Konstantin Lokhanov

Konstantin Lokhanov (Russian: Константин Игоревич Лоханов; born 10 November 1998; nicknamed Kostya) is a Russian sabre fencer living in San Diego, California, in the United States. 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 moved 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.

Fencing career

Russia (2014–21)

Lokhanov was ranked #1 in the world in cadet sabre in both 2014 and 2015. He is also a two-time world junior sabre champion (2017, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria; 2018 in Verona, Italy) and ranked #1 in the world those years in junior sabre.

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. He won silver medals at the October 2016 Plovidv World Cup in Bulgaria, and the November 2016 Sochi World Cup in Russia.

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.

Lokhanov won the 2017 World Junior Fencing Championship in individual sabre, as well as in team sabre. 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. He won a gold medal at the November 2017 Sochi World Cup in Russia.

Lokhanov repeated, and won the 2018 World Junior Fencing Championship in individual sabre. In March 2018, at the European Junior Championships is Sochi, Russia, he won a silver medal in sabre team and a bronze medal in individual sabre.

At the 2019 World Fencing Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Lokhanov was defeated in the quarter-finals by gold medal winner Oh Sang-uk of South Korea.

In 2021, Lokhanov competed in sabre at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He came in 7th in team sabre, and 24th in individual sabre (losing to 2018 world champion Kim Jung-hwan of South Korea).

United States (2022–present)

Shocked and troubled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lokhanov emigrated to the United States in May 2022. He said: "I decided I could no longer live in a country that kills innocent Ukrainians." Lokhanov had the word “Liberty” tattooed on his right forearm, shortly after he emigrated to the United States. American writer Charlie Pierce described him as "living his own personal Chekhov short story for over a year."

Lokhanov does not think of himself as having been brave. Rather, he believes he simply made a natural decision, and it is a decision that he does not regret. In order for one to remain in Russia, he said: “You need to forget that killing other people is bad.” When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, he said, for him: "everything split into black and white. When I hear that everything is not clear, what is not clear? It’s as clear as possible. To kill other people is bad.”

As of 2023, Lokhanov is a sabre fencing coach teaching and training at La Jolla Fencing Academy in San Diego, California, in the United States, with head coach and founder Dmitriy Guy. Lokhanov is a member of USA Fencing.

In 2023, USA Fencing granted Russians living in the United States the right to compete in American competitions as neutral athletes, if they sign a declaration against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 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 has no desire to fence for Russia again.

Unless extraordinary United States government intervention is undertaken, ''The New York Times'' reported, it is unlikely that he will gain American citizenship before the 2024 Paris Olympics. Other possible alternatives are for him to find another country that will grant him citizenship in time for him to compete for the country in the 2024 Olympics, or for him to explore the possibility of competing in the 2024 Olympics for the Refugee Olympic Team. Longer-term would be the possibility of him competing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics that will be held up the highway that runs from San Diego, where he now lives, to Los Angeles. He said: "I dream about to go for the Olympics, driving my own car."

In July 2023, Ukrainian four-time world individual sabre champion Olga Kharlan was initially disqualified at the World Fencing Championships by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime for not shaking the hand of her defeated Russian opponent--though Kharlan instead offered a tapping of blades in acknowledgement of her opponent. 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. Lokhanov said: "I support Olha. In my opinion she made the right decision. I understand why she made it. But I don’t see any reason why this Russian woman had to make that drama. She could have just touched blades; the bout was over.” After a public uproar and the intervention of the IOC, the black card was reversed the next day.

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."

Personal life

Lokhanov was born in Aktobe, Kazakhstan, and studied at the Saratov State Academy of Law in the Russian Federation. His mother died of COVID-19 in 2021 during the pandemic, at 43 years of age. He had surgeries in Germany to address a right thigh/hip problem in September 2021, two months after the Tokyo Olympics, and on February 23, 2022.

In September 2020, Lokhanov married fellow Olympic sabre fencer Sofia Pozdniakova. 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.

Lokhanov emigrated to the United States in 2022, after the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, disagreeing with Russia's foreign policy. He invited his wife to join him in America, but she declined and ultimately filed for divorce; they are divorced as of 2022. She said she was grateful to Lokhanov for many things, but that the two of them had gone in "different directions."

Lokhanov's father-in-law was Stanislav Pozdniakov, himself a former Olympic sabre fencer, who won four Olympic fencing gold medals and was a 10-time sabre world champion. He currently serves as the president of the Russian Olympic Committee. As '' The New York Times'' later put it, "Lokhanov ... had married into the first family of Russian fencing and seemed embedded in a life of athletic royalty." His father-in-law had also been European Fencing Confederation (EFC) President, but in June 2022 he was removed from that position at an Extraordinary Congress following a unanimous vote of no confidence in him due to his conduct in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After Lokhanov moved to the United States, his father-in-law -- in what ''The New York Times'' called an apparent swipe at Western frivolousness -- referred to him obliquely as having the "the sad fate of frightened lovers of raspberry frappé and yellow scooters." 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."

As of 2023, Lokhanov lives in San Diego, California.

See also

* Sergey Bida, Russian Olympic silver medalist fencer who left Russia to go to the United States after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Violetta Khrapina Bida, Russian Olympic fencer who left Russia to go to the United States after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, Belarusian Olympic sprinter who defected to Poland.

References

External links

Instagram page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lokhanov, Konstantin
1998 births
Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Living people
Kazakhstani expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Kazakhstani male épée fencers
Olympic fencers for Russia
People from Aktobe
Russian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Russian male sabre fencers
Sportspeople from Moscow
Sportspeople from San Diego
21st-century Russian athletes