March 20, 2023: the French Fencing Federation (FFE) announces, in a press release, the departure of Virginie Thobor, its national technical director (DTN) for less than two years, the latter having “obtained his transfer”. July 30: Lionel Plumenail, national coach of women’s foil, confides to his fencers, the day after their title of vice-world team champions, that he is leaving his post to ” personal reasons “. September 29: ten months before the Paris Olympic Games, the FFE announces the resignation of all its federal mandates of Bruno Gares, its president since 2020, for ” personal reasons “.
Added to this list is the sidelining of the coach of the French men’s saber team, Vincent Anstett, in May, or the consummate break between the best French swordsmen and the national coach, Hugues Obry , in September 2023. We do not remember a sports federation having gone through so much turbulence during a pre-Olympic year. Especially since it is the leading sport to provide Olympic medals for France – with 123 medals. At the Summer Games, one French medal in six was won on the fencing slopes.
In the world of fencing, ” personal reasons “ or professional choices invoked by one or the other make you smile or grimace, it depends. Because these resignations and internal crises express a generalized malaise, the result of a deep management crisis, which crystallized around the personality of Bruno Gares, who has not spoken since his resignation and did not wish to respond to questions from World.
His management of the FFE was the subject of a general inspection report commissioned by the Ministry of Sports in March. According to several sources, the prospect of seeing a certain number of abuses reported in this report precipitated the departure of Mr. Gares. The document, presented to the new president of the FFE, Brigitte Saint-Bonnet, in December 2023, has not been made public.
Flashback: at the end of 2020, Mr. Gares created a surprise by defeating Isabelle Spennato-Lamour, who was applying for a third term. A trained fencing master, the new president conveys an image of a technician, which earns a certain condescension from part of the fencing community for this former armorer of the French teams. However, he was the advisor to the former minister of sports, Laura Flessel, whom he prides himself on having put in contact with Emmanuel Macron.
His management of the FFE is today unanimously criticized. “He is an old-fashioned politician, who promised wonders to the right and the left, even if it meant promising the same position to several people”notes Vincent Anstett, who was nevertheless one of his supporters during the 2020 election, before being dismissed from his position as national coach under the presidency of Bruno Gares.
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