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Fencing is a distinct segment however elementary sport within the Olympics, contested at each Summer Games since 1896. Yet regardless of its genteel status and easy goal — contact an opponent together with your blade earlier than being touched — the game has lengthy been rife with drama and suspicion.
Two months earlier than the Paris Olympics, worldwide saber fencing is engulfed by questions concerning the integrity of refereeing, accusations of preferential therapy and issues amongst prime athletes and coaches that their sport’s tangled connections could also be serving to resolve who will get to compete on the Games.
The federation that governs fencing within the United States, USA Fencing, not too long ago suspended two worldwide referees after they acknowledged speaking with one another throughout an Olympic qualifying event in California. It grew so involved about two different referees that it requested the game’s international governing physique to make sure that these two judges have been now not assigned to any matches involving Americans.
And simply final week, greater than a half-dozen elite fencers demanded harsher punishments and pressing motion to guard a sport that they are saying is “weak to unfair refereeing and match-fixing.”
“Part of me feels so silly for pondering all this time” that the game was constructed on honor, integrity and dedication, stated Andrew Mackiewicz, 28, an American saber fencer who competed on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
“It wasn’t,” he added. “It was like a mirage.” He stated he stepped away from the game in February due to his issues about unscrupulous refereeing.
Judgment Calls
While fencing depends on digital scoring, it’s referees who parse the difficult guidelines of assault throughout every match and resolve if some extent, or contact, is legitimate. Those guidelines carry a component of subjectivity to the scoring, and saber fencing, one of many sport’s three disciplines together with épée and foil, could be notably difficult as a result of its athletes lunge explosively at each other and ship touches practically concurrently.
Subjectivity “creates a number of room for corruption,” which could be tough to show, stated Yury Gelman, a longtime fencing coach at St. John’s University in New York who will coach his seventh Olympics on the Paris Games. In an interview, Mr. Gelman expressed frustration that little was being executed to handle saber fencing’s issues.
The referees who have been suspended final month by USA Fencing, Jacobo Morales and Brandon Romo, have been barred from judging matches in tournaments overseen by the federation for 9 months. They denied any manipulation of the match. An investigation into their conduct started after they appeared to have communicated throughout a match in January involving a prime American saber fencer, Tatiana Nazlymov, 19, at an Olympic qualifying event.
USA Fencing had initially sought 10-year bans for each males however in the end selected lesser punishments after a disciplinary panel report, reviewed by The New York Times, discovered “the looks of impropriety” however no credible proof to help collusion or different manipulation.
They weren’t the one referees, although, who had drawn the eye of the American federation. Months earlier, Phil Andrews, the chief govt of USA Fencing, had written with alarm to the game’s international governing physique, the International Fencing Federation, to precise concern that there was “prone to be improper officiating” of bouts involving Ms. Nazlymov and one other main American saber fencer, Mitchell Saron.
In its letter, which was despatched on Dec. 3 and reviewed by The Times, USA Fencing stated it was primarily involved with two referees, Vasil Milenchev of Bulgaria and Yevgeniy Dyaokokin of Kazakhstan. Video proof, the letter stated, indicated that calls made by these referees in bouts involving Mr. Saron and Ms. Nazlymov confirmed “a probable favoritism” towards them.
As a end result, USA Fencing requested that Mr. Milenchev and Mr. Dyaokokin now not be assigned to bouts involving any American fencers. Mr. Andrews stated he understood that the International Fencing Federation responded to the letter with an investigation however was unaware of its end result.
The worldwide federation didn’t reply to requests for remark, however each referees proceed to judge matches involving American fencers. Attempts to succeed in Mr. Milenchev and Mr. Dyaokokin by the worldwide federation have been unsuccessful.
In a second letter written by USA Fencing that was despatched to Ms. Nazlymov and Mr. Saron on Dec. 18 and in addition reviewed by The Times, Mr. Andrews instructed the athletes that the federation was conscious that “potential preferential officiating therapy” was benefiting their performances in worldwide competitions, and warned them that they might be stripped of some factors they’d amassed towards Olympic qualification if “robust proof” of match manipulation emerged.
Ms. Nazlymov and Mr. Saron have since been named to the U.S. group for the Paris Olympics. And by March, USA Fencing’s issues appeared to have eased. Mr. Saron acknowledged by a spokesman that on March 6 he had acquired a textual content message, which was reviewed by The Times, from a federation official saying that he was not a trigger for concern.
Mr. Andrews stated in an interview that there was no proof that both fencer knew of or knowingly took benefit of improper refereeing. And preliminary outcomes from an impartial investigation into match manipulation in saber fencing discovered “no proof that particular person U.S. fencers have been actively concerned in manipulating their very own bouts,” the federation stated in late April.
Ms. Nazlymov didn’t reply to a request for remark. But her mom, Zheng Wang, wrote in an e mail that “Tatiana is completely harmless and the dishonest/matchfixing accusation is ridiculous.”
A Web of Connections
The newest flashpoint got here in early January, when Ms. Nazlymov was concerned within the match on the North American Cup in San Jose, Calif.
According to a USA Fencing disciplinary panel, with the rating tied at 12-12, Mr. Romo started to hunt enter from Mr. Morales earlier than awarding factors to both fencer, and Mr. Morales acknowledged responding through hand gestures. Such communication is a violation of fencing’s guidelines.
Howard Jacobs, a California lawyer who represented Mr. Morales, the extra skilled referee, stated his shopper was merely affirming calls that the less-experienced Mr. Romo deliberate to make, and that no choices have been modified due to their communications. According to the report, Mr. Romo stated he was in search of solely affirmation of his supposed calls.
A video posted on-line that confirmed Mr. Morales signaling additionally confirmed Ms. Nazlymov’s coach sitting close to and speaking to Mr. Morales sooner or later throughout the match. Neither referee disputed the video, USA Fencing stated.
According to testimony at a listening to, the coach, Fikrat Valiyev, requested Mr. Morales who Mr. Romo was and one other query unrelated to the bout, however the two didn’t focus on any calls, Mr. Jacobs stated. Ms. Nazlymov narrowly gained the match, 15-14.
Mr. Andrews, the USA Fencing chief govt, stated that there was “no proof that Tatiana herself is at fault” within the refereeing dispute.
Ms. Nazlymov is a member of considered one of fencing’s most outstanding households. Her grandfather, Vladimir Nazlymov, gained three Olympic gold medals within the group saber competitors for the previous Soviet Union, and her father, Vitali Nazlymov, is a former N.C.A.A. particular person champion.
Her coach, Mr. Valiyev, is a two-time Olympic saber fencer from Azerbaijan, however he additionally exemplifies the difficult relationships that exist in elite fencing. In addition to serving as Ms. Nazlymov’s main coach, he works on the Nazlymov household fencing academy in Maryland and as a global referee on the Olympic degree.
Ms. Wang, Ms. Nazlymov’s mom, stated in an e mail that her daughter had been unfairly accused in what she described as a “doctored” video posted in January by Andrew Fischl, an American coach and former elite saber fencer.
Mr. Fischl, who repeatedly posts fencing movies, stated he obtained two items of uncooked video from the January match and zoomed in on the bout however didn’t change the order of any motion, distort any prevalence or make any accusations. “I simply confirmed what occurred and was like, that is bizarre and inappropriate,” Mr. Fischl stated.
Mr. Valiyev has not been accused of any impropriety and stated in an e mail that he had by no means tried to govern matches. But he has come beneath scrutiny in different movies posted on-line for potential conflicts of curiosity by teaching and refereeing on the similar competitors, and by refereeing matches involving Uzbek fencers whereas Vladimir Nazlymov was teaching Uzbekistan’s nationwide group or particular person Uzbek athletes.
Mr. Valiyev, responding by e mail with Vitali Nazlymov, stated that he behaved in accordance with the principles. But the 2 coaches acknowledged that “fencing is a small world and conflicts exist all over the place.”
Eli Dershwitz, 28, the 2023 world saber champion from the United States, stated that whereas irregularities occurred in fencing “on a regular basis,” he believed within the integrity of the game and his Olympic teammates. “If I believed there was one thing blatantly incorrect happening, I’d say one thing,” Mr. Dershwitz stated.
