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≡ “NEUTRAL OATHS” ADOPTED ≡
The International Fencing Federation, with a President-in-absentia in Alisher Usmanov of Russia, disclosed in a new information letter that it has ended the process of the reviewing and confirmation of the “neutral” status of fencers from Russia and Belarus:
“During its meeting of 26 June 2025, the Executive Committee discussed the complexity of the current process which has proven to be burdensome and particularly costly, as a significant amount of financial resources has been allocated to it.
“This process essentially involves a Group (Eligibility Review Group), consisting of Executive Committee members, collecting information about the applicants. A cyber security company then reviews this information and provides its findings to an independent lawyer, who reviews the information, and issues a report with his conclusions to the Group. Ultimately, the Executive Committee decides whether to grant or not the AIN and Neutral Athletes Support Personnel status.
“In light of this, the Executive Committee has decided to simplify the process, to make it quicker and less expensive. Applicants for the status of AIN and Neutral Athletes Support Personnel are now required to submit to the Group a signed Application, which includes a declaration under oath confirming that:
“a. they support and will support the peace mission of the Olympic Movement;
“b. they have not made and will not make any public statements supporting the war, including in media or in social media;
“c. they did not and will not participate in pro-war demonstrations or events;
“d. they have not displayed and will not display any symbol supporting the war:
“e. they will respect the Olympic Charter, FIE Statutes, Ethical Code, Safeguarding Policy, Rules and any directives from the FIE;
“f. they will respect the FIE Anti-doping rules and the World Anti-Doping Code;
“g. they will meet all anti-doping requirements applicable to them;
“h. they will respect the clothing and fencing equipment requirements;
“i. if they are granted the AIN or Neutral Athlete Support Personnel status, they agree to participate in FIE competitions under the ‘AIN’ acronym and under Neutral Athlete
Support Personnel status. With regards to Protocol, the FIE flag and anthem will be used”
Further, the FIE has now decided – in contravention of the International Olympic Committee recommendation from February 2022 – to allow Russian and Belarusian teams to compete once again:
“During its meeting of 24 April 2025, the Executive Committee decided to allow neutral teams, composed of athletes who have been granted the AIN status by the FIE Executive Committee, to participate in FIE Senior team competitions, starting from the 2025 Senior European Championships.”
The 2025 FIE World Championships will be held from 22-30 July at Tbilisi (GEO).
Observed: This is no great surprise from the FIE, long controlled by the Russian Usmanov, whose personal donations to the federation totaled about $98.5 million U.S. from 2008-21, but stopped after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
So, the financial pressure on the federation appears to be quite real, but then so is the continuing war by Russia.
It will be fascinating to see whether the IOC becomes concerned, under new President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), of having its recommended ban on “Russian” and “Belarusian” teams overturned by the one Olympic-sport federation with a Russian president.
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