Fencing: Canadian athletes call for inquiry into abuse in the sport

ONTARIO – A group saying they represent more than 50 current and former Canadian fencers have joined a growing call for a Canadian judicial inquiry on maltreatment in sport, saying fear of retribution has kept them silent for nearly 20 years on what they called fencing’s toxic culture and abusive practices.

“Unfortunately, we have been united by our shared experiences of abuse, neglect and discrimination,” the group, calling themselves Fencing for Change Canada, said in a letter to Canadian Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge, sent on Thursday and published online.

“Over the past 20 years, we have experienced various forms of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and misconduct.”

Many are still feeling the psychological and physical impact, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide attempts, the fencers said in the letter, which did not include names of individual athletes.

They allege that some of the perpetrators were Canadian team coaches, the athletes abused were often minors, and the maltreatment occurred at Canadian Fencing Federation (CFF)-sponsored events at the provincial level, and up to national and international competitions.

The CFF said in response to the letter it was committed to addressing any concerns being raised “as promptly as we can”.

“We are committed to working alongside Sport Canada and other sport leaders to address these gaps and to restore trust where it has been broken,” it added.

The CFF also said that its athlete representative would convene a town hall for athletes to share stories.

One former Canadian team fencer, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that there had been “a wide range of abusive practices and environments” that she was exposed to where she trained in Vancouver.

“From the time that you’re very little, you’re engrossed in this culture where your coaches are king, and you slowly get indoctrinated into this mindset of feeling like you’re nothing if you’re not everything to them,” she said.

The fencer, who retired recently, said the toxic behaviour began with coaches caressing her hair. She said they asked for kisses and demanded she tell them she loved them.

By the time she was 10, coaches at her club in British Columbia would line the girls up in a row in front of the boys after practice, she said.

“They would choose us one at a time to help the boys get changed (out of their fencing whites),” she added.

“That progresses into comments about your body, and there was a lot I witnessed in terms of public humiliation and psychological abuse. I saw my coach tie someone’s shoelaces together and made them run sprints because he thought it was funny.”

She also said she was regularly forced to train to exhaustion, often passing out or vomiting.

The former fencer has been now diagnosed with complex PTSD, and works with a mental health professional.

“By the time I left (the sport), I felt so worthless without their approval,” she said.

“A lot of days I woke up, I wanted to kill myself.” REUTERS