Alen Hadzic’s fencing career became engulfed in a sexual-misconduct scandal that stretched from his college years into the Olympic system. While he was a student and épée fencer at Columbia University, a woman filed a complaint accusing him of sexual abuse; a university Title IX investigation found him responsible, and Columbia suspended him for the 2013–14 academic year and removed him from its fencing team. The suspension did not initially prevent him from competing elsewhere. USA Fencing declined an appeal to bar him in 2013, arguing that he was neither a coach nor an authority figure and that the alleged conduct had not occurred at a USA Fencing event. Hadzic later coached boys and girls at a New York high-school fencing program, where another young woman said he had groped her.
The controversy exploded in 2021, when three women accused Hadzic of sexual misconduct and at least 10 witnesses submitted statements supporting the allegations. SafeSport temporarily suspended him, but an arbitrator lifted that suspension before hearing from his accusers, allowing him to travel to Tokyo as an alternate for the U.S. men’s épée team. Hadzic never competed at the Games and was not an Olympian, but USA Fencing imposed an extraordinary safety plan: he flew separately, stayed at a remote hotel outside the Olympic Village, was barred from practicing near female teammates, and was kept away from alleged victims. All 23 of his Team USA fencing teammates signed a statement opposing his placement in the Olympic Village, saying they felt unsafe and that other athletes could be put at risk. During a team photograph, three fencers wore pink masks in an apparent protest while Hadzic wore black; he later confronted two of them. The episode generated national criticism of USA Fencing’s handling of the case, contributed to the resignations of CEO Kris Ekeren and general counsel Jim Neale, and prompted the federation to block Hadzic from competitions in October 2021.
By July 2022, at least six women had filed SafeSport claims, including allegations of rape and an allegation that Hadzic had sex with a high-school student despite her repeatedly saying no. After an investigation lasting more than two years, the U.S. Center for SafeSport permanently banned him in June 2023 and imposed no-contact restrictions. The ban was upheld on appeal in December 2023, preventing him from participating in U.S. Olympic or federally recognized fencing activities. The case became a major test of athlete-safety procedures, exposing conflict between due-process arguments and the urgent concerns of athletes who believed governing bodies had failed to act on earlier warnings.
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