Ysaora Thibus

Last updated

Ysaora Thibus
Ysaora Thibus podium 2013 Fencing WCH FFS-EQ t215235.jpg
Thibus at the French Fencing Championship 2013
Personal information
Born (1991-08-22) 22 August 1991 (age 33)
Les Abymes, Guadeloupe
NationalityFrench
Height1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight56 kg (123 lb)
Sport
CountryFrance
Weapon Foil
ClubAS Bourg-la-Reine [1]
FIE  ranking current ranking
Medal record
Women's foil
Representing Flag of France.svg  France
Olympic Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2020 Tokyo Team
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2022 Cairo Individual
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2013 Budapest Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2018 Wuxi Individual
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2023 Milan Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2014 Kazan Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2015 Moscow Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2017 Leipzig Individual
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2018 Wuxi Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2022 Cairo Team
European Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2023 Kraków–Małopolska Team
European Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2012 Legnano Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2013 Zagreb Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2019 Düsseldorf Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2022 Antalya Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2023 KrakówTeam
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2013 ZagrebIndividual
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2014 Strasbourg Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2015 Montreux Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2016 Torún Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2017 Tbilisi Individual
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2018 Novi Sad Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2019 DüsseldorfIndividual
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2022 AntalyaIndividual
Universiade
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2011 Shenzhen Team

Ysaora Jennifer Thibus (born 22 August 1991) is a French right-handed foil fencer, 2022 individual world champion, three-time Olympian, and 2020 team Olympic silver medalist. [2]

Contents

Career

Ysaora Thibus is studying at the ESCP Business School. In 2013, she received the Bernard Destremau Prize from the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, which rewards a high-level athlete who combines competition and higher education. [3]

Thibus took up fencing at the age of 7 in Guadeloupe. At 17, she moved to France to train with the French national youth team in Aix-en-Provence, joining the senior training team in Paris a year later. [4]

Thibus competed in the 2012 London Olympic Games. [5] In 2016, after winning her first team bronze medal at the Rio Worlds in April, [6] she participated in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

She reached her first individual world podium in 2017 in Leipzig with a third place, then in 2018 in Wuxi where she lost 12–15 in the final to Alice Volpi. [7]

In 2021, she won a silver medal in the team foil event with Anita Blaze, Astrid Guyart and Pauline Ranvier at the Tokyo Olympic Games, [8] losing in the final to the Russian team. [9] Beaten in the second round in individual, she said she was "psychologically exhausted" after the Olympic competition and stopped training for four months. [10]

In February 2024, Thibus was issued with a provisional suspension after testing positive for ostarine at the Challenge International de Paris event in January. [11] Following due process, in May 2024 the International Fencing Federation deemed that Thibus bore "no fault or negligence" for the anti-doping rule violation. They accepted her explanation that the source of the ostarine was through kissing her partner Race Imboden whom she was unaware had been using the ostarine. [12] Therefore, other than disqualification of results from the event in Paris, Thibus received no sanction. An appeal by WADA to the decision was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in July 2025. [12] [13]

At the Paris Olympics in 2024, Thinus lost her first match in the women's individual foil and was a member of the French team in the team foil event where they placed fifth.

Personal life

Thibus founded the EssentiElle program for women athletes, which aims to amplify their voices within the world of athletics. [14]

From around 2021 Thibus was in a long-term relationship and engaged to American foil fencer Race Imboden, however as of 2025 they appear to have split up. [15] [16]

Medal record

Olympic Games

YearLocationEventPosition
2021 Flag of Japan.svg Tokyo, Japan Team Women's Foil2nd [17]

World Championship

YearLocationEventPosition
2013 Flag of Hungary.svg Budapest, Hungary Team Women's Foil2nd [18]
2014 Flag of Russia.svg Kazan, Russia Team Women's Foil3rd [19]
2015 Flag of Russia.svg Moscow, Russia Team Women's Foil3rd [20]
2016 Flag of Brazil.svg Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Team Women's Foil3rd [21]
2017 Flag of Germany.svg Leipzig, Germany Individual Women's Foil3rd [22]
2018 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Wuxi, China Individual Women's Foil2nd [23]
2018 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Wuxi, China Team Women's Foil3rd [24]
2022 Flag of Egypt.svg Cairo, Egypt Individual Women's Foil1st [25]

European Championship

YearLocationEventPosition
2012 Flag of Italy.svg Legnano, Italy Team Women's Foil2nd [26]
2013 Flag of Croatia.svg Zagreb, Croatia Individual Women's Foil3rd [27]
2013 Flag of Croatia.svg Zagreb, Croatia Team Women's Foil2nd [28]
2014 Flag of France.svg Strasbourg, France Team Women's Foil3rd [29]
2015 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Montreux, Switzerland Team Women's Foil3rd [30]
2016 Flag of Poland.svg Toruń, Poland Team Women's Foil3rd [31]
2017 Flag of Georgia.svg Tbilisi, Georgia Individual Women's Foil3rd [32]
2018 Flag of Serbia.svg Novi Sad, Serbia Team Women's Foil3rd [33]
2019 Flag of Germany.svg Düsseldorf, Germany Individual Women's Foil3rd [34]
2019 Flag of Germany.svg Düsseldorf, Germany Team Women's Foil2nd [35]

Grand Prix

DateLocationEventPosition
2015-03-13 Flag of Cuba.svg Havana, Cuba Individual Women's Foil3rd [36]
2016-06-03 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Shanghai, China Individual Women's Foil3rd [37]
2017-05-19 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Shanghai, China Individual Women's Foil3rd [38]
2020-02-07 Flag of Italy.svg Turin, Italy Individual Women's Foil1st [39]
2021-03-26 Flag of Qatar.svg Doha, Qatar Individual Women's Foil3rd [40]

World Cup

DateLocationEventPosition
2013-02-08 Flag of Hungary.svg Budapest, Hungary Individual Women's Foil3rd [41]
2013-03-01 Flag of Russia.svg St. Petersburg, Russia Individual Women's Foil3rd [42]
2014-05-02 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Shanghai, China Individual Women's Foil3rd [43]
2015-01-16 Flag of Poland.svg Gdańsk, Poland Individual Women's Foil3rd [44]
2015-10-16 Flag of Mexico.svg Cancún, Mexico Individual Women's Foil1st [45]
2017-01-13 Flag of Algeria.svg Algier, Algeria Individual Women's Foil1st [46]
2019-01-25 Flag of France.svg Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France Individual Women's Foil3rd [47]
2019-05-03 Flag of Germany.svg Tauberbischofsheim, Germany Individual Women's Foil3rd [48]
2019-11-22 Flag of Egypt.svg Cairo, Egypt Individual Women's Foil3rd [49]
2020-01-10 Flag of Poland.svg Katowice, Poland Individual Women's Foil3rd [50]

Awards

References

  1. "Ysaora Thibus". London2012.com. London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  2. "INTERNATIONAL FENCING FEDERATION – The International Fencing Federation official website". FIE.org. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  3. "Ysaora Thibus chevalière de l'ordre du mérite". Outre-mer la 1ère (in French). 16 March 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  4. "INTERNATIONAL FENCING FEDERATION – Ysaora Thibus profile". FIE.org. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
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  6. "Championnats du monde d'escrime par équipe de Rio : l'heure du bilan". Eurosport (in French). 28 April 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  7. "Escrime. Ysaora Thibus est vice-championne du monde de fleuret". Ouest-France. 23 July 2018.
  8. "INTERNATIONAL FENCING FEDERATION – The International Fencing Federation official website". FIE.org. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  9. "Les fleurettistes françaises médaillées d'argent des JO de Tokyo après leur défaite contre la Russie en finale". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  10. "Champions du monde au Caire : Ysaora Thibus – Romain Cannone, chemins croisés, destins dorés". Eurosport (in French). 19 July 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  11. "Top French fencer Thibus suspended after adverse anti-doping test". Reuters. 9 February 2024.
  12. 1 2 "French Olympic fencer cleared as CAS accepts positive test linked to kissing partner". Reuters. 7 July 2025.
  13. "Dopage : Ysaora Thibus définitivement blanchie par le Tribunal arbitral du sport". Le Monde (in French). 8 July 2025.
  14. "Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus: 'I'm an athlete, but first I'm a woman, I'm a Black woman'". CNN. 22 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  15. "Olympic Fencers Race Imboden and Ysaora Thibus Are Engaged! All About His Creative Proposal". People. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  16. "Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus uses kissing defence to beat doping case". ABC News. 8 July 2025.
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