Fencing in Europe abandoned Russia at the suggestion of Ukraine: a new ban received
[ad_1]
The European Fencing Confederation (EFC) at the congress in Krakow decided not to allow athletes from the two countries to participate in events under its auspices and suspended the membership of the fencing federations of Russia and Belarus. And this despite the fact that the International Fencing Federation (FIE) a few months ago allowed our athletes to participate in international competitions and even punish tournament organizers for discriminating against Russia.
Your deeds are wonderful, fencing. About the sport in recent months, as much has been said as probably will be typed over the entire last Olympic cycle. Everything would be fine if it was about the popularization of fencing. And not at all about how a number of titled and embellishing sports stars are thrown out of active international activity.
Starting in 2016 and being re-elected for a new term in 2021, the EFC was led by four-time Olympic champion and head of the ROC Stanislav Poznyakov. But in May last year, the organization’s congress prematurely terminated its powers, electing the Italian Giorgio Scarso as president, and the Pole Jacek Slupsky became the organization’s general secretary. As for the International Fencing Federation, its president was Alisher Usmanov, who in March last year suspended his duties as president, falling under personal EU sanctions. He was replaced by the Greek Emmanuel Katsiadakis.
Yes, there are questions to the FIE, despite the fact that they jumped onto the fencing track earlier than other federations (and even before the announced IOC criteria for the admission of our athletes), there are questions today. The main one is the exclusion from the lists of all the leaders of the Russian national team, Olympic champions and world stars due to belonging to CSKA and Dynamo.
And yet, the personal European Championship has just passed, in which, after long checks, five Russian athletes took part. There were no medals at the end of the tournament, and it was difficult to hope for them, because the decapitated team performed. But the breakthrough happened.
And the championship was won by suffering not only by us, but even by other athletes. First, it was supposed to take place in Poland as part of the European Games, but the International Fencing Federation withdrew the status of the competition in Krakow due to discrimination against Russia. Poland simply did not bother: she did not give a visa. So the championship was held in Bulgaria. And it became the first start for our fencers in almost a year and a half outside their native walls.
But here is a new twist. The European Fencing Confederation suspended the membership of the fencing federations of Russia and Belarus and decided not to allow our athletes to participate in events under its auspices. And in fact, she declared the non-recognition of the course of a higher body. The FIE decree to her, it turns out, is not a decree. And it seems that the EFC is not very afraid of sanctions.
The Federation of Bulgaria, the hostess of the last championship, by the way, opposed the proposal to exclude Russia. 23 out of 43 national federations voted in favour, with 10 abstentions.
On the official website of the confederation, the story of how the congress was held sounds very mundane. The day allegedly began with the first public meeting in history, in which all delegates were allowed to attend a meeting of the executive committee. This form is a new initiative of EFC President Giorgio Scarso, who fell ill but spoke via video link. He also explained that the open meeting is a way to share the leadership of the EFC with the federations: “Because the federations deserve to be involved in decision-making.”
And in such an open form, after several working questions, two proposals from the Ukrainian Fencing Federation were considered. Both are approved. (The proposal was prepared for the congress in Poland by the president of the Ukrainian Fencing Federation, Mikhail Ilyashev. A few months ago, he replaced Vadim Gutzeit, who now heads the NOC of Ukraine. The characters are well known.)
“As a result, no athlete, coach or official who has Russian or Belarusian citizenship and licenses is allowed to participate in competitions organized by the EFC,” the organization’s official website states. “Moreover, the membership in the EFC of the Russian Fencing Federation (RUS) and the Belarusian Fencing Federation (BLR) has been suspended.”
What does it threaten? Of course, the continental adult competitions are held under the auspices of the FIE, the World Championships too, so there is already a European decree, sort of, and not a decree for everyone. But still, the EFC decision is not entirely empty: Russian and Belarusian representatives will not be able to be members of the executive committee or commissions of the organization, and athletes will not be able to participate in competitions among fencers under 23 years old.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov commented on the EFC decision as follows: “Since February last year, the European Fencing Confederation has been trying to be a more political organization than professional politicians, so there is not much to discuss here.” And he stressed that, if we evaluate the consequences of the decision taken legally, then the International Fencing Federation is the only legitimate body that forms the international sports calendar. “As a man who has headed this confederation for six years, I say this with knowledge of the matter.”
And the confederation cannot fail to know this either. The wording of the new ban in the world of sports, as pointed out by Inside the Games, is as follows: to suspend membership “due to a gross violation of ethical principles, integrity in relations with other countries, rules of conduct and general principles of sports.”
Let the wording remain on the conscience of those who accepted it, it has nothing to do with the sports behavior of our athletes, but, alas, the contradictions in the fencing world will now flare up even brighter. The World Championship is approaching, which should be held in Milan from July 22 to 30, the Olympic selection is in full swing.
And Europe stirs up passions not only at sports congresses: the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has just adopted a resolution calling on the IOC to prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the 2024 Olympics, even in a neutral status. According to PACE, at present, the admission of Russians and Belarusians to international competitions is “unthinkable”, since their participation “will be used as a propaganda tool and will de facto interfere with other athletes.”
Newspaper headline:
Again a ban
[ad_2]
Source link
