Ukrainian fencer's Olha Kharlan Barbie copy sold for $10,400
The personalized Barbie doll of Ukrainian Olympic fencing champion Olga Harlan was sold at auction for $10,400.
Kharlan recently announced she is selling a personalized copy of Mattel's Barbie doll, which is the only one in the world.
The charity auction was launched on the eBay platform. All funds will go to a clinic in the Volyn region to rehabilitate Ukrainian soldiers who suffered as a result of the war.
Rehabilitation is an important part of our guys' future lives, Olga Kharlan is quoted on eBay as saying.
Olha Kharlan is the first Ukrainian to become a prototype for a Barbie doll. Mattel made her for a limited edition Barbie Role Models series to celebrate the brand's 60th anniversary. At that time, 40 famous women became prototypes, including scientists, entrepreneurs, heads of large businesses, athletes, artists, and doctors.
Olha Kharlan, the leader of the Ukrainian fencing team, was disqualified from participating in the world championships after she refused to "congratulate" the neutral athlete from Russia, Anna Smirnova, after her victory. The opponent of the Ukrainian went to the next round automatically.
After the fight was over, Kharlan refused to shake Smirnova's hand, offering to "bump" with a weapon. Not receiving an answer from the Russian, the Ukrainian fencer left the limits of the track.
The Russian athlete tried to protest Harlan's actions, referring to the refusal of the "congratulations" by the Ukrainian, which, according to the rules of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), is punishable by a black card – disqualification from the tournament. Despite this, Kharlan made it to the next round in the live scoreboard. who was supposed to meet the representative of Bulgaria, Ioana Ilieva.
However, the fight between Kharlan and Ilieva did not occur in the end; the female fencers did not even go on the track. And in the live scoreboard, it was noted that the Bulgarian athlete passed to the next round.
The competition protocol against Olha Kharlan has her being "excluded." Suspilne Sport, a source at the World Cup, says Kharlan was kicked out of the World Cup.
The FIE rules have only one interpretation of "exclusion" – it involves disqualification from the competition and suspension for 60 days from all further starts. The Ukrainian fencer has to miss the team fencing tournament, where there are no neutral representatives from Russia and Belarus.
