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≡ FENCING ADRIFT ≡
The International Fencing Federation (FIE) has been dominated by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, first elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2024 and who has donated at least $98.5 million directly to the FIE to support its finances.
But he was sanctioned by the European Union in 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and has been fighting the issue ever since, recusing himself from his FIE responsibilities in 2022 and handing his duties over to Greek Emmanuel Katsiadakis in his place.
Usmanov came back into the spotlight last year just briefly, to secure election for a fifth term by 120-26, and then immediately suspended his duties as FIE chief and handed them back to Katsiadakis, a three-time Olympian in Epee and Foil in 1984-88-92.
But now, Katsiadakis, 78, is out, reportedly for health reasons. According to the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
“The national federations were informed of the move on April 28 by a letter from FIE Secretary General Gulnora Saidova of Uzbekistan. According to the letter, Katsiadakis had already resigned on April 24.
“Saidova wrote: ‘The Executive Committee will meet to review the circumstances. The Executive Committee and I will follow the statutes.’”
But it’s more complicated than that. The FIE statutes, as of December 2024, specify the process in chapter 5.3:
● “5.3.2 The Executive Committee, at the time of the election, continues to exercise its functions until the new President takes office.
● “5.3.3 In the event of death or resignation of the President, the Secretary General performs the President’s duties provisionally, until the next Congress, during which the elections of a new President will be organised.”
The FIE is governed by six-member “Bureau,” which includes the President, Secretary General, Treasurer and three Vice-President, and an Executive Committee of 22 members, which was scheduled to meet on 24 April. Its next meeting, to be held online, is slated for 28 May.
The next FIE Congress is not due until 22 November 2025, but its President – Usmanov – has neither died nor resigned. The announcement of his recusal from his duties after the 2024 elections stated that under chapter 5.1, “The management of the FIE in between Congresses is entrusted to an Executive Committee,” and it was the Executive Committee which accepted Usmanov’s decision to suspend his duties as President and appointed Katsiadakis.
So, now, the Executive Committee – no doubt with input from Usmanov – will have to figure out who comes next. There is one American on the Executive Committee, Donald Anthony Jr., an FIE Vice President.
The insider whisper that the most likely scenario is for Usmanov, who was born in Uzbekistan, will direct that fellow Uzbek Saidova serve as the interim President, as Katsiadakis has been.
The FIE has been largely adrift under Katsiadakis, including the high-profile incident in which Ukrainian star Olha Kharlan refused to shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova after defeating her at the 2023 World Championships and was disqualified, possibly under Russian influence. Embarrassed, the FIE later changed the rule and Kharlan eventually did qualify to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, winning the women’s Sabre bronze and a Team gold.
Now, a U.S. incident in an adult fencing tournament in Maryland on 30 March over a match between a woman and a transgender athlete, in which the female fencer – Stephanie Turner – refused to fight and was disqualified, has turned into a Congressional hearing on 7 May, involving the Trump Administration’s Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Women Out of Men’s Sports.”
The FIE has no transgender policy at all. And, for now, absentee leadership.
¶
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