in armchair fencing, despite the tricolor sword – Libération

2024-09-06 16:16:00

After the disappointments of the week, none of the four competing French fencers reached the podium this Friday 6 September. Saturday’s team clashes are the last chance for the Italians, who only obtained a bronze medal in the individual foil.

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Another day without medals for Italian armchair fencing, which has only won one so far, Thursday: bronze in the men’s team foil. The program for this Friday 6 September was individual epee, and the Azzurri had a stalemate, both on the women’s and men’s sides. Much to the dismay of a Grand Palais who once again played the third musketeer. “How are you? It will be better after the Games” screams Brianna Vidé, fresh from the repechage match lost in the afternoon against the Thai Aphinya Thongdaeng. The Toulouse fencer adds: “It’s difficult to digest because I felt limited in my movements, by boxes that didn’t speak to me. As I am very mobile in the chair [avec lequel le bretteur doit toujours rester en contact d’au moins une fesse, ndlr]I’m used to getting cards but here, I got some with one referee and not with the other…”

This misconception about arbitrage is a repeat. On Thursday, after the defeat of the women’s foil in the quarter-finals against Hungary, Brianna Vidé, the league leaders, was already regretting “A difficult match, with a judgment not at all in our favor and which was not at the level of the Games, like yesterday. They are the same referees just for the game I lost [au fleuret en individuel la veille]». Maxime Valet also complained about some decisions made in his last foil match on Tuesday.

“No match is easy”

That said, Brianna Vidé emphasizes that the forces at play are considerable: “Frankly, when I’m in the call room and I look at the names of all the athletes competing, no match is easy, I don’t want to meet any of the fifteen.” Her teammates Clémence Delavoipière and Cécile Demaude also suffered in this competition, led by China. So, when a colleague tells him “Tomorrow [samedi]we absolutely have to go and get a medal!” on the occasion of the team sword, the champion returns, as bad luck is chased away: “We won medals, we were European vice-champions, we didn’t get far at the World Cup, we lost 45-44, we finished fourth… The charm, it doesn’t matter, in the end we put it away in a closet, the Grand Palais, on the other hand, preserves irreplaceable memories.”

Brianna Vidé, like Yohan Peter, losing in the men’s épée draw, became one with the audience, clearly very much at ease. She confirms, underlining the tactical interest: “We worked on this aspect in mental preparation. We have a very “French” audience, let’s say, so if I don’t play with them when I have moments of “down” and doubt… What’s better than warming up the room and making a bit of noise, which maybe gives another thirty seconds [avant de combattre] because the referee can’t say “Forward”. It allows me to breathe, to take away all this good energy and expel the bad energy that I don’t need on the track.