Fast and furious fencing comes to London
The London 2012 Olympic Games will offer spectators the opportunity to see one of the world’s oldest sports played in the modern surroundings of ExCeL.
Fencing is ancient and bang up to date. Fencers have the reaction times of a 100m sprinter and they move with the deadly grace of a panther – in a tense atmosphere you could cut with a sword.
There are three weapons - foil, epee and sabre - and both team and individual events. Each country has a maximum of three fencers (but it’s just two for men’s épée and women’s sabre individual events).
Qualifying for London 2012 is well under way and already national rivalries are fierce. We won’t know who is eligible to compete at London 2012 until May 2012, but you can follow the world rankings on the website of the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
Both individual and team events will be fenced in a knockout format. All individual events will consist of three periods of three minutes, or until one fencer has scored 15 hits. Teams of three fencers compete in a total of nine three-minute bouts, with each team striving to reach 45 hits.
Traditionally, the powerhouse nations in fencing have been France, Italy, Germany and the old Eastern Bloc states. In the last 10 to 15 years, however, new countries have got to the top of the ranking lists, with Great Britain, the USA and China all improving dramatically.
Britain has won medals at three of the last four European Championships. London 2012 represents Team GB’s best chance in more than 50 years to win an Olympic medal.
As well as having a talented team of fencers who are in contention for medals, Britain also has some young stars who are making a mark on the world stage. Read about 16-year-old Philip Marsh who was recently crowned world junior men's epee champion.
