Fencing is usually among the least visible Olympic events, but a year out from the Paris Games it is providing political, sporting and familial drama related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A top Russian coach has been fired after a star épée couple left three weeks ago for the United States.
And a high-profile fencing divorce has touched the upper reaches of the Russian Olympic Committee and even led to the entry of “raspberry frappé” into the lexicon as a sword-fighting put-down.
One of the Russian fencers now training and coaching in San Diego, Konstantin Lokhanov, 24, is a former son-in-law of the president of Russia’s Olympic Committee and the ex-husband of a two-time Russian Olympic fencing gold medalist.
He won the men’s saber competition at the American summer championships after having competed for Russia at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Persons:
Konstantin Lokhanov
Organizations:
Paris, Russian Olympic Committee, Russia’s Olympic
Locations:
Ukraine, United States, Phoenix, Russian, San Diego, Russia