Who is Olha Kharlan?

About childhood, principles and beliefs

In my childhood, I was terribly restless. I was always fussing around; the knees were constantly green. I was often friends with boys; almost all the holidays spent in my grandmother’s.

Mom tells me that I always had to be watched. Just turn aside – and I already ran away somewhere. Having been one year old, I hung on the bars. I also learned how to defend myself since my childhood.

The taste of childhood is the “Tic-Tac” mint dragee. When I was small, my uncle, father’s brother, often bought these sweets. I also loved to spread ketchup on the bread – it was my favorite sandwich.

I wanted to become a seller at a grocery store. I came to my mother at work and imagined that when I grew up I would stand at the counter and give the change. (laughs)

Sometimes I want to be a child a little bit. All these victories make you too adult. And I like to have a rest as in childhood: to make a fool and do nothing.

I was engaged in ballroom dancing for three years. It seemed like everything was doing well, but there were financial problems. Classes were paid, and their cost suddenly increased. Plus it was necessary to spend on suits.

My dream is a happy family. I want all my relatives to be healthy, not to need anything, and always to be close. The fencing gives me the rest.

What I can’t take seriously is the movies about musketeers. Because they fence more like actors than sportsmen. D’Artagnan would never have won the match with a professional.

The main thing is the willpower, dedication, the desire to win, never to give up, to go on, to try again until it comes out.

If a person is strong, then they are brought up well. I compare with my personal example because my mother is a very strong person. And I follow her example.

Peace is definitely not for me. I’m one of those who like to talk at competitions. If you just sit there when you have a lot of thoughts in your head, you can sometimes change your mind. If I have a few hours before the battle, then I can calmly talk to someone, even laugh. Sometimes it is useful.

I never suffered from a star fever. I always try to treat people with sincerity and kindness.

There is different popularity. I like being known in the world of sports, and if we talk about national fame, then I don’t feel it. Of course, it’s unpleasant when someone mingles with my private life and makes news out of it. No one needs such popularity.

I find motivation in the family, which is pleased with my victories, and certainly in the eyes of Ukrainians who root for me.

The way to sports and the first successes

My god-father brought me to the fencing, and he was the first coach – Anatoliy Shlikar. Once, we sat at the dacha, and he suggested my mother to try to give for fencing. Mom agreed – I immediately took the saber.

I myself didn’t choose, but a year later I learned that I like the saber more. This is my holy grail.

When I came to the fencing school, I didn’t have my own sneakers, my saber and mask. For a long time, about two years, during exercises I used collective equipment – I took a breastplate, a saber, a mask from a general box.

When I was just starting, I didn’t have any result for the first three years. As long as I was just beginning to understand what fencing was like until I just started liking it… I was pondering over whether I like it or not.

I was just curious because it wasn’t clear to me what this iron stuff was, why people screamed, why it’s so fast. I didn’t understand anything, but it was interesting for me to feel it from the inside.

I liked fencing with the guys because they are stronger and faster. Even now everyone says that I fence like a guy. But I worked hard. This is my character, I wanted to become someone.

When it began going well, I showed some results, then I realized that it was mine. I started winning and I liked it, I started winning the boys. When I got my first salary at age 14, I understood: well, I’ll stay here.

About sports, own rules and success

The main thing in fencing is not to clog your head with garbage, not to pay attention to increased responsibility and to throw off excessive pressure. Just fence for your pleasure.

I have never been convinced of victory. Saber is an unpredictable sport, everything depends on one moment.

When you reach the result that the provides the medal, it’s just an inexpressible feeling. This feeling can’t be described in words. It’s necessary to experience it.

I don’t know any champion who sat on the bench and won gold. How much tears, sweat, blood, nerves and strength were spent on it! Each medal is valuable, even if it is not gold. But you know how much you worked to get it.

On the fencing track, I try to behave well. And I love when my opponents behave like me. In general, when there is an honest battle. Sometimes, the rivals deliberately stall the time, argue with the judges, allow themselves a blunt word.

I still get nervous before fencing. This can be any competition. I think that every athlete should act this way.

The moral state and the right psychological mood are essentially the main components of my success. If you go out on the track with the thought of a possible defeat, nothing good is waiting for you.

Both in life and sports, an opponent should never be underestimated. It’s important to respect them.

Fencing is a creative sport. You can do colossal things. Not even a top athlete can use his reserves to the fullest. I can’t say that I’m a great athlete technically.

The idol for me is, of course, Serhiy Bubka. His merits before sports deserve special praise. Well, such sports stars as Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps, I think, are an example for any athlete.

I want to go to Tokyo [Summer Olympics 2020, E.D] because I dream about the gold medal of the Olympics. After that, I will consider what to do next. If the victory had taken place in Rio, I would have left the sports. But not now. I need gold.

I dedicate all my medals to my family and my country – those people who care for me, who are worried about me before every start, and especially those who protect me and my country. If not for them, I wouldn’t be able to win a medal for Ukraine, and perhaps I wouldn’t have such a place to go back from the competitions.

About sports in Ukraine and problems

If one of the authorities asked me what to do in the first place, I think I would name the conditions for training first of all. Gyms are the most important thing for an athlete. This is, without exaggeration, all his life.

I don’t know whom to blame for the fact that sports in Ukraine is in such a miserable condition. But in any case, everything goes from the government. If the authorities have no love for sports, then what more can be said? It turns out that we exist in spite of all these difficulties. And we’re just people who want to just work well and get Olympic medals for their work.

No need to compare sports abroad and what we have in Ukraine.

It’s a pity to sometimes meet people in Ukraine who don’t even know what fencing is. You say to the person, “I am engaged in fencing”, but a person answers, “What is this?”. Now, it’s true, this happens less frequently than before.

I have repeatedly been offered to play for other countries. People see that things in our country are not going well now and spot a promising athlete who can bring a medal and are ready to provide him with all the conditions. But I don’t agree. Because I believe: we will fix everything.

About Ukraine, support of the military and the return of the Crimea

I’m a citizen of Ukraine and I dream that my country would be at the borders that it had in 1991. I love Ukraine and I want it to be sovereign, democratic and independent.

Crimea is really my separate love. What’s happened is the annexation of the peninsula, call a spade a spade, this is simply an inadmissible thing.

It’s difficult for me to answer how far the reality of returning the Crimea is, and what needs to be done. But leave everything this way is unacceptable.

After the annexation of the Crimea, I have never been there, I don’t want and won’t go there until the peninsula returns to Ukraine. This is an occupied territory, and therefore it is temporarily not my country.

For me, it’s very important that our team is supported by our defenders in the East. They are actually watching sports. I don’t know how they manage to do it – they think about the country, about their families, about their lives, but they write that they find solace rooting for us. And it’s so motivating and touching to tears.

We don’t talk with the Russians about politics, the situation between the countries, the war. They know that for us this topic is painful and difficult… I think they perfectly understand what is happening in reality between neighboring countries.

In today’s difficult time for the country, we all lack the success stories – Ukraine is very strong, and it will definitely win. This is proved by our athletes in particular.

Our anthem should be heard more frequently, our flag should be hoisted higher…

We, sportsmen, try to bring victory closer to our results, efforts, achievements and medals. At least at the level of support for the military – by the emotions from our victories.

We are fighting in our world – in sports. We show who is really stronger on the track if you compete according to the rules.

Text by Dmytro Zhuravel

The publication was collected from numerous interviews, speeches, and appeals of the material’s protagonist.