Fencing is a cruel sport.
It forces you to gamble your life for a few seconds on a given day, not the day before or the next day, but on D-Day. It is thus at the Games, the only event which leaves men and women behind the masks of anonymity.
Whether swordsman, foil player or swordsman, the shooter has to be on top on the right day or else he will wipe out a training life all at once, on one touch sometimes.
We remember at the Rio Olympics champions in tears, distraught by what was for some their only failure of the year, the day it was not necessary.
A day that they had been waiting for four years, at least.
“In two hours, you can lose everything, a lifetime of work.
It is indeed the cruelty and the beauty of our sport, ”says swordsman Vincent Anstett, Olympic team champion in Beijing in 2008.
🇭🇺 #BUDAPEST // SABER
HOMMES Charles Colleau, Jean-Philippe Patrice, Baptiste Dubarry and Eliott Bibi join @VincentAnstett and @APITHYBolade (exempt from qualifying because in the top 16 in the world) in the main draw!
# LaFFEderrièrelesBleus # RoadToTokyo pic.twitter.com/Ai17PnYFjE
- French Fencing Federation (@ffescrime) March 11, 2021
Because of the Covid, which for a year has brought it to a complete halt, the discipline is even more cruel in 2021. In a normal world, the Olympic selections take place over several months through World Cup events.
Not this time: the team qualifications are played on a single event.
"After a year without competition, we are very happy to be back on the slopes in Budapest," said assistant national swordsman coach Cyril Verbrackel.
We start with the most important deadline of the season.
Athletes have been training with that in mind for a year now.
We have worked well during this year and we hope that it will pay off.
"
Avoid a single swordsman from going to Tokyo
The Tokyo mission therefore begins now for the Blues who are finally getting back on their feet.
The Saber World Cup opens the ball this weekend in Budapest, before that of épée in Kazan (March 19 to 23) and foil in Doha (March 26 to 28).
Olympic tickets are distributed on these occasions and there will be no others.
Of the six teams in France (saber, épée, foil for men and women) two failed to qualify before the pandemic: the female épée and the male saber.
In Budapest, the Blues of the saber therefore play very big, again on a single day scheduled for Sunday: "It is essential to qualify the team, insists Vincent Anstett, because this ensures the presence of three fencers in the individual table instead of 'only one if the team is not qualified.
"
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If France does not succeed in its mission Sunday in Hungary, the only swordsman who will go to the Tokyo Games is called Boladé Apithy, the best-ranked tricolor (7th) in the world ranking.
And Vincent Anstett, quarter-finalist in Rio and world number 16, will stay at home: "Clearly, I'm playing my participation in the Games this Sunday," notes the 2006 world champion. To qualify, we have to finish ahead. the Russians by only one place if we are in the other first with them, by two places if we finish with them further than fifth place.
We are in the shoes of the hunter and the Russians of the hunted.
It's 50-50 but we have confidence.
"
🇭🇺 #BUDAPEST // SABER HOMMES
Beginning of the assaults immediately with the qualifications for the individual event!
ALLEZ LES BLEUS 🇫🇷
The results ➡ https://t.co/wYaH8kwhrb
The live ➡ https://t.co/1Wpd3sI82j#LaFFEderrièrelesBleus#RoadToTokyo pic.twitter.com/FaKM4xaxfO
- French Fencing Federation (@ffescrime) March 11, 2021
On paper, it looks simple.
But the Covid has been there and all the counters are reset: "We play this Olympic qualifier on the first event after a year of stoppage," continues Vincent Anstett.
We would have preferred to have more tests in the legs but it's like that for everyone.
We got used to adapting to this crisis.
We are already all very happy to find ourselves on a track, in confrontation with opponents.
We missed it so much… ”
Among the girls, the swordsmen will get their ticket in a week in Kazan in Tatarstan, without promising anything: "We do not have our destiny entirely in our hands," admits Jean-François Di Martino, the national sword trainer. female on the federal site.
We are going to fight with Estonia and Ukraine, but the performances of Italy and Egypt will also be taken into account.
“Fencing is a cruel sport that does not forgive anything, especially not during the day without at the wrong time.
