Woke USA Fencing chief sued by his own sport's Olympic coach as ugly trans controversy takes new twist

Daily Mail​

18-06-2025

The USA Fencing executive who previously said 'neither sex has any inherent advantage' in competition has been sued by the sport's former Olympic coach.
Following a transgender controversy in the sport earlier this year, in which fencer Stephanie Turner refused to compete against a trans opponent, USA Fencing Chair Damien Lehfeldt spoke at a congressional hearing on May 7.
Lehfeldt refused to answer whether he would 'want (his) daughter to change in front of biological men in locker rooms.'
He also said that USA fencing aims 'to have tournaments in sites that are safe for all of our members,' when pressed by Marjorie Taylor Greene on why USA Fencing's 'site selection policy' for tournaments takes into account an area's policies on abortion and LGBT rights.
Now, Lehfeldt is being sued by former Olympic coach and USA Fencing board member Andrey Geva, alleging that the chair's comments at the hearing were 'false and misleading' according to Fox News Digital.
Among Geva's issues with Lehfeldt's comments in front of lawmakers was his reference to 'mixed-gender competition where men and women have safely and fairly competed against each other for decades.'
The recent trans controversy in the sport stems from Stephanie Turner (right) refusing to compete against a trans opponent
'It's a misleading statement,' Geva said. 'Yes, at practice, men and women fence each other, no problem.
'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.
'However, there is zero mixed events on the national level.'
USA Fencing does sanction mixed local events.
Geva also objected to Lehfeldt's previous comments to Fox News in which he said: 'women more commonly exhibit other advantageous traits such as flexibility and agility. Ultimately, fencing is a sport of strategy and technique.
'Those elements will most 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,' Lehfeldt continued.
Geva shot back: 'This is simply not true, and this is what I told him many times, that I have an expertise as somebody who successfully coached both male and female fencers at the highest international level.
'I trained them differently. I have a different approach to male and female fencers because they are different.'
According to the lawsuit filed by Geva, who coached USA Fencing at the Rio Olympics and Tokyo Olympics, Lehfeldt's statements 'have alienated thousands of members in the fencing community who have provided more than 90% of USFA's revenues.'
The lawsuit also said that Lehfeldt's comments could see USA Fencing lose its classification as a national governing body of the sport, while Geva added that some fencing clubs have quit the organization because of its policies.
In a statement to Fox, USA Fencing called the lawsuit 'derivative' and said it 'misrepresents our organization.'
The organization previously said that it would 'always err on the side of inclusion' in the sport, though it was 'committed to amending the policy as more relevant evidence-based research emerges.'
The sport's transgender controversy stems from Turner's refusal to compete against a trans opponent, Redmond Sullivan, at the Cherry Blossom Open in April.
Turner took a knee and removed her mask, ultimately earning a disqualification from the tournament.
Despite uproar around Turner's disqualification from the event, USA Fencing issued a statement justifying its decision while supporting Sullivan, 20, and the inclusion of trans athletes in women's sports.
And earlier this month, directors at USA Fencing reportedly voted on changes surrounding LGBTQ-friendly sites and the national anthem at a board meeting.
The organization announced in an official statement that it has 'adopted a streamlined policy that applies criteria prioritizing cost, safety and convenience to every national-event bid across all 50 states.' The new policy is said to ensure host cities meet 'stringent member-safety and cost-efficiency standards.'
The previous host site policy gave preference to cities without laws that 'harm members of the LGBTQ communities' and states that do not 'have laws undermining the reproductive health of women'.
States on the 'do not allow' list included Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.