The crowd at the Grand Palais greeted the final women's fencing event with cheers so loud that the athletes couldn't even hear the referees. Ukraine claimed the Olympic champion title in women's team sabre following a win against South Korea. Japan was victorious in scoring the bronze medal over France.
After a dramatic Olympic qualification season in which Ukraine's Olga Kharlan was controversially eliminated from the 2023 World Fencing Championships, which made it harder for her to qualify, Ukraine proved victorious in winning Olympic gold in women's team sabre.
Kharlan stepped onto the piste with determination in her eyes and had a fiery start to the first bout. She gained a slight lead over South Korea's Jeon Eun-Hye to end the bout 5-3.
The tides turned quickly. In the next period, South Korea's Jeon Ha-Young earned seven touches against Yuliya Bakastova of Ukraine. The South Koreans continually adding to their lead by maxing out each bout's points before Ukraine could come close. Every time Ukraine tied the match, their opponents would take the lead immediately after.
Towards the end of the match, the Ukranians realized that they needed to be quicker off the start to beat the South Koreans to the attack. Ukraine's Alina Komashchuk and Kharlan were both successful using this strategy. Kharlan made an incredible comeback in the final bout to level the score 40-40. She was on a hot streak of touches, which resulted in her scoring five points in a row to win the gold medal, 45-42, over South Korea. This victory made Kharlan Ukraine's most decorated Olympic medalist.
An hour earlier, France took on Japan in a thrilling bronze medal match that saw in several penalties for starting too early or too late because the athletes struggled to hear the referee over the noise in the venue.
In the first bout, France's Manon Apithy-Brunet, who won Olympic gold in the individual event earlier this week, took on Misaki Emura of Japan. The two had a quick bout that ended with France leading 5-4, a lead they held heading into the third bout.
The Japanese soon took over, with Seri Ozaki using quick, skillful touches to score eight points and lead 15-13. The two countries went back and forth on the scoreboard until the seventh bout, when Risa Takashima earned six crucial points that helped Japan break away from France. Although Apithy-Brunet and Sara Balzer of France attempted to level the scores in the last two bouts, they were unsuccessful. The Japanese beat them to several points to win the bronze medal, 45-40.
Team USA's Elizabeth Tartakovsky, Magda Skarbonkiewicz, Tatiana Nazlymov, and Maia Chamberlain placed fifth.
Women's team sabre medalists
🥇Ukraine (Olga Kharlan, Alina Komashchuk, Olena Kravatska, Yuliya Bakastova)
🥈South Korea (Yoon Ji-Su, Choi Se-Bin, Jeon Ha-Young, Jeon Eun-Hye)
🥉Japan (Misaki Emura, Shihomi Fukushima, Risa Takashima, Seri Ozaki)