Konstantin Lokhanov

Konstantin Lokhanov (Russian: Константин Игоревич Лоханов; born 10 November 1998; nicknamed Kostya) Lokhanov was ranked # 1 in the world in cadet sabre in both 2014 and 2015. He was then a two-time World Junior Sabre Individual Champion (in 2017 and 2018), and ranked # 1 in the world for both those years. In 2021, he competed in sabre at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The following year, appalled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he defected to the United States. He said: "I decided I could no longer live in a country that kills innocent Ukrainians." He is a now member of USA Fencing.

Early years

Lokhanov was born in Aktobe, Kazakhstan. His father moved to Kazakhstan after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He was ranked #1 in the world in cadet sabre in both 2014 and 2015.

In 2014 he won a bronze medal at the European Cadet Championships in Jerusalem, Israel, and a bronze medal in the 2014 World Cadets Fencing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. In 2015 Lokhanov won a gold medal at the European Cadet Championships in Maribor, Slovenia, and a silver medal in the 2015 World Cadets Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Lokhanov won a bronze medal at the January 2016 Phoenix Fencing World Cup in Arizona, in the United States.

Lokhanov also won a gold medal in team sabre at the 2016 World Junior Fencing Championships. That year he received the title of Master of Sport of International Class in the Russian Federation. In March 2017 he won a bronze medal in the European Junior Championships. Lokhanov won a gold medal at the October 2017 Sosnowiec World Cup in Poland, and won a bronze medal at the 2017 Plovidv World Cup in Bulgaria.

Lokhanov repeated, and won the 2018 World Junior Fencing Championship in individual sabre, giving him a total of four junior world championships. He came in 7th in team sabre, and 24th in individual sabre (losing to 2018 world champion Kim Jung-hwan of South Korea).

Used to winning gold medals, Lokhanov was devastated that he had not performed better at the Olympics, and upon arriving home he "lay in bed for a month, ordering food delivery." He also said "Fencing is a very small part of the life. Being human is way more." On the Fourth of July weekend, Lokhanov won the gold medal in the individual men's saber competition at the United States Summer National Championships, in which 155 competitors competed. Lokhanov said in a New York Times interview that he thought the Russian fencer might have set a trap for Kharlan, to seek the Ukrainian's disqualification. He said that on the one hand, the FIE had rules about shaking hands. On the other hand, he noted, the tapping of weapon blades—in lieu of a handshake—was the accepted acknowledgment of an opponent during the pandemic, and was still considered suitable by many fencers. Author Charlie Pierce wrote: "Both Olga Kharlan and Konstantin Lokhanov were warmly applauded for their stands in defense of Ukraine, and there certainly will be more of this as the 2024 Olympics approach." American writer Charlie Pierce described him as "living his own personal Chekhov short story for over a year."

2024–present; US Olympic Committee support for US citizenship The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and USA Fencing both wrote letters in support of Lokhanov and two other defecting Russian Olympic fencers, Sergey Bida and his wife Violetta Bida, being granted U.S. citizenship. Russian State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov called the fencers "cowards, traitors, and defectors" and "political rags." Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov said: "they were promised to be treated with some sweet cookies. The most important thing is that they don’t choke on them." Other Russian officials also pledged that there would be consequences. He says there are two main advantages to living in the United States, with one being the warm weather in San Diego. She is a 2018 individual sabre world champion, 2019 team sabre world champion, and 2021 both individual sabre and team sabre Olympic champion. She is also a Russian Armed Forces athlete. He said of the Russian government: "They started the war, killing the peoples and thinking it’s normal." Her father called his daughter’s decision "the most important gift for Father’s Day." When asked about his ex-father-in-law's comment, Lokhanov said he found it both funny and unsurprising, while at the same time was not quite sure why it had been made. He then added with a smile: "I never had a scooter. I'm a big coffee lover, but not frappé."