French fencing, a fine Olympic blade

The French men's foil team, Olympic champion, Sunday August 1, in Tokyo.

Volunteers engage in a farewell photo. Now is the time to dismantle the tracks installed at Makuhari Messe, this gigantic and distant convention center where the Olympic fencing events were held, in Chiba prefecture, about forty kilometers from Tokyo. The time, too, for French fencing to assess its record.

Five medals, two of which are gold. His best total since the Athens Games in 2004. Apart from judo (8 charms), not a French delegation, this summer, has done better so far. Gold, “The more medals we have, the more we talk about fencing, and the more kids will want to join a fencing club”, sums up Erwann Le Péchoux, 39, after coming down to earth.

His teammates carried him in triumph, Sunday 1er August: the former scored the last five touches of the final against Russia, in the team foil competition. Victory hands up (45-28). The fifth participation in the Games will have been the good one, after the final lost five years ago in Rio.

Sunday July 26, a blue swordsman distinguished himself in individual. Benjamin Cannone, 24, was due to participate as a substitute. Finally, the youngest of the team replaced everyone. Well beyond the only Daniel Jérent, sidelined in June, for a positive control for a diuretic.

Article reserved for our subscribers Read also Tokyo 2021 Olympics: swordsman Romain Cannone, latest arrival and first French Olympic champion of the summer

Women also stood out. A bronze medal for sabreuse Manon Brunet, the one who had escaped her in Rio de Janeiro, in 2016. Then two silver by teams, one for Brunet and her saber teammates, the other for the swordsmen; gold going, in both cases, to Russia.

“More beautiful champions to come”

Elected since September 2020, the president of the French fencing Federation Bruno Gares can multiply the accolades. The medals ? “This will allow us to find sponsors, he wants to believe. I want to welcome them with open arms so that they support our federation, because we still have great champions to come. ” Implied: in the perspective of the 2024 Games in Paris, the objective already in all Franco-French conversations in Tokyo.

Former adviser to ex-fencer Laura Flessel when she was at the sports ministry (2017-2018), the leader is now on the other side: “We also need the State to give us positions (as coaches, for example) and to support us in performance. What we have done is good. But we can do even better, going from bronze to silver, and from silver to gold. ”

Sabreuse Manon Brunet leaves Tokyo with two medals: one in individual bronze, the other in team silver.

Not to mention the disappointments, during the solo competitions: swordsman Yannick Borel, 2018 world champion, and foilist Ysaora Thibus, world number 3. This summer, the first was ousted at his 16e final. The second lost in 8e.

Failing to master the perfect alchemy, fencing has respected its tradition of purveyor of medals. Not a sport has brought so much to France, whatever the metal, since 1896 and the establishment of the Games of the modern era. An “Olympic” sport par excellence, as we call these disciplines doomed to media coverage by eclipses.

It’s cruel, but it’s so. “The Games are the Games, where we have to shine, our showcase, recalls Emeric Clos, coach of foilists, in front of journalists suddenly around him. The event allows fencing to be publicized. “ Conversely, “When Enzo [Lefort] was world champion, we didn’t see much ”. For those who would learn it, “Zozo” indeed won the 2019 edition of the world championships, individually, in Budapest – in addition to a team title in 2014.

Asian rise

This summer, France once again played it collectively: three of its medals were by teams. With the notable exception, therefore, of the épée: triple outgoing Olympic champions, the French épéistes came out… from the quarterfinals of the team competition. The elimination against Japan – future winner, for the first time, of this event – reflects the rise of Asian countries.

This also manifests itself in the individual competition. Gold medal in the sword, in the female table? The Chinese Sun Yiwen? And in foil, in the men’s event? Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka Long. Two teams each with a French coach, respectively Hugues Obry and Grégory Koenig.

The dispersal of fencing masters is nothing new. It nevertheless annoys Pierre Guichot. The director of the French teams, however himself passed through Germany and England, finds the phenomenon “Relatively unbearable” : “If there have been a few starts in the past, it’s simply that there was perhaps a lack of consideration at one time. You have to know how to keep them, pamper them. “

Read also Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games: “An escalation takes place to have French fencing masters”

Our selection of articles on the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games