The interview has been done in collaboration with the Nordic public service companies EPN and NRK.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fencer Konstantin Lokhanov, aged 25, chose to emigrate to the United States.
He is a double world champion in saber fencing in the cadet and junior class and participated in the Olympics in Tokyo three years ago.
Today he lives near San Diego in California and works as a fencing coach at an academy for children. And has put his own sports career on hold.
– I have no big dreams. I want to get citizenship, start fencing and get everything sorted. After that, I can dream a little bigger, he says.
Want to take the issue to the US Congress
Attorney Jack Wiener represents Konstantin Lokhanov and two other Russian fencers, the married couple Sergey Bida and Violetta Khrapina Bida, who also live in California.
Wiener has been working hard to get the trio of Russian fencers granted U.S. citizenship faster than the usual process, which can take years.
But that requires the US Congress to vote through an exemption signed by the US president.
Hear more from attorney Jack Wiener in the player above.
Since 2023, the USA Fencing Federation has allowed Russian fencers living in the United States to compete in American competitions as neutrals, as long as they sign a public declaration condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The fencers are in a middle ground
In the summer of 2023, Konstantin Lokhanov won the US saber fencing championships in Phoenix.
But he is still not relevant for this summer’s Olympics. The problem is that he and the Bida couple are still in a kind of limbo: they do not represent Russia, not the United States, and do not meet the criteria to represent the refugee team at the Olympics.
– If it doesn’t work out in Paris, we will continue to work so that they can compete for the USA at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, says Jack Wiener.