Thursday, 31 May 2012

London 2012 Olympics Fencing


Debbie Jevans said: ‘This multi-sport venue is one of the most important and exciting Olympic venues and will be a hub of sporting activity at Games time, accommodating seven sports during the Olympic Games and six during the Paralympics, second only to the Olympic Park.The task of hosting so many sports in one venue was put to the test, delivering seven international sporting events over three consecutive weeks, and I’m pleased with the outcomes. We learnt some lessons that will further inform our operational planning for the Games.’The Fencing event saw Great Britain come away with gold in the Team Foil. Richard Kruse, Laurence Halsted, James Kenber and Ed Jefferies beat China 44-43, France 45-25 and then the Russians 45-34.
Each contest pits two fencers against each other in an often mesmerising duel, a dancing combat befitting a theatrical production.
In view of a referee but also using electronic equipment to measure scoring, the combatants wear protective clothing, including a wire mesh face mask that has to pass a 12kg punch test.
There are 10 events (three individual men’s, two team men’s, three individual women’s and two team women’s) and three types of weapon: the epee, the sabre and the foil.
Points are scored by touching or ‘hitting’ opponents with the tip or blade of your sword, which is wired to a buzzer that sounds to indicate contact, on a valid target area; in the foil, this is the trunk of the body, in the sabre everything above the waist, excluding hands, and in epee the entire body is legal. Coloured lights on the electrical scoring apparatus register valid hits, while white lights register hits landing outside the valid target area.
Matches consist of three three-minute bouts. The first fencer to post 15 touches, or the one with most hits after three rounds, is declared the winner.
Events / disciplines
Men’s individual foil, women’s individual foil
Men’s individual sabre, women’s individual sabre
Men’s individual epee, women’s individual epee
Men’s team foil, women’s team foil
Men’s team sabre, women’s team epee

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