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Yémi Geoffrey Apithy (born 5 April 1989) is a French-Beninese sabre fencer representing Benin in international competitions, silver medalist at the
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
and 2015 African Championships. He bore the flag for Benin at the 2016 Summer Olympics.


Career

Apithy holds dual French-Beninese citizenship: his father is from Benin, whilst his mother is French. He took up fencing as a child, following the path of his elder brother Boladé, who would become world silver medalist in sabre. He also practiced
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
before his father made him choose between the two sports. Both brothers trained at the fencing club ASPTT Dijon. Yémi earned a bronze medal in the U13 national championships and then became a national champion in the cadet (U17) category. He joined the junior national team for the 2007 Junior European Championships in Prague, where France ranked 4 in the team event. However, he was not chosen for the senior team and gave up competition to focus on his
podiatry Podiatry ( ), also know as podiatric medicine and surgery ( ), is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle and lower limb. The healthcare professional is known as a podiatrist. The US ...
studies in Belgium. He reconsidered his decision after talking to the president of the freshly created Beninese Fencing Federation. In the 2010–2011 season, he won the team event at the French national championships together with his brother and Nicolas Rousset. That same year, he became the first fencer from Benin to take part in the
World Fencing Championships The World Fencing Championships is an annual competition in fencing organized by the International Fencing Federation. Contestants may participate in Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre events. History The FIE first organiz ...
. He qualified to the final table of 64 but was eliminated by future Olympic champion
Áron Szilágyi Áron Szilágyi (; born 14 January 1990) is a Hungarian right-handed sabre fencer. A five-time Olympian, Szilágyi is a three-time individual Olympic champion, 2021 team Olympic bronze medalist, and 2024 team Olympic silver medalist. Szilág ...
. The next season, he failed to qualify for the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
after he was defeated by Mamadou Keita in the semifinals of the Casablanca pre-Olympic tournament. In the 2013-14 season he won a silver medal at the 2014 African Fencing Championships after losing in the final to Egypt's Ziad Elsissy. The same scenario played out in 2014, when he was eliminated in the final by another Egyptian, Mohamed Amer. At the
2015 World Fencing Championships The 2015 World Fencing Championships were held at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia from 13 to 19 July 2015. Schedule The schedule of the competition. Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events References External link ...
, he reached the last 64 again before losing to Iran's Mojtaba Abedini. In March 2016, he
qualified Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...
to the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
as one of the two highest-ranked fencers from Africa. He bore the
flag of Benin The national flag of Benin () is a flag consisting of two horizontal yellow and red bands on the fly side and a green vertical band at the hoist. Adopted in 1959 to replace the French Tricolour, it was the flag of the Republic of Dahomey until ...
at the opening ceremony and became the first Olympic fencer from his country. In the men's sabre event he lost in the first round to Germany's
Max Hartung Maximilian Hartung (born 8 October 1989) is a German right-handed sabre fencer, two-time team European champion, two-time individual European champion, 2014 team world champion, and two-time Olympian. Hartung is chairman of the Athletes Commi ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apithy, Yemi 1989 births Living people Beninese male sabre fencers Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers for Benin French sportspeople of Beninese descent Black French sportspeople Sportspeople from Dijon