Alisher Usmanov was re-elected as president of the FIE for another 4 year term on Saturday, and has restated his goals to promote fencing throughout the globe.
Usmanov was re-elected at the FIE Congress meeting held in Moscow. He was first elected to lead the fencing’s international governing body in December 2008, when he beat a long-serving FIE chief, Frenchman Rene Roch in Paris.
Fencers from 5 continents won medals at the 2012 Olympics, showing that success in fencing is not limited to the European countries and, hopefully, proving avenues to make the sport more globally popular.
“Any changes in the rules are driven by attempts to make the sport more entertaining and spectacular. This is what we need to do, so that sponsors get interested in fencing. If we achieve that, it will allow the federations to develop independently. Then won’t just get funds from our donors, but we’ll actually make money from our events,” said Usmanov in an interview with RT.com.
At the FIE Congress, USA Fencing President Donald Anthony, Jr. was elected to the FIE Executive Committee and US referee Dougs Findlay was named the best referee of 2012 for foil.USA Fencing reported on other USA Fencing candidates who won positions on FIE Committees and Commissions:
Four of USA Fencing’s candidates for positions on committees and commissions also were elected, including:
- Carl Borack (Santa Monica, Calif.), Promotion / Publicity Committee
- Sam Cheris (Aurora, Colo.), Legal Commission
- Iana Dakova (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Arbitrage Commission
- Dan DeChaine (Claremont, Calif.), SEMI Commission
In addition, the FIE Executive Committee also selected all four of USA Fencing’s nominations for four panels and councils, including:
- Donald Alperstein (Denver, Colo.), Disciplinary Panel
- Rita Comes (Palo Alto, Calif.), Veterans Council
- Stacey Johnson (Helotes, Texas), Women and Fencing Council
- Ed Korfanty (Portland, Ore.), Coaches Council
The full list of Executive Committee members, elected through 2016, follows:
2012-2016 FIE Executive Committee
Donald Anthony Jr. (USA)
Erika Aze (LAT)
Jacek Bierkowski (POL)
Tamer El Araby (EGY)
Max W. F. Geuter (GER)
Velichka Hristeva (BUL)
Guk Hyeon Kim (KOR)
Ana Pascu (ROU)
Novak Perovic (RSA)
Oleg Peskov (KAZ)
Frederic Pietruszka (FRA)
Stanislav Pozdniakov (RUS)
Ferial Nadira Salhi (ALG)
Giorgio Scarso (ITA)
Wei Wang (CHN)