The Executive Committee of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) adopted a bold the decision of the tournament in Krakow of the status of the European Championship due to the non-admission of Russian fencers. Now the tournament loses its meaning, and athletes will come to Poland as tourists.
Poland punished for discrimination The European Games will be held in Krakow from June 21 to July 2. It would be naive to believe that the Poles will allow Russian athletes to compete. Actually, in September 2022, Poland imposed a ban on Russians from traveling to the country, it is not even allowed to make transfers at Polish airports. The absurdity has come to the point that our tennis player Vitalia Dyachenko was not allowed to board the plane of the Polish company LOT in the direction from Cairo to Nice with a transfer in Warsaw because she had a Russian passport.
So there was no hope that Russia would be represented at the fencing competitions in Krakow. Although formally the International Fencing Federation allowed our athletes to participate in all foreign competitions. Only now they allegedly took into account the recommendations of the IOC and made a division of ours into those who fit the criteria and those who do not. The head of the Russian Fencing Federation (FFR), Ilgar Mammadov, immediately stated that one should not rejoice ahead of time at the decision of the FIE. And he was right.
The Russians were divided into categories, and none of the Tokyo Olympic medalists were invited to participate in international starts. Mammadov reacted in such a way that in such scenarios, either everyone or no one goes. And now help has come from where they did not expect. The FIE Executive Committee suddenly changed its mind and deprived the European Games in Krakow of the status of the European Championship. The reason is just Poland's refusal to issue visas to Russian athletes.
Why this decision is important Not even a year has passed since one of the international federations began to suspect that there was some kind of discrimination. Well, better late… The FIE's decision is also interesting because the Krakow tournament is no longer qualifying for the Olympic Games in Paris, the athletes will not receive rating points for it, and this is the most important thing for them now. Why even participate in competitions that will not help achieve the main goal of the four-year period?
Many, of course, will still go to Poland. Simply because they will not be able to refuse due to political reasons. This is all reminiscent of the situation with Wimbledon last year, where Russians and Belarusians were also not allowed, and ATP and WTA deprived the competition of rating points. A year later, the situation changed, and the British changed their position, they clearly do not want to lose their status. So the actions of the International Fencing Federation may have long-term consequences.
The FIE Executive Committee also noted that the European Fencing Championships have been postponed to October 2023, which means that by that time our athletes can get admission there. The question is which country the organization will choose to host the competition. Obviously, it will not be Poland or another country with bright anti-Russian sentiments, otherwise why even start it.