The parallel with the situation in Ukraine, where Russian forces have been gaining ground for several weeks, is striking. Removed from the presidency of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) in March 2022, when Moscow's forces attacked the neighboring country, Russian billionaire Alicher Ousmanov regained control of the body during a vote organized on Saturday 30 November, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The victory of the businessman, predictable since 103 member countries of the FIE – including several from the European Union – supported his candidacy, is final. Mr. Ousmanov, 71, obtained the votes of 120 national federations, against 26 for his opponent, the Swede Otto Drakenberg, 58, a former high-level fencer who became a business manager. He will therefore return to the position occupied on an interim basis, since 2022, by the Greek Emmanuel Katsiadakis.
“I am convinced that fencing has a bright future and that the discipline will experience dynamic development, declared Mr. Ousmanov, in a press release published Saturday morning. I will do everything in my power to achieve this, despite recent attempts to denigrate our sport and its transformation into a theater of battles that have nothing to do with sport. »
Targeted by European Union sanctions
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the upheavals of the FIE have echoed the conflict several times. First when Mr. Ousmanov had to leave his post in March 2022, for his supposed links with Vladimir Putin, which the person concerned forcefully and regularly denies. Then, in March 2023, when the federation was the first to record the return to international competitions of Russian and Belarusian athletes excluded at the start of the conflict. In the summer of 2023, the World Championships in Milan were also marked by the disqualification of Ukrainian saber fencer Olga Kharlan, for her refusal to shake the hand of her Russian opponent.
Mr. Ousmanov, whose personal fortune is estimated at $13 billion (€12.3 billion) by Bloomberg, grew rich through investments in the metallurgical industry. It is targeted by European Union sanctions, which were still in force in September, according to Agence France-Presse. He is notably subject to travel limitations in certain countries, including Switzerland, where the FIE headquarters are located (in Lausanne), and to a freezing of his assets.
In the press release published on Saturday, the billionaire, who was born in Uzbekistan, a country of which he is an honorary citizen, announces: “I am still subject to unjustified restrictions, which I am currently challenging in court. In this regard, I declare that I have always acted in the best interests of the FIE and that I will continue to take all necessary measures to prevent the legally unfounded restrictions imposed on me from being extended to the FIE and its activities. »
Despite this context, Mr. Ousmanov intends “keep fencing on the podium of the most popular Olympic sports” in the years to come.
Source: Lemonde