Besbes, Sarah

Born in 1989 in Abu Dhabi ( United Arab Emirates ), where her parents lived at that time; her father, Ali Besbes, used to play basketball, and then became a teacher of physical education, and her mother, Hayet bin Ghazi, used to do rapier fencing herself, and then became an international judge. All the children in this family - one son and three daughters - took up fencing.

Sarah was first engaged in foil fencing, but then switched to the sword. In 2007 and 2008 she became the bronze medalist of the African Championship, in 2009 she became the African champion and won the silver medal of the Mediterranean Games. In 2010 and 2011, she again became the champion of Africa.

During qualification at the 2011 World Cup, Sarah discovered that she had to fight against Israeli athlete Noam Mills . Since Tunisia, along with other Arab countries, boycotts Israel, she turned for instructions to the Tunisian Fencing Federation. The Tunisian Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs ordered the abandonment of the battle, but since it would have sanctioned, Sarah chose a different path: she went to the battle, but did not take any action, allowing her opponent to freely strike.

In 2012, she became the champion of Africa, and at the Olympic Games in London she became the 8th in the individual championship. In 2013, she again became the champion of Africa, and won the silver medal of the Mediterranean Games. In 2014, she again became the champion of Africa. In 2015, she became the champion of Africa and won the bronze medal of the World Cup.

• Sarah Besbes - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
• Profile (inaccessible link) on the website of the European Fencing Confederation