More than 300 fencers, together with 9 medalists from the final Olympics in Tokyo, signed an open letter revealed Tuesday urging the game’s governing our bodies and the International Olympic Committee to not enable Russian fencers to compete whereas the warfare in Ukraine continues. was urged.
The International Fencing Federation, recognized by its French acronym FIE, voted this month to permit fencers from Russia and its ally Belarus to return to worldwide competitions as qualifying for subsequent 12 months’s Paris Olympics Could
“FIE is just not fulfilling its responsibility of take care of the athletes, particularly the Ukrainians. Your insufficient management in imposing a blanket ban on Russia and Belarus is being criticized by athletes and civil society around the globe,” stated the open letter signed by fencers organized by two advocacy teams, Athletes Deutschland and Global Athletes.
“You have chosen Russian and Belarusian interests over the rights of athletes, especially Ukrainian athletes, and by doing so, you are failing to support the very people your organizations are meant to support.” The letter was revealed on the identical day because the board of the IOC – whose president is Thomas Bach, a former fencer – was assembly to debate new suggestions for sports activities our bodies 16 months earlier than the opening of the Paris Games.
The IOC really useful the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes final 12 months on safety grounds following Russia’s invasion, however has just lately sought to create a pathway for them to return to competitors.
Fencers who’ve signed embody Lee Kiefer of the US, Olympic gold medalist in ladies’s foil, French males’s group gold medalist Erwan Le Pechaux and four-time Olympic medalist Olga Kharlan from Ukraine.
Billionaire Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov has been president of FIE since 2008, though he suspended himself from his duties on March 1, 2022, days after being positioned underneath EU sanctions.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
