Olha Kharlan

Olha Kharlan is a Ukrainian sabre fencer. She holds a bronze medal from the 2012 Summer Olympics and is twice World champion and fivetimes European champion. She was Olympic team champion in the 2008 Summer Olympics, twice World team champion and twice European team champion. Kharlan was named athlete of the year at the 2009 Ukrainian Heroes of Sports Years awards. She also pursues a political career.

Kharlan was born in Mykolaiv, a shipbuilding town in the south of Ukraine. Her father was a sailing and swimming coach, and taught her to swim when she was still a baby. He also moonlighted as a construction worker and a cab driver. Her mother worked as a painter and plasterer.

Source: Wikipedia