The Swiss Fencing Association apologised Sunday after the country’s youth team sparked a diplomatic row by refusing to face the flag of the Israeli winners at the European championships in Estonia this weekend.
Following its defeat against Israel in the final of the under-23 Championships in Tallinn Saturday, the four-man Swiss team did not join the Israelis and the third-placed Italians in turning towards the flags during the playing of the winner’s national anthem.
The move, which was reportedly meant to send a political message related to the Middle East conflict, drew harsh criticism from Israel especially.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar expressed outrage about the incident on X, posting a picture of the Swiss team members facing away from the two other teams on the medals podium.
“Shame on the Swiss team for their disrespectful behaviour,” he wrote Saturday evening, adding: “You don’t know how to lose and behaved in a manner which is an embarrassment to you and the country you’re supposed to represent.”
The Swiss Fencing Association said in a statement Sunday that it had “no sympathy for the fact that its team misused the award ceremony for a political manifestation”.
While noting that “our athletes congratulated the Israeli winners after the final”, it stressed that “we deeply regret” that the team’s behaviour at the award ceremony “hurt the feelings of the Israeli delegation”.
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The association also lamented that the team’s actions had “demeaned the sporting success of the Swiss team with three medals at this U23 European Championships”.
It added: “In principle, Swiss Fencing is of the opinion that sporting competitions are not suitable for expressing political opinions, even if athletes are of course allowed to have their personal opinions on world events.”
The association stressed that “after the athletes return from Estonia, Swiss Fencing will enter into discussions with the U23 team and then decide on any measures to be taken”.
