Former US Olympic coach opens up on suing USA Fencing board amid trans athlete policy disagreements

PARTICULAR Former U S Olympic fencing unit head coach Andrey Geva has filed a lawsuit against USA Fencing Chair Damien Lehfeldt alleging Lehfeldt made false and misleading statements to Congress in a May congressional hearing on trans athletes Geva a USA Fencing board member filed the lawsuit alongside fellow member and former Egyptian Olympian Abdel Salem against Lehfeldt and the other five at-large director members The lawsuit seeks to have Lehfeldt removed as chair Geva has elaborated on those alleged false comments he states Lehfeldt made in an unique interview with Fox News Digital CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS COMGeva pointed to a message by Lehfeldt when the chair explained women more commonly exhibit other advantageous traits such as flexibility and agility Ultimately fencing is a sport of strategy and technique Those elements will largest part frequently determine who prevails and when it comes to strategy and technique neither sex has any inherent advantage transgender status thus doesn't appear to confer any inherent advantage over a cisgender fencer cisgender women have beaten As a former Olympic fencing coach Geva believes this announcement is untrue Geva served as Company USA's head fencing coach and managing director from - leading the gang through the Rio Olympics and Tokyo Olympics in The U S took six Olympic medals under Geva's leadership including gold in the women's individual foil in Tokyo This is purely not true and this is what I reported him several times that I have an expertise as somebody who successfully coached both male and female fencers at the highest international level Geva stated later referring to how he trained his own male and female students I trained them differently I have a different approach to male and female fencers because they are different Geva also argued that Lefheldt made a misleading comment when the chair referenced mixed-gender competition where men and women have safely and fairly competed against each other for decades due to the fact that mixed-gender competitions are rare at the national level It's a misleading comment Yes at practice men and women fence each other no concern Local tournament not designated not sanctioned tournaments sometimes will have mixed events Sometimes when a female competition doesn't have enough competition we will have mixed events Geva disclosed However there is zero mixed events on the national level WHO IS STEPHANIE TURNER WOMEN'S FENCER WHO KNELT TO PROTEST TRANS OPPONENT AND IGNITED GLOBAL AWARENESSUSA Fencing has official separate national events for men's and women's categories The organization sanctions mixed-gender events at the local level per the official plan page USA Fencing responded to Geva's lawsuit in a report provided to Fox News Digital but the organization declined to address his latest comments USA Fencing proudly serves its members athletes coaches referees and clubs across our public with absolute transparency and integrity This derivative lawsuit misrepresents our organization and we will vigorously defend the organization in court any attempt to disparage them will be addressed appropriately the announcement read Because litigation is ongoing we cannot discuss details Our focus remains unwavering advancing fencing nationwide supporting every member s success and upholding the values of the Olympic and Paralympic movement The lawsuit insists that Lehfeldt's statements at the May hearing now threat the organization being declassified as a national governing body and have alienated thousands of members in the fencing district who have provided more than of USFA s revenues Geva narrated Fox News Digital that he has communicated with several private clubs associated with USA Fencing that have left the organization in response to its current transgender legibility initiative that allows biological males to compete in women's competitions and moved to the Amateur Athletic Union AAU 's Fencing League of America Because of the USA Fencing policies specific of the clubs veritably quit small clubs they quit USA Fencing membership and they moved to AAU Geva reported adding that the clubs quit for other reasons as well I know quite a scarce clubs that quit membership in USA Fencing Geva declined to name the clubs he claimed had quit An unnamed source within the USA Fencing organization argued that the organization has seen record expansion in the past year The season that is ending next month - is a record year for USA Fencing with more than members and nearly clubs both records So that goes against any suggests that we ve 'taken a hit' from any news the source commented Geva also explained that the organization is growing but for different reasons Overall our federation is growing but this is mostly due to like any organization it's natural advance It's very hard to judge if it's growing because we're doing excellent job or just because more and more people discover that fencing is the niche and the way to get to college Geva explained The organization has been under immense national scrutiny following a viral situation when women's fencer Stephanie Turner kneeled to protest a transgender opponent and was subsequently punished by USA Fencing Lefheldt's testimony at the May hearing only intensified the criticism Lehfeldt who was subpoenaed and did not come voluntarily elevated the disagreement ahead of the hearing with a series of Instagram stories that were later blown up and used against him on the committee floor In one post which went viral before the hearing he responded to a question that demanded whether he was okay with putting female fencers at a disadvantage with a simple brash answer Yeah Then during the hearing Lehfeldt admitted multiple times he regretted answering that way and admitted the question required a more-nuanced response At one point during the hearing Lefheldt confessed to falsifying an email from a fictitious fencing mother Dorothy who disagreed with him and called those members with similar views of Dorothy grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan Lehfeldt announced the post was a poor attempt at humor Geva believes the post should be enough to prompt Lehfeldt's resignation This is more than enough any decent person in my opinion after this fiasco at this congressional hearing should resign Geva commented I believe under his leadership our federation is going just in the wrong direction Follow Fox News Digital s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter