I got to watch an hour of fencing on TV last night. Yeah, ok it was 1am- but it was fencing! on TV! Whee! I was so happy. The US Women's Sabre team is ranked top again this year and yesterday they swept the competition for all three medals. Yay! The coverage was pretty funny actually- there were two commentators, one who obviously knew what he was talking about and understood attacks and riposte and one who was obviously there for "color". The one guy would say "Oh that was close! But Jacobson obviously got that point" and the other guy would have to say, "Uh, no actually she didn't, she was on the retreat." He even would even flat out say, "No Bob, that's wrong..." It was hilarious how much he had to correct him, but bless his little heart for trying. (That's one reason why Fencing is not usually on TV, because the scoring is difficult to understand- though I think the electronic equipment and all the instant replays now make it much easier.)
Sabre is more of a "slash" than a thrust, (so the side of the blade counts, not just the point) and it tends to be much faster and more aggressive than foil or epee fencing. I would have liked to have been a Sabre fencer, but the few times I tried it, I was never fast enough to be very good. In foil and epee, the back and forth, the parry- riposte is very deliberate, in Sabre, you attack and score -or not. It moves very fast. Also I was telling Dude that the Sabre blade always seemed much heavier to me than the others and he told me that I was wrong. Epee is actually the heaviest, I was just probably moving my arm wrong. (using my shoulder muscles instead of my hand.) Whoops!
I just think it is awesome that a sport that has never been popular in the US is gaining this attention and I love even more that it's the female Sabre team that is winning medals. Fencing was first contested during the 1896 Olympics and is one of the few sports to have been contested at every modern Olympic Games. Women's fencing (foil) first appeared in the Olympics in 1924, however Women's Epee wasn't added to the Olympics until 1996 and Women's Sabre first appeared at the Olympics in 2004.
So I love this:
"We hope that any success we have goes to making our sport more popular," (Sada) Jacobson said. "If we can get even one girl to take up fencing, then we've done well."
Amen, sister. Amen.
August 10, 2008
Fencing!
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6 comments:
I totally thought of you when I saw that on TV the other night! First thought: "That could so be Jen!" Second thought: "Hmm...I wonder if she's watching. I should give her a call." Third thought: "Hmmm...it's really late...maybe not." :P
*snort* yeah, it could be me if I was 20 yrs old again! ;)
Coulda gotten tickets to fencing, but Wog wasn't interested and I wasn't so into it that I'd want to go by myself. Still kicking myself for missing out on swimming and gymnastic tickets. Ouch.
I'm not getting enough sleep. I am watching the olympics way too late and have had go into work early twice this week. Is gymnastics worth it?
I was excited about this post when I saw it was about the Olympics. Then I saw it was about fencing, and fell asleep. You should write about the totally hot beach volley ball players? Or the girls gymnasts, who totally rocked the house last night :)
this comment has absolutely nothing to do with the olympics or fencing.
i just wanted to tell you that i'm one step ahead of you on the state songs thing and if you really truly want a copy of them, i'll burn you a disc or two. since it is about three hours worth of music!!
email me your address and i'll send one out to you.
nejyerf@hotmail.com
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