“European Fencing Championship Organizers Cut Ties with Russian Athletes Under Neutral Banner”

In March, the international fencing federation authorized Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the qualifying events for Paris-2024 (under a neutral banner). A first. With the approach of the European Veterans Fencing Championship in Thionville, which began on Wednesday, the supervisory federation had to position itself. The EVF (European Veterans Fencing) has therefore decided. “Its president took a reasonable time to reflect but told us fairly quickly that Russian fencers would not be allowed”, resituates Christophe Conrad, president of the organizing club, Escrime Trois Frontières. Timing and situation which “have somewhat stressed us and put us in difficulty all the same”: the Russian swordsmen were already knocking on the door “to ask how to register”. At the same time, “partners, both private and public, told us that if the Russians were accepted, they were not certain of maintaining their financial investment. I consider the EVF’s decision to be wise”.

Not a matter of conscience for Christophe Conrad, but he recognizes: “Knowing whether this decision is wise is a very difficult question. I am for sport and not politics. The Russian sportsmen who are in the army, it is out of the question to accept them, but to deprive the others by penalizing the political decisions of those who lead them, I don’t know. When you spend a career aiming for an Olympic medal, it’s very complicated to see yourself blocked like this. In the case of veterans, it is less important because almost no veteran is aiming for a place at the Games. But the Russians being the aggressors, it is normal that they suffer the sanctions”.

Christophe Conrad separates sport and politics, “without being fooled: politicians use sport for their propaganda and sport needs politics to move forward”.

War and doping

In addition to the armed conflict, the president of E3F recalls the Cossack liabilities: “The Russians are already in the crosshairs with doping at the previous Games. For all this, we cannot let them do it and condone their ways of acting”.

Not a decision-maker on this point either, but also a stakeholder in the organization, the mayor of Thionville Pierre Cuny insists: “I would have viewed with a very bad eye their participation in a competition in Thionville. They are the aggressors. A year ago, for the same reasons, I blocked the establishment of the Russian discounter Mere. Sport is not above and is part of society”. Also recalling that Thionville has welcomed around fifty Ukrainian families, he indicates that he is shocked by the position of the international fencing federation.