Paris 2024 Olympics: Ukraine wins first gold with women’s sabre team event

Olga Kharlan, who won individual bronze and Ukraine’s first medal in Paris, put on a brilliant performance to lead her team to a comeback win for the country’s first gold at the 2024 Games.

Paris 2024 Olympics: Ukraine’s fencers Olga Kharlan, Alina Komashchuk, Olena Kravatska and Yuliia Bakastova celebrate on the podium after winning the gold medal in the women’s team sabre competition at the Grand Palais on Saturday. | Photo Credit: AP

Ukraine claimed the gold medal in the women’s sabre team event as it rallied to edge South Korea in a thrilling final bout at the Paris Games on Saturday.

Olga Kharlan, who won individual bronze and Ukraine’s first medal in Paris, put on a brilliant performance to lead her team to a comeback win for the country’s first gold at the 2024 Games.

Backed once again by an ecstatic Grand Palais crowd, Kharlan scored 22 touches in total to earn her sixth Olympic medal and become Ukraine’s most successful Olympic athlete.

“My strategy was to put my emotions aside, these are the Olympic Games,” Kharlan told reporters.

“I couldn’t believe the support I got here, they were chanting my name. Thank you Paris you nailed it. This is an amazing venue.”

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The win is also the second gold in the event for Ukraine after it won the title in 2008, while it has matched the two golds won by Russia at the 2016 and 2021 Games.

Kharlan, 33, attended the Paris Games via an IOC invitation after being disqualified for refusing to shake hands with a Russian opponent at last year’s World Championships in Milan, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“One year ago I was almost done with fencing. This story has had a very good ending,” she said.

Following the stunning triumph, Ukraine president Volodymr Zelenskiy praised the Ukrainian team.

“I thank them for the result, for the spirit, for showing that Ukrainians win!” he wrote on his X account. “Ukraine knows how to inspire both at the Olympic Games and times like these!”

Former Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko echoed Zelenskiy’s words labelling the result “historic”.

Despite the defeat, South Korea’s world number 10 Choi Se-bin, who lost to Kharlan in the individual bronze medal bout, said she was happy after her first Olympic medal.

“It is a great honour to win South Korea’s first silver in women’s sabre. I enjoy the bouts,” the first-time Olympian said.

Japan also won its first medal in the event, upsetting top-ranked France in the bronze medal match, with the host missing out on the podium despite having individual event champion Manon Apithy-Brunet and runner-up Sara Balzer.