“It feels unreal.”
In just over a month’s time, Philippe Wakim will fulfill his childhood dream when he represents Lebanon at the 2024 Olympic Games.
“Since I was six when I began fencing, I had this dream. And now I am living it,” the 24 year old excitedly told The National over video-call.
Wakim said that he was on the train on the when he got the call to confirm his place at the Games.
"When I found out I was in the subway heading to work. I couldn’t believe it, I actually missed the stop I was supposed to get off!
"When I went to work the whole morning, I was thinking of everything that had changed in my life because of the qualification. I was so happy, I couldn’t work."
Wakim is one of five athletes who have been confirmed to represent Lebanon this summer in Paris.
Lebanon has a history of sending fencers to the Olympics. In the 1972 Games in Munich, Lebanon sent four fencers who were able to comprise a foil and an epee team. However since the 1992 Olympics, Lebanon has only sent two fencers, siblings Zain and Mona Shaito, at the 2012 Games.
This is Wakim’s first Olympic Games, securing his place after finishing seventh in men’s foil at the Asian/Oceania Championships in Fujairah at the end of April.
Wakim, who lives and trains in Paris, is excited for the Games but highlights the mental battle of not getting carried away by the occasion.
“Every match is going to be incredibly difficult. But also, I know all the Olympics is every four years and is a competition in which incredible things happen.
“I think the best strategy for me is just to focus on every game and every point, and not to not to try to see further than the next game.”
“I know what I'm capable of, and who I can beat. I’m just going to focus on one game after the other and rejoice after every victory, we'll see where it takes us.”
Wakim believes his is in one of the best places in the world to prepare for the Olympics.
“Paris is where the best clubs in the world are,” he said. "In order to improve, you have to have the best opposition.”
Wakim trains under the guidance of former French fencing champion Laurent Bel, who competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
“It's just a fantastic opportunity to learn every day with him,” said Wakim. “He also knows the pressure that I'm facing when I'm preparing for the Olympics.”
Wakim says that regardless of where he finishes in Paris, it presents an incredible opportunity for him and others in a sport which many do not tend to think about outside of the Olympic Games cycle.
He has high hopes that fencing is a re-emerging sport in Lebanon and that a good showing can help it grow in the Mediterranean country. He added that funding, as in all sports in the country, is needed for development.
“Not everyone can do fencing in Lebanon because you have to support all the costs of the sport,” he said.
Lebanon has been suffering an economic crisis since 2019, described as one of the worst in modern times, something Wakim says that has prohibited young people from getting into the sport.
“With the inequalities in Lebanon, it's heartbreaking that an even bigger portion of the countries is excluded from sports in general and from this sport in particular.”
“I hope the next generation's fencers will be more developed and have the structure to help them reach their potential,” he added.
