Kharlan has received an Olympic spot and had her ban from the Fencing World Championships lifted after she declined to shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova last year.

As the first fencer to face a Russian or Belarusian since the full-scale invasion of her country, Kharlan won 15-7 in Milan. Following the match in July 2023, the 32-year-old declined Smirnova’s handshake and offered her sabre for a blade tap instead.

"When you face them on the track (the Russians), or just when they are there, you can't be nice. It's impossible to accept that. After the disqualification I got a wild card (invitation) and they let me come back (to the team competition), but it was one of the worst days of my life," she said in an interview with AFP.

"I cried like never before, for two hours, sitting on the floor and feeling helpless, with a mixture of anger and sadness. Then I started receiving messages, many messages on Instagram. I received 100,000 comments in one day. They thanked me for the hope and determination I conveyed to them. They also harassed me. They made my information public, my address, my phone number. They called me, they sent me photos of soldiers. dead Ukrainians."

Kharlan, a four-time Olympic medalist in 2008, 2012 and 2016, has since shared how the sport provides "hope" to her compatriots "who are on the front line" as she gears up for the Olympics in the French capital.

"There is a big emotional component to manage," she continued. "When the war started, I went there to take my sister and nephew to Italy. Nobody knew what was going to happen, since Mykolaiv is right next to Kherson, which was occupied. 

"It’s our Ukrainian character; we want to be at home. My parents live in Mykolaiv, where there are about five warning sirens a day. My sister returned to Kyiv, where my nephew goes to school.

"There are days when I don't look at my phone. During a competition, I saw that Kyiv had been attacked ten minutes before I had to go out. I called my family and no one answered. That's the worst. I started to panic because you never know, it's a lottery. Unfortunately, I got used to it. I've been working a lot mentally with my psychologist on this issue for two and a half years."

It has been revealed no Russian or Belarusian athlete will participate in fencing at the Olympics, and Kharlan spoke of their omission.

"It's a success. In some other sports they will be there. Some have neutral individual athlete status, but they support the invasion. In fencing, things are good. Recently, that Olympic champion (Russian Yana Egorian, gold in saber in Rio 2016) shared a photo of himself and children with the flag of the Donetsk Republic (on 11 June, on his Telegram channel). 

"I couldn't believe it. How can you be so closed-minded? That shows everything: nothing will ever change since after two and a half years you don't realise what's happening. Those athletes don't have their place in the Games. 

"Though it's the same for the others. Even if they don't wear the Russian colours. The podium, if they are celebrated with Russian flags, t-shirts and everything else when they return home with their medals, what purpose will it have been then?"