The Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (), commonly known by the acronym FIE, is the international governing body of Olympic fencing. Today, its head office is at the Maison du Sport International in Lausanne, Switzerland. The FIE is composed of 157 national federations, each of which is recognized by its country's Olympic Committee as the sole representative of Olympic-style fencing in that country. Since its inception in 1913, there have been 14 presidents. The position of president of the federation is currently vacant, but was most recently occupied by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov (until 2022). History The Fédération Internationale d'Escrime is the heir of the founded in France in 1882, which took part in the global movement of structuring sport. The first international fencing congress was held in Brussels, Belgium in 1897 at the instigation of the , followed by another one in Paris in 1900. On this occasion the organised one of the first international fencing events; French, Italian, Spanish, and Belgian fencers attended the competition. Dissensions rapidly arose between epeists and foilists, which held the majority at the . The third congress held in Brussels in 1905 voted the creation of an international fencing committee whose mission would be of fostering friendship amongst all fencers, establishing national rules, and supporting the organization of fencing competitions. The third congress also adopted the French rules as the basis for upcoming international competitions. New tensions appeared, this time between France and Italy, about the regulatory weapon grip. They led to the boycott by France of the fencing events of the 1912 Olympic Games. A new international congress was called together in Ghent, Belgium, in July 1913. The main matter was the adoption of international regulations for each of the three weapons. The French rules were adopted in épée and foil; the Hungarian rules were chosen for sabre. Frenchman René Lacroix also campaigned for the creation of an international fencing federation. The Fédération Internationale d'Escrime was founded on November 29, 1913, in the conference rooms of the Automobile Club de France in Paris. The nine founding nations were Belgium, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway. Albert Feyerick, president of the Federation of fencing clubs of Belgium, was elected as the first president. The FIE held its first congress on June 23, 1914, and accepted the adhesion of seven new countries: Austria, Denmark, Monaco, Romania, Russia, Switzerland,