When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered tanks and troops into Ukraine in February 2022, it triggered Europe’s largest land invasion since World War II. Nearly two-and-a-half years later, the war grinds on with Ukrainians fighting a battle for survival and trying to push Russian forces out of their country.
After missing out on a medal at the last Games in Tokyo in 2021, the world of Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan – and that of her countrymen and women – was turned upside down.
“When I didn’t succeed in Tokyo, I thought it’s the worst time in my life and then, when the war started, I said nothing compares to what’s happening to all your country,” the 33-year-old told sources. “When you see any Ukrainian abroad or come back home, you speak only about 24th of February [and] how you spent the first day of the war. This is our story right now. We try to live with that. We try to build the future. This is the way to say to each other that we deserve to live, we deserve to exist. Nobody can take our home. We will fight to try that to the end and all the world will support us.”
Kharlan, competing at her fifth Olympic Games, is making up for lost time in Paris. Days after the opening ceremony, she claimed a dramatic individual bronze medal, rallying from a six-point deficit to beat South Korea’s Choi Se-bin and hand her country its first medal at the 2024 Games.
It served as a tonic for her to put on a brilliant performance and lead Ukraine to a stunning comeback win against South Korea for the country’s first gold in Paris.
