Fencer carries Olympic torch in Mex

[esgrimista1]

Hey guys,

Great photo of fencers as the olymic torch goes by, and further down, Carlos Junco, a fencer gets the honor of running the torch 800 meters!

http://www.esgrimamex.com/cgi-bin/ul...c;f=8;t=000042

[EpeeConvert]

Fencing is going mainstream, and i have mixed feelings about it. Whereas fencing is cool because not a lot of people do it, i am also protective of my fascinating sport. Kinda like your favorite underground band who you want to succeed but also dont want to lose touch with and sell out. but god DAMN it must be hard to run in knickers.

[Aeric]

That picture of all the fencers lining up and saluting the runner with their epees...

Now that's a sight.

[Sabresque]

AH! IT'S CARLOS!! He's a great guy, cool to see him carrying the torch!! I didn't know about this at all!! He trained at my club for a while, totally deserves the honor.

[dunastor]

That picture of all the fencers lining up and saluting the runner with their epees...

Those were mostly foils...

[dunastor]

And why are those girls wearing rainbow lames?

[Aeric]

Oh. Well whatever. They were fencing weapons. That's all that matters.

I believe that the FIE allows crazy lames now. Romania had a cool one a while back, that was the national flag colors (red, gold, blue). The ones in that picture are crazy.

[dunastor]

My point exactly, it hurts my eyes....

[cfaustus]

Next thing you know they will have us wearing an brightly colored Ostrich plume in our masks!

cool shots though! Yay Mexico! I like how the torch is so stylized...

[sabersaber]

way to go - great photos!

[neevel]

Oh. Well whatever. They were fencing weapons. That's all that matters.

I believe that the FIE allows crazy lames now. Romania had a cool one a while back, that was the national flag colors (red, gold, blue). The ones in that picture are crazy.

Those are Russian-made lames-- you can get them from Blade in the US.

The FIE hasn't changed the rules on lames. The body must still be a single "light" color (with no clarification on just what constitutes "light"-- typical ). At any rate, multi-color lames are a no-no. However, how many local (or even national) tournament organizers are going to make a fuss over non-regulation colors on a lame? At Div. I Nationals in April, Jon T., Dan K., and Jed D. were all wearing dark grey lames that would almost certainly not be allowed at a World Champs. or the Olympics.

The national flag color lames are also not legit, although how rigorously that gets enforced depends on the tournament and on who is wearing the non-reg. lame. For instance, one US sabre fencer had a tricolor (red, white & blue) lame disallowed at a Jr./Cadet World Champs, while a French fencer who had previously worn an identical lame had no problems.

-Dave

[fencing-widow]

congratulations to whoever in Mexico was able to arrange this! Excellent for the morale of fencers, and a great reminder that ours is an original Olympic sport.