Fencing enters Olympics under cloud of accusations and referee bans

Just when it seemed the Olympics couldn’t get any more scandalous, due to pool poison and safety concerns, fencing begins this weekend.

Fencing has been a fixture on the program since the 1896 Summer Games, which launched the modern Olympics. It’s the sport where old traditions meet new technology. Referees actually call “en garde” for swordplay, and points are scored electronically to keep pace with the steely blows you miss with a blink of an eye. The rules are complicated, and it’s up to the referee to decide which blows are legal. That leaves a lot of room for interpretation. And, some would have us believecorruption.

This summer’s Olympic event will be held in gilded splendor at the Palace of Versailles, but American fencing has been plagued by allegations over refereeing. Two months ago USA Fencing two referees suspended after admitting to communicating with each other during an Olympic qualifying tournament in California (they denied manipulating the results in any way); the men, Jacobo Morales and Brandon Romo, were suspended for nine months after allegations surfaced that they had manipulated the outcome of a match for Tatiana Nazlymov, a Princeton student competing in sabre—the competition in which fighters swing at each other as if shot from a cannon to draw first blood. USA Fencing had sought a 10-year ban for the men, but ultimately opted for the lesser punishment after a disciplinary panel determined that the evidence against the pair, while compelling, did not establish collusion or manipulation. A statement from American fencers said the punishment was not severe enough and “undermines the ethics of the sport and of every athlete who strives for success based on fair play.”

USA Fencing accused two other refereesYevgeniy Dyaokokin of Kazakhstan and Vasil Milenchev of Bulgaria, of making decisions that favored Nazlymov and another American named Mitchell Saron, a star on Harvard’s saber team. In this case, the federation said the video evidence was much stronger. USA Fencing asked, among other things, the sport’s governing body, the International Fencing Federation, that Dyaokokin and Milenchev no longer be assigned to matches with American fencers. USA Fencing told the New York Times that it understood that an investigation had taken place but was not certain of the results and that Dyaokokin and Milenchev were still serving as referees. Dyaokokin and Milenchev have not publicly commented on the allegations.

In December, USA Fencing CEO Phil Andrews wrote directly to Nazlymov and Saron to warn them that the federation was “in possession of data indicating that there is a high probability that two specific referees were making preferential decisions in international competitions,” while pointing out the “statistically improbable volume” of success they were enjoying as a result. The New York Times has reviewed several concepts of Andrews’ letter and said an earlier version threatened to strip them of points in Olympic qualifying if “strong evidence” of bribery emerged.

It appears that no such evidence was found, and the final design took a safer approach. USA Fencing told the pair that it had “no reason at this time to believe that you are personally responsible, or even aware of, these actions being taken by others to benefit your international performance.” What could have been a shot across the bow turned out to be little more than a courtesy call “to formally inform you that we are aware of this alleged manipulation.” With little else standing in their way, Nazlymov and Saron booked their tickets to Paris 2024. It seems that if America’s medal chances depend on either Nazlymov or Saron squaring off under Dyaokokin or Milenchev, who are both listed as referees for Paristhe internet rumor mill will be in overdrive even if there is no evidence of anything unusual.

Fencing, it seems, can’t run the Olympics without controversy. In the final round, their biggest problem was Alen Hadzic, a epee athlete who was under investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct dating back 10 years. Six female fencers wrote to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee hoping to have him banned from the Tokyo Games, but were told that the final decision rested with SafeSport, the body responsible for investigating allegations of sexual abuse in U.S. Olympic sport. The “compromise” was to send Hadzic to Tokyo but house him in the Olympic Village, a hotel 25 minutes away, separate from his teammates. And as a result, three of his male teammates further ostracized him by donning pink face masks in support of survivors of sexual abuse. SafeSport eventually Hadzic permanently banned him from fencingHe has never been prosecuted for these allegations.

Meanwhile, USA Fencing says its hands are tied. Fencing lacks the resources of the more mainstream American Olympic sports and, it seems, the support of peer federations to address claims of integrity issues that, if the Reddit threads on the subject are to be believed, are even worse outside the U.S. In a close-knit sport favored by elites, where the rules are as flexible as a foil blade, it’s natural for some to believe that there are those in this hyper-ambitious group who would bend the rules to get ahead at Versailles. Still, those who are aware of the history of the palace must remember well what happened when those elites became overconfident.

USA Fencing’s trawl for cheating allegations was bolstered in large part by evidence gathered by spectators. After the findings were made public in April, “select members of the USA Fencing Team” demanded that their federation do more to protect a sport they say is “vulnerable to unfair refereeing and match-fixing.”

The revolution is coming. Fencing is officially en garde.