These days, the World Fencing Championships are taking place in Milan. Russian athletes, despite all the difficulties and difficulties, were able to go to him to show the whole world their abilities, but from the first days of his stay in Italy, the attention of the world community was not focused on his fights, but on scandals.
It is important to note that the Russians and Ukrainians are not divided on the tournament grid and may well hold fights with each other, it happened that the blind draw brought Olga Harlan to our compatriot Anna Smirnova. The fight finally ended in favor of the Ukrainian 15:7. For the confrontation to be completed, the athletes had to shake hands. However, Olga put her sword forward when her rival approached her. Then she just walked away. Anna waited about an hour and also left the arena at the request of the organizers.
Photo source: RIA Novosti
By all the rules, Harlan should have been disqualified, but the judges did not take this into account. And then a reasonable question arises: what then is the meaning of such a ritual? Traditionally, it meant a gesture of respect for opponents of each other. And now what, can you choose which opponents to respect and which ones not to?
In addition, similar stories have already become commonplace in sports. In the same tennis, Ukrainians flatly ignore handshakes in matches with Russians. At the last Wimbledon, we were able to observe this image. Even the head of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpishchev, was stunned by this behavior. In an interview with Sovetsky Sport, he noted that Ukrainians interfere with politics in sports with all their might.
Photo source: Getty Images
Unfortunately, it’s hard to disagree with this statement. Respect and reverence for rivals have long been alien to many athletes. Sport is outside politics, this statement no longer makes any sense. Despite the admission of Russians to world championships, international federations continue to ignore Olympic principles. Well, maybe then you shouldn’t worry about all sorts of formalities like handshakes or hugs. As the classic said, oh, what times, oh, what morals.
