The podium scandal at the U23 European Championships plunges the already struggling Swiss Fencing Federation even deeper into crisis - with potentially life-threatening consequences.
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- The Swiss Fencing Federation was downgraded by Swiss Olympic last year and therefore receives less support money.
- According to President Max Heinzer, the federation will miss out on around 450,000 francs this year as a result of this decision.
- The search for donors is therefore in full swing. The recent scandal at the U23 European Championships is likely to make the search more difficult. Especially as two coaches already caused a scandal at the end of 2024.
The Swiss fencers win the silver medal at the U23 European Championships. After their top sporting performance, they don't show their sporting side at the award ceremony. While the anthem for the winning team from Israel is played, they refuse to look in the direction of the flag. The action causes a stir. The tenor is clear: this is not appropriate.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar uses particularly harsh words on X: "Shame on the Swiss team for its disrespectful behavior." The federation apologizes and shows little understanding for the behaviour of its athletes. This is followed by an explanation and an apology from the fencers themselves.
"We shook hands with our opponents after the duel and congratulated them with great respect for their performance before and after the medal ceremony," wrote lan Hauri, Jonathan Fuhrimann, Sven Vineis and Theo Brochard on Instagram. "During the anthem, we did not face the flag of the winning Israeli team. This had no political background and had nothing to do with disrespecting Israel. It was a personal gesture, born out of our grief and empathy for the great human suffering of the civilian population, which affects all sides in this conflict."
They went on to write: "We recognize that our action has caused irritation and realize that it was a mistake. We apologize to everyone whose feelings we have hurt - especially our final opponents from the Israeli fencing team and the Israeli Fencing Federation."
Possible consequences for the beleaguered fencing federation
The athletes could not have expected their action to cause such a stir. Hardly anyone outside of the fencing scene would otherwise have even noticed that an U23 European Championship had just taken place. However, this could now have serious consequences for the federation.
The fencing federation was downgraded to category 2 by Swiss Olympic last year due to narrowly missed targets and administrative errors. Ultimately, this means that there is less money. President Max Heinzer says: "As a result, we are missing out on around CHF 450,000 this year." Cuts at all levels are unavoidable.
In March, Heinzer was still confident in "Blick" that the situation would soon improve: "For fringe sports such as fencing, sufficient funding is essential in order to keep up with the best in the world. However, we are confident that we will find suitable partners in the first half of the year to close the financial gaps."
However, the negative headlines could now put off potential sponsors. Especially as the last scandal was not so long ago. Last December, the team leader found the two coaches of the U20 national team drunk outside the hotel after a competition in Spain. The employment relationship with the head coach was terminated by mutual agreement with immediate effect at his request. The assistant coach will also leave the association. Nevertheless, the Reporting Office for Ethical Violations in Sport has given the fencing federation a very good report for its handling of the case.