Fencing | Fares Arfa’s “Best Day of Competition Ever”

(Paris) It is rare to see athletes smile after a defeat. However, Fares Arfa was unable to hide his joy.

The Quebec fencer of Algerian origin achieved the unthinkable on Saturday, during the first official day of activities at the Paris Olympic Games.

On paper, Arfa’s time at the magnificent and colossal Grand Palais seemed short-lived.

In the first round, in the individual sabre event, he faced Áron Szilágyi. At every Games since London 2012, the Hungarian has stood on the top step of the podium. On the other hand, Arfa, considered the 27^e seeded, had never done better than a 16^e place in the World Championships.

Yet, he never seemed intimidated. He started the match with a clear 6-0 advantage. On the blue carpet of the Palais, Szilágyi had no solution. For once, he was dominated. In a short time, the Quebecer won the duel by a score of 15-8. He and his coach were jubilant. They were in shock. Arfa had just propelled a titan to the floor.

In the second round, he faced the Frenchman Boladé Apithy, the 11^e seeded, but above all the local favorite. Arfa had to cope in an extremely hostile environment. The Parisian crowd, like ultras in a soccer match, was wild. The flags, the chants and the screams were goosebump-inducing. Arfa was alone against 6,100 excited spectators.

In France, fencing is almost a religion. It is the discipline in which the Blues have won the most medals in the history of the Games.

What’s more, it took place in a spectacular venue, built in 1900 and closed for three years to be finalised for the Games.

In short, Arfa would have had a thousand and one reasons to be frightened or impressed. But on the mat, he was never worried. 15-8, and that was it. Direction the quarter-finals. “The French will perhaps encourage me if they discover that I speak French,” he said, out of breath, but delighted after his match. He was writing a real fairy tale.

In his third duel, he fought against Oh Sang-uk. The third seed, the Korean went on the offensive from the start. Until he led 8-3. Even though Arfa was at his first Olympic experience, the 29-year-old veteran had seen others. So much so that he was able to come back from behind to 12-12. In the final moments, his opponent was faster, more precise and tactically superior.

The journey of someone who could have been quickly forgotten has thus been transformed into an unforgettable memory. A day that was supposed to end quickly has also become “his best day of competition ever”, as revealed by his coach Arthur Zatko, also overcome with emotion.

The unthinkable

Due to the outcome of his first match, Arfa was assured of returning to the Olympic Village with a sense of accomplishment. That is why he showed up with a smile on his face in the mixed zone, at the end of the afternoon, after his last fight.

However, the closer he got to the medal, the more he wanted it. The fewer the competitors, the more he thought that this day might become his. He had nothing to lose, so the defeat seemed less cruel. Even if, at the end of the count, Arfa admitted to “being a little disappointed”. After all, he came within two points of a duel for a medal. In addition, the last point of the final duel was decided in the replay. “But I’m proud, because I pushed him to his limits.”

The Laval player was never destabilized, even if the situation was exceptional. Could he have predicted, this morning, when he got out of bed, that he would reach the quarterfinals? “Absolutely,” he answered without hesitation.

The fact remains that the context was unusual. This day built up to a crescendo and Arfa said he was proud to have managed and to have been able to “come back down to earth”, he who was floating at the end of his first match. [J’avais] head in the clouds. I did something exceptional.”

Between the first and second duels, a cup of coffee and a snack were enough to calm him down. He activated the “Do Not Disturb” option on his cell phone and was able to analyze videos of his opponent in peace.

His coach couldn’t have been happier with how Arfa navigated the unexpected: “It takes a lot of courage. To be the underdog against the three-time Olympic champion, there are a lot of people who would have admitted defeat in advance. Not him.”

Arfa thus wrote the history of Canadian fencing, because no one before him had reached the quarter-finals in the men’s individual sabre event.

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Zatko, however, seemed a little less enthusiastic than his protégé. His eyes in the water, his face displayed as much pride as disappointment.

A game in which it is difficult to compete, financially, when the federation “does not receive much help from Sport Canada. I do not know what that will bring for the future.”

One thing is certain: at the opening of this great Olympic ball, at the Grand Palais, Arfa danced the most beautiful waltz possible, even if the record sometimes skipped during its preparation, due to lack of resources.

The fencer’s ego, “his greatest quality” [qui] “maybe sometimes his biggest flaw” according to his trainer, has certainly saved him.

In other words: “He is resilient.” […] He is a fighter.”