future president of the French federation, Delhomme gets the best of Boudhil

Former swordsman Rémy Delhomme was elected Friday evening president of the French Fencing Federation, whose months preceding the Paris Olympic Games were sources of tension and upheaval. Rémy Delhomme’s list was preferred by 64.42% to that of the president of the Strasbourg club Timothé Boudhil, 31 years old (35.58%).

A former epee specialist, he was a team gold medalist at the 1999 world championships in Seoul, and also European champion three times between 1999 and 2002 (once as an individual). “The Steering Committee and I make it a priority to restore serenity in the management of our Federation and restore confidence to all those involved in our sport”he declared in a press release from the FFE. The committee includes recognized names in the discipline, such as former sabrer Anne-Lise Touya and Olympic champion Brice Guyart.

Suspicion of embezzlement

Rémy Delhomme, also an EDF engineer, will take the reins of a federation affected by tensions and departures before the Paris Games, where the Blues still collected seven medals (one gold), the Atlanta record in 1996 equaled. At the highest level of the body, the former president, Bruno Gares, resigned from his functions in September 2023, being also the subject of a report to the public prosecutor for suspicion of embezzlement.

Several departures have also been recorded at the highest level in the management of the Blues. Vincent Anstett, dismissed from his position in May 2023, then Alain Coicaud, resigned two months before the Games, left the men’s sabre, while Lionel Plumenail, boss of the women’s foil, left after the World Championships in Milan in the summer of 2023 .

Finally, Hugues Obry resigned at the end of February as head of the men’s epee team, following months of degraded relations with fencers Romain Cannone, Yannick Borel and Alexandre Bardenet, who had even chosen to leave the team. federal structure of INSEP.