Fencing: Stéphane Marcellin appointed national technical director

The French Fencing Federation has its new "DTN". Stéphane Marcellin, 62, has just been appointed national technical director, we learned on Tuesday, February 25. A former high-level foil fencer, the latter will officially take up his duties on April 1.

"I am very motivated to share my experience and work with the technical staff present," explains the technician in comments reported by the Federation, his eyes already turned towards the next Olympic Games in 2028. "We will have to demonstrate a collective sense," he continues. To prepare Los Angeles, we must first get ourselves in working order. We must not waste energy internally opposing each other. (...) In recent months, we have lost coaches for multiple reasons. The goal is not to complain. We have a great reservoir and young people who must be integrated into this high-level project."

The last Olympiad had, in fact, been marked by several disagreements between athletes and technical staff within the French fencing teams. The épée fencers Romain Cannone, Yannick Borel and Alexandre Bardenet had, in particular, been in conflict for many months with their coach Hugues Obry. The relations between the three athletes and Jean-Yves Robin, former DTN, had gradually deteriorated.

Stéphane Marcellin, who will work alongside Rémi Delhomme, the new president of the FFE since October, has extensive experience. First a high-level foil fencer, member of the France foil collective in the early 1980s, he joined the federal staff of the French Fencing Federation in 1992. Subsequently, he was coach of the national men's foil team until 2012. For the last two years, he held a management position within the DTN of the French Modern Pentathlon Federation.