Samele and the journey to save his partner Kharlan: “I suffer with her”

The phone rang in the middle of the night. Gigi Samele – first medal of the blue expedition to Tokyo with silver in his saber – was at the blue boarding school in Cascia. On the other side was his partner, the Ukrainian fencing star Olga Kharlan: “There is war, they are bombing Kiev”. Gigi has just returned to Bologna after flying to Budapest and returning by car, a 16-hour journey to bring Olga home. Kharlan in Ukraine is an absolute star, she is among the most famous athletes in the country for her many successes: from the gold with the team in Beijing at the age of 17, to the 4 world titles, to the two Olympic bronzes in London and Rio. Two years ago she gave the face to a Barbie, last autumn she reached the final in the Ukrainian edition of Dancing with the stars, she was ready to return to the platform after the Tokyo Games. “It’s hallucinating, in a moment their world changed – Samele tells on the phone -. And hearing what they say I feel like I went back to when I sat at the table with my grandfather and he told me when he had to look for bread, a piece of meat was stolen from us. It seems impossible that it will happen now, you don’t find yourself “.

Gigi, how were these days?

“Very difficult, after that phone call I told my teammates and the technical commissioner that I would go home. I packed my bags and went home, Olga was here to finish the paperwork for the residence permit. When I saw her I didn’t know. what to say, it’s such an absurd situation. It’s not like when something bad happens but you see a hope, or there is a disease and you know there can be a cure. Here on the one hand there is someone who wants to invade and from others a people who defend themselves “.

Then he decided to return to Ukraine.

“He didn’t eat, he didn’t sleep. He was always watching what was going on, looking for photos of the bombings to see if there was his house. His father and mother live in Kiev with his sister Tanya, the day the bombing the grandson turned one year old. Even in the greatest danger, I put myself in his shoes: I too would have liked to see my father and my mother in a situation like this. I told her: go, let’s get your sister out of Ukraine and your nephew. As soon as you cross the border I’ll take the plane and take you back here. “

How did you manage to do it?

“For the parents we found a house in the west of Ukraine, in an area that has not yet been targeted. Olga’s father is 58 and all men aged 18 to 60 cannot leave the country, because they could be called to fight. They live in a city between Kiev and Mykolaiv, which has been carpet-bombed for three days because it is near Odessa. They lived underground for a week. Olga went, took her sister and grandson with her and crossed the river border with Romania. There I asked for help from a fencing champion, Mihai Covaliu, who is now president of the Olympic Committee: he was super helpful. And in the end they managed to get to Hungary. I landed in Budapest and after 8 hours of travel we arrived in Bologna “.

How is the situation now?

“Olga and her sister feel guilty, because the parents are still there. They are all with me, we are looking for a house for the sister, here near us, I am arranging the documents. But I can’t get Olga off the phone”.

Fencing also excluded Russian and Belarusian athletes from competitions.

“It is a sensitive topic. I appreciated that the world federation did not post anything but the results. Russia is our historical opponent, there are athletes I have always known, but this is a way to put pressure on the Government. The world. has changed, the world must change “.

Is there still a place for fencing at a time like this?

“This morning I tried to train, I went to the gym to stretch my legs (like Olga trains with the teacher Andrea Terenzio). I’m broken, but I have to try to stay lucid. I want to do well, for now I have other things for her head. Olga should have started shooting again in Athens this weekend, she knows that she is free, that she can take all the time she needs. to the world what is happening “.