The 128th session of the IOC, organized earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur, confirmed it: international federations are called upon to play a growing role in the Olympic movement. They will be consulted more often by the organizers of the Games during the preparation phase of the event. Their voice should be better heard. Real development or simple announcement effect? The Secretary General of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), Frédéric Pietruszka, responded to FrancsJeux.
FrancsJeux: What do you think of the IOC's desire, expressed in Agenda 2020, to give more space to international federations in preparing for the Games?
Frédéric Pietruszka: We are obviously in favor of it. It is the voice of wisdom. International federations today have expertise and know-how in the organization of their international events. In fencing, the last world championships, in Paris, Kazan, Moscow, reached a very high level in terms of reception and organization. It seems legitimate, today, to want to make this expertise and experience available to the organizers of the Olympic Games. Japan, for example, has never hosted a world fencing championship.
Were you consulted by the organizers of the Tokyo Games in 2020?
Yes. We had discussions with the Japanese about the layout of the fencing room. But the fencing events will take place in a different site from the initial project. The IOC has recovered the room for the audiovisual press center. Tokyo 2020 offers us another site, in the town of Chiba, around thirty kilometers from Tokyo. We could share it with other sports, like wrestling and taekwondo.
In the future, will international federations be able to influence the choice of Olympic cities?
Weigh, no. But we can provide advice upstream, during the application phase. The international federations will be able to contribute to ensuring that a candidate city presents, in its file, a coherent project in the different disciplines. The objective of the IOC, with this reform, is to ensure that a candidacy for the Games integrates the wishes and constraints of sports. It is planned in the application process for the Summer Games in 2024 that cities consult international federations.
Another development desired by Agenda 2020, flexibility in the Games program, could prove less favorable to certain international federations. In fencing, are you afraid of losing place at the Summer Games?
Our wish, at the FIE, remains to gain space. We are campaigning to have two more events from the Tokyo Games in 2020. We want to have the three weapons, foil, epee and sabre, represented in the men's and women's team events. Today we only have four out of six at the Games. We ourselves took a step toward parity by adding women's epee and saber to the program. In the end, we are victims of this, since we have to choose two competitions, at each edition of the Olympic Games, where the team event is not contested. We have taken a step towards the parity demanded by the IOC, today we want it to be respected at the Olympic Games.
Isn’t this a losing battle? The IOC is currently seeking to reduce the number of events in order to include a few additional sports...
By adding two team events in fencing, the number of athletes would not increase. We are committed to it. The fencers would all already be present for the individual events.
The IOC is examining the universality of the sports in the program more and more carefully. How does fencing stand today on this criterion?
Fencing has never been so universal. The FIE now has 150 affiliated countries. More and more nations are reaching the very high level. We saw in 2015, for example, Tunisia, Sweden and Japan have medal-winning athletes. We can no longer be considered a primarily European sport.
