Ukrainian fencer disqualified from World Cup on threats from Russians after scandal
Ukrainian fencer Olha Kharlan has told Football hub about the threats she received from Russians after refusing to shake hands with her Russian opponent at the World Fencing Championships.
Source: Kharlan in a comment to Football hub
Quote: "Threats reached me.
That country is half the planet’s size, but there’s very few normal people.
I can't say I expected this [threats – ed.].
But they sent some messages with photos of killed soldiers. After that, I actually started to worry, because I don't want to see that.
They are inhumans. There were messages like ‘die’ or something like that. They tried to call. Many times, using different numbers from different countries."
Background:
- Ukrainian fencer Olha Kharlan was disqualified from the World Fencing Championships in Milan after showing "lack of respect" for her Russian opponent. At the start of the tournament, Kharlan defeated the Russian athlete Anna Smirnova and refused to shake hands after their duel.
- 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.
- Olha Kharlan was automatically allowed to compete in the Olympics in Paris.
- The executive committee of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) overruled the black card for Kharlan.
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