Euroviews. Fencing at the Paris 2024 Olympics was transparent and triumphant

The fencing competition program at the Olympic Games in Paris marked the triumphant return of one of the oldest and most beautiful sports in the world to its historical homeland.

Athletes representing 53 countries from 4 continents took part in a real festival of fencing with epee, sabre and foil.

Unfortunately, as is often the case at major events, there were those who tried to cast a shadow on this worldwide sports festival.

A major German news company relayed accusations of "manipulation" on the part of sabre referees and the leadership of the International Fencing Federation (FIE).

The charges were based on statements made by a retired German fencing referee who was allegedly offered a bribe several years ago.

To begin with, any attempts to bribe a judge should be reported immediately to the FIE authorities. The FIE has no record of such a report made by the referee in question.

Defamatory statements by a person who did not qualify in 2023 and was removed from the judges' list by a panel of judges should not be taken at face value.

Secondly, today's fencing practice is transparent and fair. The current approach to refereeing and scoring in our sport makes accusations of "facilitating corruption among referees" absurd.

Under the current system, there is no point in trying to bribe a particular referee, as referees are assigned to specific bouts by a computer, without human intervention, and the names of the referees are announced less than half an hour before the start of the bouts.

Thirdly, the fact that this is the first time we see a greater diversity of countries and athletes on the podium serves to prove not the alleged fraud of the judges but, on the contrary, the "universalisation" of fencing — the model laid