Ukraine's Olga Kharlan (left) and the rest of the Ukrainian women's fencing team celebrating their gold medal win. Photo: AFP/FRANCK FIFE
Olga Kharlan got the winning touch for Ukraine's first gold medal of the Paris Olympics, ripped off her fencing mask and sank to her knees.
When she got up again, it was to dance on the piste wrapped in a Ukrainian flag and join teammates Alina Komashchuk, Olena Kravatska and Yuliia Bakastova in the celebrations.
Kharlan went in for the final leg of the women's team sabre final with South Korea, needing to turn around a three-point deficit to keep her team in the contest.
She had been thinking of Ukrainian troops fighting on the front lines as motivation, trying to keep her own emotions in check "like a robot."
And then she heard the crowd in Paris chanting her name.
"I couldn't believe it. They're shouting 'Olga, Olga!'" she said.
"It's beautiful. Thank you, Paris."
Olga Kharlan, right, takes on Jeon Eun-hye, one of the South Korean women's fencing team. Photo: AFP/FRANCK FIFE
Facing South Korea's Jeon Ha-young, Kharlan said she realised the key right then was to relax.
She did just that, and scored the eight points Ukraine needed for a 45-42 victory.
"At some point I said 'I'm going to have fun, I'm going to enjoy this moment,'" Kharlan said.
"I enjoyed all the fencing and just went for it."
It was Kharlan's second medal in Paris after an individual sabre bronze, and the sixth overall from five Summer Games for the country's most decorated Olympian. She had not won a gold medal since 2008 in Beijing, when she was 17.
She will leave Paris with her two medals a year after she was disqualified at the world championships for refusing to shake the hand of a Russian fencer, something that put her Olympic qualification in jeopardy.
The International Olympic Committee stepped in to allow Kharlan a direct spot at the Paris Games.
This story was first published by ABC News.
