Fencing crystallizes more than ever all the tensions caused by the question of the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international events. In this sport, competition organizers are the first to face the limits of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) call for reinstatement ” under condition ” of said athletes, left to the discretion of the sports federations.
Wednesday April 5, like Germany and France before her, Poland has given up the organization of a stage of the World Cup of women’s foil. The Poznan tournament, which was to take place from April 21 to 23, was a key meeting in qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (OG), as was the Tauberbischofsheim tournament (Baden-Württemberg) – also in women’s foil – and the Monal Men’s Epee Challenge in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés (Val-de-Marne).
Sylvain Berrios, mayor (Les Républicains) of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, expected the announcement from the Polish federation (PFSz). Five days earlier, his French counterpart (FFE) had thrown in the towel concerning the Monal, initially scheduled in his city from May 19 to 21. “A huge disappointment”explains the city councilor, but not really a surprise. “As of March 10, we knew we had a problemhe says. Even if the tournament, at this stage, was not necessarily threatened. »
On that day, following an extraordinary congress, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) declared the return of the Russians and Belarusians, ousted from international competitions in March 2022, a few days after the invasion of Ukraine by Kremlin troops, with the assistance of Minsk. The measure was adopted by 89 of the 136 voting federations. France was not in favor of it. The court’s decision has been taken “subject to possible future recommendations and decisions of the IOC and in accordance with the conditions of neutrality and individual eligibility”.
“Nothing has really been arbitrated”
If fencing was the first international federation to decide on this thorny issue, it is because its qualification period for the Paris Games started on April 3. “We are on a selection that depends on a world ranking”, recalls Bruno Gares, the president of the FFE. This classification depends on number of points accumulated until 1er April 2024 on a series of defined eventsof which the Saint-Maur-des-Fossés event was a part.
In the wake of the FIE congress, the organizers of Monal have chosen to wait for the IOC to decide on its position. The German federation, on March 16, gave up the Tauberbischofsheim World Cup. Its president, former swordswoman Claudia Bokel, vice-Olympic team champion in Athens in 2004, explained that she wanted “send a clear signal” : “in our view, there are still many open questions on the implementation of the decision [de la fédération internationale], which make it impossible to hold the tournament. »
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