BEIJING 2008

It has come and gone, the amazing ceremonies and the great performances of athletes. I am compiling some Olympic highlights on this page. NBC has done an amazing job of the coverage online. All video here. Below are moments that caught my eye.

Fencingvideos.net has also collected all the Olympic epee bouts here. The same video, but in a more user friendly YouTube format.

Our very own Seth Kelsey vs. Fabrice Jeannet

Bout starts at 3:04. I never understood why some people bitch about Kelsey’s fencing so much. He is very solid psychologically and super precise with counter tempo actions. Watch the few seconds before a light goes off, not the bouncing around in between. This was an exiting bout and Jeannet got lucky on his 10th touch. Then he sat on that touch and forced Kelsey to chase him. I think it could have easily been anyone’s bout.

US Women’s Sabre: OLYMPIC GOLD, Silver, Bronze!

Brilliant! Congratulations to Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson, Rebecca Ward and their coaches Ed Korfanty (Zagunis, Ward) and Arkadi Burdan (Jacobson)

NBC is doing some great video coverage of the prelim rounds, looks like more is to follow. This is the first time I see a truly professional, fencing specific coverage of the actual bouts and not the “human factor” stories. Well done, NBC!

US Men’s Sabre: Silver! Women’s Foil: Silver!

Oh my god, I love it! Remember these guys? Well, they upset the powerhouse Russia in Men’s Sabre, this is truly awesome!

Congratulations to them all!

Whole Beijing Men’s Sabre US vs. Russia NBC Feed starts @ 2:12

Just great epee fencing.

Beijing, Men’s Team epee. The whole thing is worth watching. Heh, Kovacs is back on the Hungarian team, one of my favorite fencers. Hungary vs. Ukraine (start of feed), France vs. Italy (feed@1:30) are both brilliant.

Funny: (feed@3:30) Ukranian guards a Korean to the mask and he won’t get up, Ukranian’s name translates into “Bear”…

…and this is fun, Very explosively channelled energy.

Proof that fencing is a sport of more than pure athleticism.

Haha, check out this large man (Torrente, South Africa, bout begins @ 33min. into feed) that made the Olympic team. He’s giving Videira, a World Champ. Silver medalist a really hard time. You really can’t ask for a bout of greater opposites, either.

We have have someone similar to Torrente at our club… Oh, hai, Dick Richards!

Italians are fun!

So the women’s foil Gold and Bronze go to the beautiful Italians. And they are so animated that they even got the shy and disappointed Korean Silver medalist smiling and having a blast finally. (Watch the medal ceremonies starting around 2:33)

Beijing Men’s epee: A great bout decided by ugly methods.

Remeber the idea that bagpipes are the only musical instrument to be ever called a weapon of war? Well, the bout between Bas Verwijlen (NED) and Lei Wang(CHN) (starts at 2:03) is something to see and think about.

Every competition can have a severe amount of distraction pounding away at your concentration. You train to deal with that, train to either tune it out or feed you. Cheering teammates always pressure an opponent’s focus and eat away at celebration of their touches. It’s great, it’s fun, it’s part of the game.

What if you bring a device to increase the volume?

Watch the video linked above. Lei Wang is the 2007 world champion, a great fencer and is on his home turf. He’s extremely creative and fun, he reminds me of the Buddha in my Flickr collection. His opponent is no potato either, he’s a robotic nordsman. The bout is very close, but it looks like Lei Wang’s spirit is distorted by his opponent’s fan’s noise maker. The only microphone I think is heard in these feeds is the referee’s, the horn is coming from the stands, so imagine how bloody loud it is in the venue. And only after the Dutchman’s touch. It helps Verwijlen in the next round as well.

What if somebody’s fans will one-up the Dutch and bring a louder device to the next important event?

I won’t be surprised that the FIE will consider banning artificial noise makers from the stands.

Lei Wang is one of my favorite fencers because he’s a World Champion that does not look like he was born a super-athlete. Neither was I. He was supposed to have had “home turf” advantage. Well, it didn’t help, but it looks like he ran into something that got into his head. A Dutch phychological weapon. If you watch closely, you can see Lei Wang try and apply some of his own psycho-pressure, but the referee sees that as non-combativity and pushes the bout into the second encounter. Then one can witness a gradual crack in the demeanor that results in a penalty when Lei Wang throws his mask off in frustration. His coach is also visibly bothered.

I respect Bas Verwijlen’s skills and results, but I do not have to like his style. I’m happy that this Olympic Gold went elsewhere. Matteo Tagliariol’s style is not just technical and effective, it’s also creative and fun. I’m happy a noise machine did not seem to have an effect on him. Unlike Lei Wang, he did get to see it in action twice before.

Fencing is a spectator sport.

NBC are my hero.

Yep, definitely a spectator sport: Men’s Sabre Gold medal bout starts at 1:18. That’s the type of cheering I love and respect. Not a tugboat klaxon.

Sherraine Schalm is a great Canadian fencer, cute as a button and a fun writer! Her blog is here, and she also wrote a book: Running with Swords. I never read it but people say it’s a fun read.

…and here she is fencing in Beijing… (feed: 1:47) …and going slightly crazy, oi…

…and there’s drama of course. So for all of you interested in the world fencing gossip, read her blog and comments. I guess she trained with the Hungarians and then they said she’s not welcome anymore. This is really strange, because I briefly trained with them as well, and they are a very welcoming bunch. Especially Krisztián Kulcsár. We fenced at Honved for a while, and eventually he said it’s OK for me to come and train with their National team. I was a relative potato compared to them, but could still give good bouts. That was the best overall “time and money to progress” ratio I’ve ever had. It was also extremely fun.

Edit with new info: her opponent told her she’s not welcome two weeks before the Olympics, after the match-ups became known. This was likely approved by the coaches and/or govenring body, since Sherraine was to face a Hungarian. Would Hungary want to train a very dangerous opponent for themselves? So I don’t think there’s any drama here actually, just cold calculations. I’ve had to do somewhat similar things with my students and not everyone takes it well. Such is the nature of sport.