The event is historic. For the second time, only the second time, a woman will lead a French federation of an Olympic sport. Isabelle Lamour, née Spennato, 48 years old, was elected on Saturday March 16 at the head of French fencing. Her list was preferred to that of the outgoing president, Frédéric Pietruszka, at the helm of the FFE since 2005. A clear and unambiguous victory: 79,84% of the votes for the former foilist, 5rd at the Barcelona Games in 1992 in the team event, 20,16% for the former president, also selected for the Olympic foil.
Her victory, the second for a female leader after Jacques Reverdy, president of the French Equestrian Federation between 1998 and 2004, Isabelle Lamour owes it both to her name (her husband, Jean-François Lamour, was a double Olympic saber champion – 1984 and 1988 – then Minister of Sports), to her past as a fencer, and to the catastrophic results of the French team at the London Games (no medals). It also owes it to an energetic, credible and attractive campaign.
“What was obvious to everyone in London was the split between athletes, coaches and elected officials,” she explained to Team on the evening of the federal vote. There were really three distinct groups. Our objective will be to organize the Federation so that technical managers and athletes feel supported and can train in the best conditions. »
A dentist by profession, Isabelle Lamour's priority, over the coming weeks, will be to find a replacement for Eric Srecki, the former DTN, who has been announced as leaving. She made no secret of her desire to appoint Christian Peeters, the current Deputy National Technical Director, former coach of the French saber team, Olympic champion in 2004.
Note, among the new members elected to the FFE steering committee, the newly retired Brice Guyart, gold medalist in individual foil at the Athens Games. On the other hand, Laura Flessel did not obtain enough votes to sit there. The Guadeloupean, with the best track record in French women's fencing, supported Frédéric Pietruszka.
