It was his return competition, five months after his last appearance. Frenchwoman Ysaora Thibus, suspended at the start of February after a positive doping test, was injured during her entry into the European Championships on Wednesday morning in Basel (Switzerland). Hit in the left knee and in tears, the foilist was forced to leave the track and give up in the second match of the group stage. A worrying package for the one who is aiming for gold at the Paris Olympic Games in a little over a month.
Entered in the groups to qualify for the final draw of the individual event, the 2022 world champion started her day with a victory against the Turkish Irem Karamete. But on the final touch of victory, the 32-year-old Guadeloupean remained on the ground. “Sorry,” she first apologized to the referee, before heading to her chair to be taken care of by two members of the French team’s medical staff. After examining the left knee, Ysaora Thibus, whose face reflected a mixture of feelings, was strapped.
But the knee gave way again in the second clash of the day, against the Greek Maria Stamos. Nine seconds into the match, an extension to try to score the first touch. And a cry, which resounded in this annex room of the Halle Saint-Jacques. The Frenchwoman quickly took off her mask, revealing a face twisted by pain and tears, lips trembling. “After all that…” she blurted out in the first seconds after the shock.
“We have to stop her, she’s going to tear everything away”
Once again surrounded by the medical staff of the French team, the Tricolore was taken care of on the track, under the worried gaze of its Italian fencing master Giulio Tomassini, the manager of the French women’s foil Yann Detienne and the director of the French teams, Pierre Guichot. After almost ten minutes, where the foilist oscillated between tears and a nervous smile, Ysaora Thibus got up. Resumption of his match. But for only two touches, where she ended up hopping to avoid straining the injured area.
“We have to stop her, she will tear everything off otherwise,” demanded a member of the French staff. In tears, Ysaora Thibus left the track. Half an hour later, the Frenchwoman was still in tears in one of the corridors of the Swiss hall which hosts the European Championships until Sunday. Marked by this aborted return from the first minutes.
For the moment, the French fencing federation has not communicated on the medical situation of the foil fencer. “Thank you to everyone who made this moment possible,” the person wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, described as relieved and fulfilled after being cleared, which led to the end of her provisional suspension. In Basel, the Frenchwoman had to get her bearings for the Games by taking part in the individual event on Wednesday and in the team competition on Sunday. For now, this trip to Switzerland seems to have compromised his chances of lining up at the Grand Palais at the end of July.
