FIE rejects allegations of a governance crisis after an open letter from athletes and coaches
The International Fencing Federation, known by the acronym FIE, has rejected claims made in an open letter addressed to its Executive Committee and to International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry, warning of alleged governance failures, a lack of transparency and a crisis of confidence in the leadership of world fencing. According to a Reuters report carried by international media, the letter was signed in early May by almost 3,000 athletes and coaches, and it calls for an independent review of the federation's work. In an official statement published on 7 May 2026, FIE said that claims of improper governance do not reflect the actual situation and that allegations of corruption are, according to the federation's position, unfounded and incompatible with its publicly available records. At the same time, the federation stated that it remains open to dialogue with athletes and coaches, but warned that it will protect its own reputation from statements it considers defamatory.
The dispute has further increased attention on internal relations within one of the oldest Olympic sports federations. FIE points out that fencing is one of the sports present at all modern Olympic Games, and on its official website it states that it brings together 150 national member federations and has its headquarters in Lausanne. Precisely because of such status, the debate about decision-making methods, checks on neutral athletes, the organization of competitions and the role of sanctioned officials goes beyond the boundaries of a narrow sporting issue. For athletes and national federations, it is about the conditions under which they prepare and compete, while for the Olympic system it is about a broader issue of the credibility of international sports organizations.
What is stated in the open letter
According to the Reuters report, the signatories of the open letter claim that the stability and credibility of fencing have been undermined by conflicts over FIE leadership, non-transparent rule changes, competition postponements and weaker safeguards when approving the participation of neutral athletes. The letter, as Reuters states, asks the International Olympic Committee to support an external and independent audit that should examine the way the federation is governed and contribute to restoring trust. The signatories also call for clearer communication in cases of competition postponement or cancellation, greater involvement of athletes before the introduction of new financial measures, and the restoration of more extensive checks for athletes competing under neutral status. At the center of the criticism are also decisions relating to the recording of bouts at competitions and fees linked to the production and safety testing of equipment approved by FIE.
The open letter, according to the same report, specifically mentions the consequences of Alisher Usmanov's return to the head of the federation. Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek billionaire who led FIE from 2008 to 2022, was re-elected president in November 2024, but in December of the same year he voluntarily suspended the performance of his presidential duties. Reuters states that Usmanov had already stepped aside in 2022 after the European Union imposed sanctions on him following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and he was later also sanctioned by the United Kingdom and the United States of America. His return to an elected position drew criticism from part of the sporting community, especially because of the question of whether a person under international sanctions can have influence in Olympic sport.
The federation's response: checks exist, and the allegations are unfounded
FIE stated in its official announcement that it had received the open letter addressed to the IOC President and the federation's Executive Committee, but added that some of the listed signatories denied after the letter was published that they had known about it or agreed to it. The federation did not publish the names of those persons in the announcement, so that part of its response cannot be independently confirmed from the publication itself. FIE meanwhile claims that it supports the principles of democracy, openness, transparency and equal treatment. According to the official statement, every application for neutral status goes through the verification procedure of FIE's eligibility review group, and applications that pass that stage are submitted to the Executive Committee for decision by written consultation.
The federation also rejected claims that competitions were postponed due to poor organization. According to FIE, the one-month postponement of three World Cups and one Grand Prix earlier in 2026 was the result of a sudden deterioration in the geopolitical situation, and national federations were, the federation claims, immediately informed about it. FIE states that the decision was made because of athlete safety and the principles of fairness and equal conditions. Such an explanation is important because international fencing calendars are closely linked to ranking points, travel costs, visa procedures, national team preparations and athletes' personal plans, so even short changes of dates can have significant consequences for participants.
In response to objections concerning financial obligations for manufacturers and services of fencing equipment, FIE says that the procedure for introducing fees was open and transparent and carried out with consultations with manufacturers' representatives. The federation claims that the decision followed an extensive analysis of systems used by other international federations and that its primary purpose is athlete safety. Since fencing uses specialized protective and electronic equipment, approval standards directly affect equipment availability, club costs and competition safety. The dispute therefore does not concern only an administrative fee, but also the question of who participates in making decisions that financially spill over onto athletes, clubs and national federations.
Neutral athletes and the war in Ukraine remain a sensitive issue
One of the most sensitive parts of the debate concerns athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports who compete under neutral status. In its response, FIE claims that it continues to conduct strict checks of all athletes and officials seeking neutral status. In FIE's official information letter of 1 May 2025, it is stated that the eligibility review group for persons with Russian or Belarusian passports is composed of members of the federation's leadership and the chair of the Athletes' Commission. That document also states that after the resignation of Emmanuel Katsiadakis, the Executive Committee appointed Egypt's Abdelmoneim ElHusseiny as interim president of the federation.
Critics from the open letter, according to Reuters, believe that the safeguards around neutral status have been weakened and that there should be a return to more extensive checks. FIE disputes this and emphasizes that applications that do not pass review are rejected before the Executive Committee's decision-making. In the background of that debate lies a broader problem faced by international sports organizations since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine: how to reconcile athletes' right to compete, security and ethical conditions, sanctions regimes, and demands for political neutrality in sport. Fencing is particularly exposed to public attention because the debate about neutral status overlaps with the debate about Usmanov's role in FIE.
FIE leadership after Usmanov's self-suspension
In May 2025, FIE officially announced that Emmanuel Katsiadakis had resigned on 24 April 2025, and that on 30 April of the same year the Executive Committee appointed Abdelmoneim ElHusseiny as interim president. The same document stated that Novak Perovic from South Africa had been elected FIE vice-president and that new appointments had been made to commissions. At the FIE congress held in Manama in November 2025, according to the federation's official report, 123 national federations participated, and another 16 were represented by proxy. FIE also announced at that time that Usmanov, described as the elected and currently self-suspended president, attended the congress at the personal invitation of the interim president, but did not participate in the work or proceedings of the congress.
That formulation shows the complexity of the current governance situation. Usmanov is the formally elected president, but he is not performing the office; ElHusseiny leads the federation as interim president; the Executive Committee, according to FIE's statute cited by the federation in the information letter, manages the organization between congresses. For athletes and coaches seeking an independent review, precisely such a combination of formal mandate, self-suspension and interim governance raises questions about the real center of decision-making. FIE, on the other hand, claims that all procedures are statutory, open and strict, and that audited reports and information are publicly available.
Recording competitions, broadcasting rights and public access
Among the topics included in the dispute is the rule on recording at FIE competitions. In its statement, the federation says that recording at its events is reserved for accredited media with broadcasting rights, which it describes as a standard protocol of international federations. FIE claims that the goal of such a regime is to protect the personal rights of participants, including athletes, referees and spectators, and to protect intellectual property from the unauthorized use of recordings or commercialization without consent. For some athletes and coaches, according to claims from the open letter reported by Reuters, such restrictions can make it more difficult to analyze bouts, promote the sport and follow performances when official recordings are not easily available.
This part of the debate reflects a broader conflict between commercial rights and athletes' need for accessible materials. In individual sports, especially those that are not constantly in the focus of global television broadcasts, competition recordings often serve for expert analysis, the development of young athletes, communication with fans and attracting sponsors. In November 2025, FIE reported that the FencingTV.com platform had been launched and that during the first two events it recorded more than five million minutes watched and more than 35,000 registered users. That figure shows that the federation is trying to develop its own video content distribution system, but it does not fully remove objections about how access to recordings is regulated at the level of everyday competitions.
Why the IOC's reaction matters
The open letter was addressed not only to FIE but also to International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry. Reuters states that the signatories asked the IOC to support an external audit in order to restore confidence in FIE. In the Olympic system, international federations have great autonomy in the technical management of their sports, but their credibility affects the broader reputation of the Olympic Games. In FIE's official material for Paris 2024, it is stated that the federation, in accordance with Olympic rules, is responsible for the technical control and management of fencing at the Olympic Games. For that reason, governance disputes are not only an internal issue of one federation, but also a topic for Olympic institutions that oversee standards of good governance in sport.
It is currently not clear whether the IOC will take formal steps based on the open letter. According to available information, FIE has publicly rejected the allegations and announced that it will discuss issues important to the global fencing community at the 2026 congress, which, according to the federation's statement, should last two days and be open to national federations, commissions, councils and the Athletes' Commission. The federation states that this will be an opportunity to raise questions, proposals and concerns. Whether such a format will satisfy the signatories of the letter will depend on whether the discussion leads to concrete changes, additional transparency and clearer procedures for decisions that directly affect competitors.
Sports governance under scrutiny
The FIE case shows how much international sports federations today face pressures that go beyond the organization of competitions itself. Sanctions, the war in Ukraine, the status of neutral athletes, broadcasting rights, equipment costs, data protection and the question of independent oversight are all topics that affect the daily work of athletes and coaches. FIE claims that it operates in accordance with the highest standards of good governance and that it is implementing the 2025-2028 Strategic Plan, with the aim of ranking among the best international federations by ASOIF governance criteria by 2027. The signatories of the open letter, according to Reuters, believe that restoring trust requires an external review of the federation's work, not only an internal discussion.
For now, the positions are clearly opposed. FIE insists that the allegations are unfounded, that checks on neutral athletes exist, that competition postponements were motivated by safety and that the financial measures around equipment were introduced transparently. A group of athletes and coaches, according to the Reuters report, claims that there are serious problems in transparency, decision-making and safeguards, and calls for an independent review. Further developments will depend on whether the IOC, national federations and FIE itself find a mechanism that will at the same time protect the federation's autonomy and respond to the demand of part of the fencing community for greater confidence in the governance of the sport.
Sources:
- International Fencing Federation FIE – official statement of 7 May 2026 on the open letter, checks on neutral athletes, competition postponements, equipment and governance claims (link)
- Reuters / The Star – report on the open letter from almost 3,000 athletes and coaches, the request for an independent audit and the context of Usmanov's return to FIE (link)
- FIE – official information letter No. 7-25 of 1 May 2025 on the resignation of Emmanuel Katsiadakis, the appointment of Abdelmoneim ElHusseiny and the eligibility review group (link)
- FIE – official report from the FIE congress in Manama 2025, including data on the participation of national federations, the status of Alisher Usmanov and the FencingTV.com platform (link)
- FIE – official information about the federation, headquarters and membership of national federations (link)