He lost the first round. The fencer Alexandre Bardenet, in conflict with the French Fencing Federation (FFE) after his non-selection for the Paris Olympic Games, was dismissed by the conciliator appointed by the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), the former State Councilor Bernard Foucher. The latter heard the double world team champion on Tuesday afternoon, a surprise absence from the list of four fencers revealed at the end of May. And decided to agree with the FFE in its proposal communicated to the various parties on Thursday.
“The CNOSF proposed to stick to the decision of the FFE, considering therefore that it was perfectly legal and justified sportingly”, indicates to Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France Me Mathilde Mariette, lawyer at CPC & Associés and counsel for the court in this procedure.
Alexandre Bardenet, 34 years old and selected individually and in teams for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, contests the federal selection in substance and form. Represented by the office of former Secretary of State for Sports Thierry Braillard, the shooter believes that sporting logic was not respected and that the commission which decided not to retain him was not in accordance with the texts.
The athlete can now appeal to the administrative court
Less than a month before the start of the Paris Olympics, the CNOSF conciliator did not follow his arguments, supporting on both points the federal selection for the individual and team events contested at the Grand Palais. This is composed of the 2018 world champion Yannick Borel, automatically selected after finishing at the top of the internal ranking during the selection period, the reigning Olympic champion Romain Cannone, the recent individual European gold medalist Luidgi Midelton and Paul Allègre, a substitute for the team event.
Alexandre Bardenet can still challenge this proposal from the conciliator within 15 days. To do this, he must refer the matter to the administrative court on the merits and in summary proceedings, with a view to obtaining a suspension of the FFE’s selection. But the deadline now seems short to take the case to court and hope that a magistrate will force the federation to review its copy before the start of the Olympic Games on home soil.
The athlete received the support of Romain Cannone and Yannick Borel, who like him decided to train mainly away from Insep this season due to tensions with their now ex-manager Hugues Obry. Despite his ongoing proceedings against the federation, he was called up during the European Championships last week to replace the injured Yannick Borel in the team event. In Basel, Alexandre Bardenet, however, did not participate in a single match that led the Blues to continental gold on Saturday.
