Spoiled brats pouting over their hurt fee-fees are the same everywhere:
But hey, let’s look on the positive side. It turns out that Russians do know how to protest when the issue actually matters to them.
The Ukrainian winner was initially disqualified and stripped of the win until it became clear that viewers were not impressed.
I’m not seeing where she was reinstated—everything I can find said Ukraine is fighting for reinstatement, but that Kharlan’s next opponent was declared victor by default because she was disqualified.
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“Ukrainian winner was initially disqualified ”
The silver lining is this is a wake up call that russians in international competition are currently more trouble that they’re worth… reactions to FIE have been overwhelmingly negative and the story has picked up and I’ve yet to see anyone seriously defend what happened to Kharlan
Denis Zakharov has background on how the russians are even at that competition (spoiler…. pay offs!)
https://twitter.com/betelgeuse1922/status/1684803085280137216
“Ukrainian winner was initially disqualified”
Apparently the uproar was too much for FIE and Kharlan has been reinstated in the tournament…. for the stupidest possible reason…. nothing to do with the war or anything like that. Apparently she was not required to shake hands because of…….. (wait for it) ………. covid protocols!
The Internaitonal Olympic Committee has apparently automatically qualified her for the 2024 games…. (the Italian tournament was apparently an olympic qualifying even).
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And it actually looks like tapping blades has actually been considered equivalent to the handshake for years. It was formalized during COVID, sure, but it was considered acceptable well before that. Apparently the issue was that Smirnova refused to touch blades, and so the “handshake” never took place. But the match doesn’t end until both fencers are off the fencing strip—so Smirnova used that as a way to protest the lack of “handshake” even though Kharlan did actually attempt one. But because the official rules specifically state hands and make no mention of blade tapping, officials who like to quibble over teeny tiny details decided that Kharlan would also be disqualified.
Does it make zero sense? Absolutely. Both sides attempted a form of the handshake/salute thing but neither completed it. Which to be honest is a lot more petty on Smirnova’s part—it’s sort of like saying “you beat me, but I’m going to make sure you lose too.”
Which backfired spectacularly—Smirnova comes across as a petty bitch, especially with the reversal and the IOC endorsement (and people will remember Kharlan far longer than they’ll remember a petty bitch). I hope they do manage to clear the black card from Kharlan’s record completely—apparently it can cause instant disqualification from international competitions.
“backfired spectacularly—Smirnova comes across as a petty bitch”
I’m sure she’ll be turned into a celebrity and get far more attention in russia than she would have had she won….
I’m pretty certain that’s why she did it, a chance to brand herself a martyr for the russian cause.
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