Ukrainian fencer Olha Kharlan: 'With that black card they destroyed me, my country, everything'

After she was disqualified from the world championships for not shaking Russian rival's hand, her plight has become a touchstone for a war-torn nation Olha Kharlan remembers taking her kit, sitting quietly in a side room and contemplating a future without the sport she loves. It all seemed so nonsensical. She had been disqualified from the fencing world championships in Milan for not shaking hands with her Russian opponent, Anna Smirnova, and the price for exercising a point of principle had soa...