“It has been decided not only not to participate in any duel in competition with Russian and Belarusian athletes, but also, for our athletes, coaches and referees, not to participate in any competition in which Russian or Belarusian athletes will participate. » The position of the Ukrainian Fencing Federation is clear: its delegation will boycott any event in which athletes from both countries are involved.
In a press release published on Tuesday March 21, the body announced this decision, taken the day before during a “emergency meeting”. She also specifies that she wants to contest the resolution, deemed “illegal and shameful”of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) to authorize the reinstatement of Russian and Belarusian fencers in world circuit events.
On March 10, the FIE was the first body to officially speak out on this delicate subject – athletes from both countries were banned from international sport in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine by troops from the Kremlin, with the assistance of Minsk, on February 24, 2022. This decision was described as subject to the “possible recommendations-decisions” of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but motivated by the sports calendar, the selections for the Olympic Games (OG) 2024 starting in April for this discipline.
German withdrawal
Six days after the FIE’s announcement, the German Fencing Federation announced that it was giving up hosting the second of five women’s foil World Cup events, which should have been held in early May in Tauberbischofsheim, in the north-east of the state of Baden-Württemberg – an appointment counting for the qualifications for the Olympic Games.
Through the voice of its president, the former epee fencer Claudia Bokel, vice-Olympic team champion in Athens in 2004, the German federation advanced whereas if its organization respects the decision of the FIE, it wishes “send a clear signal”. And to insist: “We would have liked a different outcome, and 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. »
The choice of the Ukrainian fencing federation could greatly reduce the chances of participation of its athletes in the high mass of sports scheduled for the summer of 2024 in France. It also revives the burning debate on the possible return of Russian and Belarusian athletes – under a neutral flag, provided that they have not “not actively supported the war in Ukraine” – sketched at the end of January by the IOC.
