 The Lisbon championships proved however a disappointment for France, whose medals tally dropped from ten at Nîmes 2001 to five.The French preparation for the championships had been affected by a personal conflict between Philippe Omnès, director of fencing of the French federation, and Christian Bauer, national coach for sabre, as well as the positive drugs test of Laura Flessel-Colovic a few days before the competition.France boasted only one gold medal in men's team épée, won against Russia.