Fencing: Guyanese Ulrich Robeiri is leaving his position at the federation’s fencing commission

Considered “goose that lays golden eggs” of French sport in terms of medals, French fencing is going through a zone of turbulence. Several managers or members of the management are leaving the ship, this is the case of the Guyanese Ulrich Robeiri. Referent of the French team Under 20 years, the Olympic champion of 2008 preferred to withdraw, because he was “more in accordance with the control of the weapon” he explained in a message on social networks.

A storm has swept through the discipline for months. Between the Épéistes led by the Guadeloupean Yannick Borel and the reigning Olympic champion Romain Cannone on bad terms with their coach Hugues Obry – who ended up resigning from his position – or even the announcement of the positive anti-doping test of Ysaora Thibus, the practice ponders its crisis. “Since the middle of last season, I knew something was going to exploder, informs Ulrich Robeiri. I received feedback from athletes who said that the training went poorly, that they were not well supported during the sessions, that there was a functional impairment. After talking to them a lot, I understood that something was going to happen, because there was too much tension in the group.“.

Informed of internal tensions and witnessing certain irregularities, especially at the level of the technical commission, the Guyanese justified his departure. “My work with the under 20s went wellhe says. But the positioning of the commission towards senior athletes bothered me. I found out that there were pressure tactics on the athletes and it showed. For example, a shooter like Romain Cannone, Olympian and world champion, was not supported by the federation during his travels, this is unheard of. Although it is part of the commission’s rights. I feel that it went in the direction of sending messages to destabilize the athletes […]”.

Ulrich Robeiri’s resignation is not only linked to the commission. The withdrawal of the Guyanese is also due to the action of the federation against the Guadeloupean Yannick Borel, Alexandre Bardennet and Romain Cannone.

There was an agreement that was signed to allow them to have a hybrid individualized training model between their club and the training at NSEP. The national technical director and the coach unilaterally wanted to put an end to this agreement. There was some support from some people in the association, except that the affected clubs and ANS (national sports agency) blocked the process. It was a climate that went beyond the commission itself about the management of this file and that no longer suited me.

If in the near future the former swordsman is not worried about the future of the discipline, especially in the run-up to the Olympics, his opinion is different in the long term. “In terms of development in our sport, we have not progressed. The team in place, you saw… nothing happens. In the press, we only talk about conflict. For the next few years, if there is not a team with ideas and the means to impose a climate of trust, things could go very badly.“.

Despite the tensions in the discipline, France can boast of being the only country to have all its teams qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics.