PARIS (AP) — A handshake could have cost Olga Kharlan her place at the Olympics. Instead, she won Ukraine's first medal of the Paris Games to give a country at war something to celebrate.
Kharlan overturned a six-point deficit to beat South Korea's Choi Sebin 15-14 for the women's saber fencing bronze medal Monday in a comeback that energized the crowd.
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PARIS (AP) — A handshake could have cost Olga Kharlan her place at the Olympics. Instead, she won Ukraine's first medal of the Paris Games to give a country at war something to celebrate.
France's Manon Apithy Brunet, right, competes with France's Sara Balzer in the women's individual Sabre final match during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Ukraine's Olga Kharlan celebrates after winning the women's individual Sabre bronze final match against South Korea's Choi Sebin during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
South Korea's Choi Sebin, left, and Ukraine's Olga Kharlan arrive to compete in the women's individual Sabre bronze final match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Ukraine's Olga Kharlan celebrates with her coach after winning the women's individual Sabre bronze final match against South Korea's Choi Sebin during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Ukraine's Olga Kharlan celebrates after winning the women's individual Sabre bronze final match against South Korea's Choi Sebin during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
She counted to five on a hand decorated with nail varnish in Ukrainian yellow and blue, a five-time Olympian winning her fifth career medal.
Kharlan's latest medal is nothing like the others.
“I brought a medal to my country, and it's the first one, and it's going to be a good start for all our athletes who are here because it's really tough to compete when in your country is a war,” she said. “Every medal, it's like gold. I don't care (that) it's bronze. It's gold.”
Kharlan was disqualified from last year's world championships — a key Olympic qualifier — for refusing to shake the hand of a Russian opponent after winning their bout.
It was an incident that highlighted the tension over whether to allow Russian athletes to keep competing following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Amid a mounting backlash, the International Olympic Committee stepped in to hand Kharlan a “unique exception” — a guaranteed spot at the Games. Fencing’s governing body rescinded a two-month ban it had imposed along with the disqualification and made handshakes optional soon after.
“I can say that I wouldn’t change anything," Kharlan said about whether she had thought her Olympic dream was over. “What I went through, it represents my country, what it goes through, and I wouldn’t change anything. This is my story.”
The vocal — even rowdy — French crowd has been a revelation in the usually genteel world of fencing.
The vast and spectacular Grand Palais echoed to cheers, boos and the French national anthem over the first three days of Olympic fencing. Sometimes the crowd stomps until the tall metal stands rattle.
What they hadn't seen until Monday was a French gold.
They got it as two French fencers, Sara Balzer and Manon Apithy-Brunet, advanced to face each other in the women's saber final. Apithy-Brunet won her third Olympic medal and first gold 15-12 in a celebration of French fencing as every touch for either fencer greeted with cheers and warm applause.
Until then, French fencers had contested two finals and lost both, with Auriane Mallo-Breton second in women's epee Saturday and Yannick Borel the runner-up in men's epee a day later.
The men's foil final was later Monday.
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
France's Manon Apithy Brunet, right, competes with France's Sara Balzer in the women's individual Sabre final match during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
France's Manon Apithy Brunet, right, competes with France's Sara Balzer in the women's individual Sabre final match during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Ukraine's Olga Kharlan celebrates after winning the women's individual Sabre bronze final match against South Korea's Choi Sebin during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
South Korea's Choi Sebin, left, and Ukraine's Olga Kharlan arrive to compete in the women's individual Sabre bronze final match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Ukraine's Olga Kharlan celebrates with her coach after winning the women's individual Sabre bronze final match against South Korea's Choi Sebin during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Ukraine's Olga Kharlan celebrates after winning the women's individual Sabre bronze final match against South Korea's Choi Sebin during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
A key employee who labeled an experimental submersible unsafe prior to its last, fatal voyage began his testimony Tuesday before U.S. Coast Guard investigators.
David Lochridge is one of the most anticipated witnesses to appear before a commission trying to determine what caused the Titan to implode en route to the wreckage of the Titanic last year, killing all five on board.
Lochridge is former operations director for OceanGate, the company that owned the Titan and brought it on several dives to the Titanic going back to 2021. He claimed several years ago that he was fired for raising safety concerns.
His testimony began a day after other witnesses painted a picture of a troubled company that was impatient to get its unconventionally designed craft into the water. The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
Among those killed was Stockton Rush, co-founder of OceanGate. The company, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion.
OceanGate's former engineering director, Tony Nissen, kicked off Monday's testimony, telling investigators that he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years before Titan's last trip.
“‘I’m not getting in it,’” Nissen said he told Rush.
When asked if there was pressure to get Titan into the water, Nissen responded, “100%.”
But asked if he felt that the pressure compromised safety decisions and testing, Nissen paused, then replied, “No. And that’s a difficult question to answer, because given infinite time and infinite budget, you could do infinite testing.”
OceanGate's former finance and human resources director, Bonnie Carl, testified Monday that Lochridge had characterized the Titan as “unsafe.” Lochridge is expected to provide more perspective on what caused the implosion.
Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan's unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.
During the submersible's final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the Titan's depth and weight as it descended. The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here,” according to a visual re-creation presented earlier in the hearing.
When the submersible was reported overdue, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.
Scheduled to appear later in the hearing are OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein and former scientific director, Steven Ross, according to a list compiled by the Coast Guard. Numerous guard officials, scientists, and government and industry officials are also expected to testify. The U.S. Coast Guard subpoenaed witnesses who were not government employees, said Coast Guard spokesperson Melissa Leake.
Among those not on the hearing witness list is Rush’s widow, Wendy Rush, the company’s communications director. Asked about her absence, Leake said the Coast Guard does not comment on the reasons for not calling specific individuals to a particular hearing during ongoing investigations. She said it’s common for a Marine Board of Investigation to “hold multiple hearing sessions or conduct additional witness depositions for complex cases.”
OceanGate has no full-time employees at this time but will be represented by an attorney during the hearing, the company said in a statement. The company said it has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began.
The time frame for the investigation was initially a year, but the inquiry has taken longer. The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the Coast Guard. When the hearing concludes, recommendations will be submitted to the Coast Guard’s commandant. The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting an investigation.
Coast Guard's Thomas Whalen, left, speaks with Nicole Emmons, right, during a break for the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Coast Guard's Thomas Whalen speaks with another Coast Guard member during a break for the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Jason Neubauer, board chairman, of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing pauses for a moment of silence inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Coast Guard members of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing pause for a moment of silence inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Coast Guard members of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing take an oath inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
A key employee who called the Titan unsafe will testify before the Coast Guard
FILE - This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company's Titan submersible. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP, File)
A key employee who called the Titan unsafe will testify before the Coast Guard
