2013 FIE Congress – Update

Hosts for the 2014 and 2015 World Championships Chosen

The biggest news coming out of the annual Congress for the International Fencing Federation (FIE) so far is that Kazan, Russia has been awarded the 2014 Fencing World Championships. Originally claimed by Sofia, Bulgaria, they renounced their rights to it earlier this year due to financial restraints.

There were reports that the United States would be submitting their own proposal to host the championships in San Francisco, but Russia’s proposal for candidature surprisingly went unopposed at the Congress. The Eurasian country was also awarded the 2015 World Championships in their capital city, Moscow, also running unopposed.

Russia’s eagerness to host back-to-back Fencing championships should come as little surprise. They have been named hosts of the 2018 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the 2016 Ice Hockey World Championships in Moscow, and Kazan will play host to the 2015 World Aquatic Championships.

When a city is host to a top-sporting event, it can be beneficial to the economy by the building of infrastructure and tourism. Russia is also a powerhouse in the international sporting arena, and looks to capitalize on showcasing its talent in the upcoming years. Playing host to all these events is an ideal situation for them.

Candidature proposals for the 2017 Fencing World Championships were presented by Leipzig, Germany and Doha, Qatar. If the trend of these championships being held in Europe continues, Leipzig is the favored of the two.

Happy Birthday FIE 

The 2013 Congress marks the 100th year anniversary of the founding of the federation, which occurred on 29 November 1913 in the Automobile Club de France in Paris. The FIE was awarded with the special Fair Play Trophy by the International Fair Play Committee honoring their contribution towards promoting fair-play among youth.

Ghana and Samoa were presented as newest members to FIE, bringing their affiliation total to 149. A new official logo (pictured below) was also presented to the Congress.

Decisions for Rio’s Programme

There were 130 members represented to vote on subjects related to the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and an extensive list of proposed rule changes.

Because there are only ten medal events allocated to fencing, two team events have been cut on rotation since women’s sabre events were introduced at the 2000 Athens games. It was decided by Congress to continue the order of the rotation and omit men’s sabre and women’s foil team events from Rio’s programme.

Congress chose a quota of 212 fencers for the games; composing of 102 men and 102 women plus eight spots for the host country to use as they see fit.

Changes to Official Rules 

An FIE Referee took to the social media site reddit to update the fencing community about the changes to the official rules that have been voted on by the Congress. As this is not an official FIE press release, take the information at discretion. Proposed changes can be viewed here.

Fencing.net will report on the changes when there is an official release, until then join the discussion on our forums.

References:

FIE Official Press Release