A surprising and strong choice in French fencing under tension. The French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) formalized Wednesday morning, late due to last minute delays, the list of swordsmen selected to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. And if Yannick Borel, assured of being one as the best Frenchman in these qualifications for the Olympics, and Romain Cannone figure well in this selection, Alexandre Bardenet does not appear in the three starting shooters, nor as a replacement likely to compete in the team event at the Grand Palais in two months .
The FFE weapons commission preferred Luidgi Midelton to line up individually, and Paul Allègre as a replacement to aim for collective gold. The first won during the World Cup stage in Vancouver in December, while the second won bronze at the World Cup round in Heidenheim at the end of February. But Midelton (23rd) like Allègre (62nd) are less well placed in the world hierarchy than Alexandre Bardenet (15th).
The 34-year-old athlete also has significant experience within this French team. Double world team champion and still in silver in the summer of 2023 in Milan, Alexandre Bardenet had been selected to compete in the Tokyo Olympics as an individual. Ten days ago at the Monal Challenge, the final World Cup qualifying round for the Games played in France, he was part of the team that reached the final against the Japanese.
Training outside the federal framework
“As long as it’s not set in stone, I won’t get excited. What I know is that I do not have my destiny in my hands,” he said after the individual event, where he was among the three Blues to reach the round of 16 with Romain Cannone and Yannick Borel . The three “dissidents” of this French team, left for a standoff with their federation after significant tensions with the former manager of the men’s epee Hugues Obry, who resigned at the end of February.
In March, the three men got carried away in an interview with L’Equipe about the training conditions at Insep and the treatment inflicted by the French Fencing Federation (FFE). Bardenet, like Borel, mainly prepared this season within his club Levallois-Perret. A tense situation which, the federation promised, should not play a role in the selection process for the home Games
The list of French female swordsmen contains no surprises with the presence of world champion Marie-Florence Candassamy, Auriane Mallo-Breton, Coraline Vitalis and Alexandra Louis-Marie as replacements.
