine doing it myself," she says, "there are several fronts, we in sports, it's also a fight and a struggle."

Especially since the feedback she has had from fighters from the front has moved her to tears: "I hope I will participate in the individual events (of the Games) because I think it is very important for Ukrainians in general," she explains.

"The soldiers who protect us follow our results," she said: "When I heard that someone on the front line was watching my fight online, I was speechless. I couldn't believe it! Oh my god! They take time when they protect my family from watching fencing! You feel proud of yourself, it's so cool, what an honor!"

Sirens and explosions

Since leaving at the start of the war in February 2022, Kharlan has only returned to Ukraine twice – she lives with her Italian boyfriend – and each stay has been a salutary reminder of what her family and compatriots face on a daily basis.

Olha Kharlan on July 26, 2021 in Chiba after losing to Yang Hengyu of China in the sabre competition of the Tokyo © Olympics Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP/Archives

She was in Lviv last October for the Ukrainian championships - "unbelievable even in wartime, we were able to organize them," she said. "I was with my mother... And for the first time in my life, I heard explosions, airstrike sirens and rockets."

"I was scared. But my mom looks at me and says +That's the way it is, okay, that's the way it is, you have to stay calm+."

In an ideal world – "everyone knows the world is not perfect," she says – Kharlan would like her family to come to Paris next summer to support her during the Games.

"It's not my dream," she says, "my dream, it would be the end of the war, but it's my goal to be in Paris, and to have my family there to see me."

© 2023 AFP