The fifth Olympic medal in the career of the national team’s leader.
Sabre fencer Olga Kharlan brought Ukraine its first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics by winning the bronze match in the individual sabre fencing tournament.
Among the sabre fencers in Paris, three Ukrainians competed, two of whom — Alina Komashchuk and Olena Kravatska — were eliminated in the first round of the main draw. Olympic champion Kharlan advanced further, losing only in her fourth bout of the tournament.
How did Kharlan perform at the 2024 Olympics?
- Olga started the tournament with three confident victories on her way to the semifinals: against Japan’s Shihomi Fukushima (15:9), Azerbaijan’s Anna Bashta (15:6), and Hungary’s Anna Marton (15:7).
- She fenced for a place in the final against the world number two, Sara Balzer. In head-to-head bouts with the Olympic host, she suffered her fifth consecutive defeat — 7:15 in favor of the current team vice-champion.
- Kharlan’s opponent in the bronze final was South Korean Choi Sebin, who lost to another French fencer, current bronze medalist Manon Brunet, in the semifinal (12:15).
How did Olga Kharlan’s medal final go?
- Facing the world’s 24th-ranked sabre fencer, Kharlan took a slight lead after the initial exchanges, before the South Korean took the initiative and ended the first period with an 8:3 lead.
- In the second half of the match, the gap widened to six points in favor of Choi Sebin — 5:11. Kharlan managed to equalize with a series of six consecutive successful hits — 11:11!
- Kharlan continued her streak with a seventh successful hit and regained the lead at 12:11. Choi Sebin leveled the score again, and with two hits remaining for victory, the score was tied at 13:13.
- Two of the last three decisive moves were won by Kharlan — the Ukrainian clinched a narrow victory at 15:14 and the Olympic bronze!
What does Olga Kharlan’s result mean?
- Ukraine’s first medal at the 2024 Olympic Games was won on the third day after the official opening of the competition.
- This is the fifth medal in Kharlan’s Olympic career: following gold (2008) and silver (2016) in the team tournament and two bronze medals in individual competitions (2012, 2016, 2024).
- With this number of medals, she has equaled Ukraine’s Olympic record, which was previously held by swimmer Yana Klochkova — five medals.
- The first athlete in the history of Ukraine to win medals at four different Olympics in her career.
- This is the eighth Olympic medal in fencing in Ukraine’s history — Kharlan has contributed to more than half of them.
