The United States is the only nation to qualify the full roster of 16 athletes for the fencing events at the 2012 London Olympics. This comes after Italy just missed their 16th bid as their 2nd epee fencer, Taglioriol, just missed out on qualification ending up behind Germany’s Fiedler.
France, however, lost out on a number of bids – including the Women’s Team Epee following the United States team winning silver by knocking France out of the competition in Saint Maur.
Gladius translated the press conference notes from Frédéric Pietruszka and Eric Srecki:
FFE President and DTN (High Performance Director) talk about France’s Olympic qualification after the WE World Cup in Saint-Maur
Before Laura Flessel tries to qualify in the zonal event in Bratislava April 22, France Fencing has 12 fencers (*) who will go to London, including the 2 reserves for MF and WF team events.
Frédéric Pietruszka opens his impromptu press conference with this comment within the context in which French fencers are developing.
“Fencing is a difficult sport and in this Olympic year the stress is at the max. Today we had a great disappointment for our WE who will not compete in London. Ditto for MS. This disappointment logically prompts us to put in question the way we operate in an international context which is undergoing drastic changes. This double disappointment will make us reevaluate a number of things both at the management level and as far as training. There are steps to take and readjustments to make without having to change everything. St-Maur was a general failure which cannot be allowed to be called general.”
Even with the regrettable absence of WE and MS in London, the FFE president feels that France can bring home 4 medals from London.
“The potential of Olympic medals is diminished but I think that we are capable to gain 4.” And President Pietruszka remembers an essential fact which however is often overlooked by the sport press in general, “In Beijing, fencing alone earned 27% of all the gold medals gained by France, with the two Olympic titles in MS and ME! French fencing continues to fulfill its role.”
When asked about the decision by the Selection Committee for Bratislava, Erick Srecki gives a simple explanation, “Laura Flessel goes to Bratislava because she was designated by the WE Selection Committee. She has the best results and we select the one who has the chance to get the spot at the Olympics. She’ll try to win her spot in a very peculiar competition. The objective is clear: get one of the two spots available for London. I trust that Laura will qualify.”
The DTN then expressed his feelings about the competition today and the current level of WE. “I’m sad for the girls and this is an odd way to conclude a cycle. The qualification phase started a year and a half ago in St-Maur but we had a series of missed opportunities. The girls were incapable to hit the target when they had to and they got to St-Maur under an enormous pressure.”
Frédéric Pietruszka takes over from his DTN to be more specific. “No nation is spared, not even Italy. Matteo Tagliariol, current Olympic champion, will not be at the Olympics. And there will not be Russian epeists either!” The FFE president then wonders about the new directions to take for the future of French fencing. “All our athletes have a double commitment,” he reminds everyone. “The question then is, can we remain competitive in the long run compared with other nations where their athletes all they do is only fencing? We must ask ourselves why there are some deficiencies in our system.”
We should learn many things from the next Olympic cycle…
Denis Goran
(*) French fencers qualified for London 2012
Men’s Épée
▪ Gauthier Grumier
▪ Yannick Borel
Mens Sabre
▪ Boladé Apithy
Women’s Sabre
▪ Léonore Perrus
Teams
▪ Men’s Foil (3+1)
▪ Women’s Foil (3+1)