ATHENS, 22 August – The International Fencing Federation (FIE) has exlcuded a referee on the last day of the Olympic Fencing competition. The Executive Board of the FIE has suspended Joszef HIDASI (HUN) for the next two years and exluded him immediately from the list of referees of the Olympic Games.
The Executive Board and the Delegates of the referee commission have reviewed the video tapes of the Men’s Foil Team gold medal match,where HIDASI was the referee.
According to an official statement of the FIE there where clearly four mistakes in the second bout and two mistakes in the fifth bout of the gold medal match. Each time the referee gave the points to the wrong athlete.
“These mistakes are heavy and against the good reputation of our sport”, said Rene ROCH (FRA), president of the International Fencing Federation.
The FIE also discussed the judgement of referees including Poland‘s Piotr Kielpikowski and Spain‘s Luis Jose Alvarez. No statement was made about the decisions regarding the other referees.
