Be careful, national Olympic monument in danger. While the Paris Olympics are fast approaching, French fencing is entering the home stretch of its preparation in a context of crisis unprecedented in its history. Five months after the forced resignation of President Bruno Gares, suspected of embezzlement as we revealed in the first part of our investigation, the entire structure is shaking on its foundations. If an IGESR inspection is underway and will be responsible for shedding light on the dysfunctions at the federation, the sporting field is in fact not left out in this great generalized bazaar.
All chaperoned at the time by a Bruno Gares described as “omnipotent” by his opponents, to the point of pushing his former DTN Virginie Thobor to resign a year ago. “He is a person for whom discussion does not exist and who imposed his views on everyone. Bruno Gares wanted to be both president, DTN, directors of the French teams and coach, which did not fail to create conflicts,” analyzes Jean-Jacques Béna, a well-known figure in the world of fencing and member of the FFE steering committee.
The saber breaks apart after the coach leaves
Take the case of the male sword, for example. While his team’s results were there last season (European bronze medals for Eliott Bibi and Bolade Apithy and world silver medal for Maxime Pianfetti), Vincent Anstett was removed at the end of last May in favor of Alain Coicaud, against the advice of the best elements of the team, Maxime Pianfetti, Sébastien and Jean-Philippe Patrice, respectively 6th, 14th and 60th in the world. “When we heard of his possible dismissal, we sent an email to tell them that we were against it,” relates Jean-Philippe Patrice.
Not having been heard, they chose to leave Insep without notice to join their former coach in the private structure, the Paris Fencing Academy, which he had just created. “It is not a decision taken against the new coach in place, it is above all an individual choice. We wanted to continue the work that we had set up a year and a half ago with Vincent. Changing everything and starting from scratch ten months before the Games was something we considered too risky,” continues the eldest of the Patrice brothers.
“You may be the boss of the Federation, but how can you interfere like that in the athletes’ project and fire a coach ten months before the Olympics, without even asking the opinion of those mainly concerned? It’s nonsense…” whispers another swordsman, speaking on condition of anonymity. If Brigitte Saint-Bonnet, the new president, assured us last December that she had been “presented with a fait accompli” by her predecessor, the argument does not resonate with Anstett. “She was vice-president of the federation and member of the office, she could have chosen to oppose it, she did not do so and was not very involved at that time,” regrets he.
A convention won by a hard struggle
To save what could still be saved and come out on top from this incredible situation, Saint-Bonnet commissioned DTN Jean-Yves Robin to negotiate with the rebels and their coach in order to reach a more or less acceptable compromise. At the arrival ? The signing of an agreement so that the three sabers come to train once a week with the rest of the team at Insep and that they also do their physical preparation there. Which makes the president say that they “have not left the federal fold”. “They are still there, we simply arranged their presence time and we accepted that they do their own project on the side,” she explains. The director of services Sylvie Le Meaux judges “the Federation was extremely attentive” to the trio to respond as best as possible to their requests.
“It’s window dressing,” judges Vincent Anstett. If he admits “a desire displayed by the federation to renew dialogue” since the resignation of Bruno Gares, the reality he depicts behind the scenes is darker. “On the other hand, there is no desire on their part to collaborate with my structure and support the athletes in the best possible way. We put pressure on them, there were threats of non-selection, we flat out told them that we would not take them into competition for the entire season. It was very, very hot for five, six weeks […] So to say that today they are Insep athletes, no, that is not true. »
Daily, the trio in fact trains outside federal structures, with the Egyptian sabers that Vincent Anstett took charge of with a view to the Paris Games. “We spend almost the entire season together, with joint training and courses, either they come to France or we go to Egypt. It’s a bit unusual,” he agrees. “We find ourselves today with three of our best sabers whose coach could find themselves facing them, with another selection, at the Olympics. It’s ubiquitous! », hallucinates Jean-Jacques Béna.
The men’s sword is also in turmoil
Another incongruity on the side of the epeeers with a coach, Hugues Obry, accused during a meeting last September of moral harassment by some of his best athletes and today in cold weather with three of them, including Romain Cannone, Olympic champion in Tokyo. Brought back into the French fold by Bruno Gares after a successful exile with the Chinese saber team, Obry saw his management methods challenged.
Hugues forgot what a French fencer was. He worked for years with Chinese people, docile athletes who never open their mouth to complain, who accept everything, and suddenly he found himself with guys who express what they feel, who don’t say yes to everything. He did not know how to manage that and forgot to readjust his software,” analyzes Philippe Lafay, member of the FFE Steering Committee.
Retained in his post despite criticism, Obry is today at the head of a somewhat fragmented team. This did not go unnoticed during the World Cup stage, in Bern, last November, during the team competition, with a game of musical chairs that was original to say the least at this level. On the bench each time Yannick Borel, Alexandre Bardenet and Billa went on the track, Hugues Obry left his place to his assistant Gauthier Grumier when Romain Cannone’s turn came, which did not prevent the Blues from winning – not without difficulty (41-37) – the test in the final against Italy. “It’s true that we have never seen that but, for a coach of his quality, it is to his credit to accept that it could happen differently than what he had imagined,” greets the president.
If Obry and the French swordsmen, who did not wish to respond to our requests, prefer to see this result as a sign that things are not going so badly after all, the situation is far from ideal for peacefully preparing for the Games at the end of the day. home next summer. “There cannot be conflicts between the coach and his shooters, it is inconceivable. Can you imagine the state of mind in the team afterwards?, breathes Jean-Jacques Béna. This is a problem that should have been resolved a long time ago, we cannot decently let things like this continue, especially when we have a high performance director whose job it is. A man who had to spend his time at Insep talking with the shooters, seeing if there were any problems to resolve. »
The 2024 Olympic Games, a crucial issue for the future of French fencing
“The problem is that we no longer really know who does what at the federation in recent years,” says a former federal employee. All this business a few months before the Games, it still shows a messiness of the system, it’s amazing. »For his part, former federal elected official Luc-Olivier Barriol speaks of a “complete destructuring of the federal structure” accentuated by the creation of a new position of director of high performance with vague contours encroaching on the prerogatives of the director of teams from France and the DTN.
The president exfiltrated, his team is now trying to restore calm in the blue house. Brigitte Saint-Bonnet: “Everyone is aware that we have big challenges to face with the prospect of the Games. It was necessary to restore order within the French teams, which was done. We will now continue to follow this with great vigilance, but also serenity.” As for the athletes, “even if it’s not easy every day, we try to ignore everything that happens in high places because otherwise, we won’t get through it,” the athlete tells us. one of them, who remained at Insep.
“Even if it’s a bit bad one year before the Olympic Games, I’m not very worried about them,” Philippe Lafay tries to reassure himself. They are strong, they know what they want and ignore the turmoil happening internally. » It remains to be seen whether the (very) ambitious objective of the twelve medals that Bruno Gares spoke to us about backstage in Tokyo three years ago is still achievable in such a context. “If we do five already, that won’t be bad,” says an elected member of the steering committee. But the stakes are crucial for us, because without results at the Games, fencing does not exist, we become like the cup and ball. »