Swiss Fencing has distanced itself from the actions of its athletes
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Two days after causing a diplomatic scandal at the U23 European Championships in Tallinn, the Swiss fencers responsible have published a jointly signed apology on Instagram.
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After winning silver in the team competition at the European Championships behind Israel, Ian Hauri, Théo Brochard, Jonathan Fuhrimann and Sven Vineis did not turn towards the Israeli flag during the podium ceremony like the other medallists. This caused a lot of criticism in Israel and Switzerland.
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“We would like to explain our actions and express our regrets,” they wrote, among other things. The fact that they did not turn to the Israeli flag had “no political background and had nothing to do with disrespecting Israel”. Rather, they wanted to express “our grief and empathy with regard to the great human suffering of the civilian population, which affects all sides in this conflict”.
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They recognise that their action has caused “irritation and see that it was a mistake”. The four fencers continued: “We apologise to everyone whose feelings we have hurt – especially our opponents from the Israeli fencing team and the Israeli Fencing Federation.”
They concluded that they would “learn from this situation and exercise better judgement in the same or similar moments in the future”.
It is not yet clear whether they will face further consequences. The European association issued a warning.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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