At the World Fencing Championships in Milan, not only medals of a planetary scale are at stake, but also tickets to the next Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. From Russia, of course, only seven people are represented in a neutral state at the competitions, and even the majority are very young athletes. It turns out that the FIE has allowed all juniors to fight, who can only try to win something with very successful hands. The Russian team is seriously truncated in reserves, and, as you know, our guys are prohibited from participating in team events.
To all appearances, it is not necessary to count on a particularly successful performance. But even in such interesting circumstances, Ukrainian athletes, in addition to the notorious and habitual refusal to shake hands, in principle refuse to go on the platform if one of the Russians falls on their rivals.
The FFU has decided not to participate in those types of fencing where it is necessary to compete with Russian athletes. The President of the Ukrainian Fencing Federation, Mikhail Ilyashev, tried to explain:
— Nothing has changed for us, our delegation will participate in the World Championship. And where athletes from Russia and Belarus will compete, Ukrainian fencers will not take part. We have a commission of athletes headed by Olga Kharlan, who considered this issue. We always communicate with her, she is aware of all the circumstances. In addition, there is an order of the Ministry of Sports within the framework of the decision of the Council of Ministers. We, as a national federation, are bound by these decisions. How will they get out, shake hands with Russians or Belarusians? And in fencing, shaking hands after the end of the fight is a prerequisite, there is no other option, – the Tribune quotes the official.
In late January 2023, Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadim Gutzeit said that the Ukrainian national team could miss the 2024 Olympics if the Russian and Belarusian teams participate in it. However, after numerous scandals, Ukraine’s main sports department revised his opinion, and Gutzeit himself declared late last week that Ukrainians should take part in the qualifying competitions for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. “Russia and Belarus will not be officially invited to the Olympic Games. That is, the flag and other symbols of Russia and Belarus will not be there.”
But, apparently, the athletes themselves, despite the constant change in their leadership positions, deprive themselves of the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games. It turns out that the Ukrainian athletes themselves are sawing the very branch on which they have been sitting so tightly for the second year in a row. Most likely, this situation is happening against the wishes of the participants in the world championship in Italy, because it is stupid to think that one of the active musketeers of the boycott team will arbitrarily refuse to start his whole life, no matter what the underlying reason is.
The most interesting thing is that even fans of the Ukrainian national team scold sports officials and accuse the authorities of simply breaking the careers and dreams of the fencing team, urging athletes to participate in the fights and organizing protests after the fights are over.
