Europe 1 with AFP 21:51 p.m., March 27, 2023

The international federation is divisive. The first body to have taken a step towards Russian and Belarusian athletes, its leaders must now face criticism from countries against this measure. More than a year before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee must clarify its position soon.

The first international federation to have positioned itself for a return of Russians and Belarusians to international competitions a year and a half before the 2024 Olympic Games, fencing is shaken by strong tensions, while waiting for the International Olympic Committee to be more precise. At the beginning of March, a congress of the International Federation (FIE) authorized the participation of Russian and Belarusian fencers in the events of the world circuit, qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games (26 July-11 August).

If the FIE had taken care to specify that this decision would be effective from April 2023 "subject to possible future recommendations/decisions of the IOC", the reactions and turbulence around the competitions supposed to host them have multiplied. Excluded, on the recommendation of the same IOC, since February 2022 and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Russian and Belarusian athletes could return to the world ranking, on which the qualifications for the Paris Olympic meeting depend next year.

>> READ ALSO – "No reason to go back on the exclusion of athletes": countries oppose the participation of Russians in the 2024 Olympics

Poznan scrutinized

But a week after the FIE vote, the German Fencing Federation has given up the organization of the Women's Foil World Cup stage scheduled for early May in Tauberbischofsheim and scheduled in the qualifying course. Another Women's Foil World Cup event is particularly closely scrutinized, the one scheduled for Poznan (Poland), on April 21 and 22. It should be the first to welcome Russian and Belarusian shooters, in a country bordering Ukraine and... Belarus, where Vladimir Putin has just announced that he wants to deploy "tactical" nuclear weapons.

"The PZSZ (Polish Fencing Federation, editor's note) is not aware of any decision that would deprive it of the organization of the tournament," even if it is "aware" of running such a risk, explained to AFP Adam Konopka, vice-president of the body. The Poles would then ask for compensation, he added.

Their "current position is not to let the Russians and Belarusians participate in this tournament." But, given the decisions of the international federation, "the PZSZ asked the FIE for clarification on the criteria and modalities of the application of these criteria" of this selection to know "which among the Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed or not to compete in Poznan", without obtaining an answer from the International Federation.

READ ALSO – Fencing: Ukraine threatens to boycott competitions in case of reinstatement of Russians

Security

Russian and Belarusian athletes cite fears for their own safety at the events, but Warsaw seems uncomfortable either, indicating that many of these athletes are also military. Also in France, uncertainty is high, as the Challenge Monal, on the men's epee World Cup calendar, is to be held in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, not far from Paris, from May 19 to 21. A decision is expected to be taken by the French Fencing Federation once the IOC's position is clarified this week, at an expected executive board.

In addition to these doubts arising in the countries organizing competitions, the FIE faces opposition from some shooters, who have expressed their disagreement with the decision taken on March 10. In a video posted on social media, several big names in fencing took a direct stand by answering "No, I do not agree", in response to the decision taken by the FIE at the beginning of March. Among them, American foil fencer Gerek Meinhardt, two-time Olympic bronze medalist (2016, 2021), French sabreuse Manon Brunet-Apithy, Olympic vice-champion in 2021 and American foil fencer Lee Kiefer, crowned at the Tokyo Games.

It also shows Ukrainian Olympic champion Olga Kharlan, who summed up her feelings in three words on social networks: "Disappointment, anger, injustice". "What has changed?" asks the 2008 Olympic sabre champion, just over a year after the IOC recommended excluding these athletes, and while the Ukrainian Federation announced that it would boycott any competition in which Russian and Belarusian athletes were involved.