The 2025 World Fencing Championships finished on Wednesday in Tbilisi, Georgia, with France leading the medal table with 6 medals, including 2 gold. Ukraine was the fifth nation in the medal table with 1 gold and 2 bronzes, but sixth "team" overall, as the Individual Neutral Athletes team, made up of Russian and Belarusian, won one gold and two silvers.
Sabre fencer Alina Komashchuk and epee fencers Nikita Koshman and Vlada Kharkova brought the three medals to Ukraine. On Sunday, July 27, when Koshman and Kharkova won the bronze and gold, local activists held protests against the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
As it usually happens in many sport competitions, including the ongoing World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to participate as neutral athletes, without national symbols or colours (although only in individual sports), the International Fencing Federation, FIE on its French initials, is led by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov.
In March 2023, the FIE became the first Olympic governing body to officially reinstate Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials, which meant some countries like Denmark, France, Germany, and Poland cancelled World Cup fencing events to prevent Russians and Belarusians from participating.
FIE was also involved in a controversy when Ukrainian Olga Kharlan refused to hand shake with her Russian rival she had just defeated. Kharlan was disqualified and denied of the title, but later the decision was reversed after heavy backlash.
As reported by Kyiv Independent, FIE has also disregarded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendations to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes linked to the military or supportive of the invasion of Ukraine.