MST from the Olympics: DVD review

[edew]

First off, this DVD also has a bad bit somewhere near the end (at around 43-43 between France and Italy).

Secondly, I don't recall the meal I was having while watching this disk.

Third, the fencing in the bronze medal match between USA and Russia was incredibly inspiring and, well, just plain interesting. The US fencers were all very inspiring and their techniques and tactics were very, very good. The Russians had to fight like cats and dogs to keep up. Ivan Lee proved to be a top competitor and I would do whatever I can to appeal to him to stay for another quadrennial (if he has any intention of dropping it). His fencing was just brilliant. Jason Rogers -- I know he's going to keep fencing and work for the 2008 -- was just as defiant and masterful. Keeth did well but I think he was intellectualizing things a bit too much. The last touch was definitely for Poz. Not so much that he did the right thing, but because Keeth held his arm back a bit too long. It's more obvious in the slo-mo.

There were second-intentions, counter-times, false attacks followed by quick beats, everything. Both teams pulled everything out of their bag of tricks.

It's also clear that Poz is the only major player for the Russian team. Both Charikov and Yakimenko are not quite on par with the US fencers. Poz could dish it out as well as take it.

In the bout against Lee, Ivan made a brilliant attack on Poz. On the next touch, Poz bi**h-slapped Lee back with an F-U hit. Lee recognized it, almost humbly. Poz did that several times against both Lee and Rogers.

In the last bout, Smart was too tentative (which is perfectly understandable). However, I felt he should have pulled distance instead of making the simultaneous attack attempt. The reason? He did do the simultaneous attack attempt several times prior and had been called for holding back. On the other hand, the several times he pulled distance on Poz, he nailed him hard on the "distance-parry-riposte" action.

Of course, it's a very risky move. (Ferjancsik tried to do it at the 2003 WC in Cuba and was caught flat footed. But that was also because I thought Poz started just a fraction before the referee called "fence!".) But who knows, the reward goes to those who take the risks.

Now for the gold medal bout between France and Italy. I'm happy they didn't repeat the 1984 drama of drawing out the bout for as long as possible. Other than that, I thought the fencing was much more tempered compared to the bronze medal match. Maybe they both felt they've got a medal already, so what's the point. Both sides fenced very conservatively. Very few second-intention actions, very few false attacks, almost no tempo changes, no flunges (maybe they're just tired). For the most part, the french scored by hitting slightly sooner than the italians. The italians hit when they pulled distance and chased the other guy down.

There were very little gutsy play, in my opinion, compared to the US/Russia bout where both teams displayed a lot of cajones for doing the spirited actions. Hope to see the revised disk with the finish.

[Gav]

I'm going to disagree with Edew on a couple of points [possibly controversially].

Originally Posted by edew

Third, the fencing in the bronze medal match between USA and Russia was incredibly inspiring and, well, just plain interesting. The US fencers were all very inspiring and their techniques and tactics were very, very good. The
Russians had to fight like cats and dogs to keep up. Ivan Lee proved to be a top competitor and I would do whatever I can to appeal to him to stay for another quadrennial (if he has any intention of dropping it). His fencing was just brilliant. Jason Rogers -- I know he's going to keep fencing and work for the 2008 -- was just as defiant and masterful. Keeth did well but I think he was intellectualizing things a bit too much. The last touch was definitely for Poz. Not so much that he did the right thing, but because Keeth held his arm back a bit too long. It's more obvious in the slo-mo.
In the bout against Lee, Ivan made a brilliant attack on Poz. On the next touch, Poz bi**h-slapped Lee back with an F-U hit. Lee recognized it, almost humbly. Poz did that several times against both Lee and Rogers.

In the last bout, Smart was too tentative (which is perfectly understandable). However, I felt he should have pulled distance instead of making the simultaneous attack attempt. The reason? He did do the simultaneous attack attempt several times prior and had been called for holding back. On the other hand, the several times he pulled distance on Poz, he nailed him hard on the "distance-parry-riposte" action.

Great bout. Both teams were great. I watched this with my non-fencing G/friend (the Widow) who actually enjoyed it.

Of the US team: I would say that Lee looked fired up and 'up for it'. Smart was impressive but Rogers was the weak link. He didn't look positive enough for my tastes.
Or the Russian team: Podz' was excellent. He looked poised and efficient. A class of his own. The other two were not in the same league. Their performance was solid, but not as inspiring. In comparison to the US team they were on a par with Rogers possibly less impressive than Smart but Lee was better.

The fact that there was only a few points in it in the last bout and [if my memory serves] they had led initially bears this out.

Both teams were fairly equal.

To be honest I don't think that the Russians looked like they were fighting that hard to win. They looked to be in cruise mode and their win didn't look all that unlikely. The US team had managed to get themselves a 5 point lead by the last bout however I still didn't have any doubts that the Russians were going to win. That last fight was all Podz' he just went straight through Smart. It was that calmness that looked to me to be the deciding factor. It was the clinical approach that he took in that bout that won it. As I say when I saw Podz walk up to the line for this bout I honestly thought, "This is a Russian win."

I can't remember enough of the final to pass comment on that. That probably says all we need to know about it. I'll watch the tape again and post my comments.

[sabreur]

A couple of notes.

Gav, Jason Rogers beat Charikov 9-5 to get the US back in the game and ahead. Lee and Smart basically fought even bouts until Smart's bout against Podz.

I felt like Podz completely controlled his bout with Smart.

I agree with Eric about the Italian-French final--I felt it was boring, quite frankly, with both teams going for tempo attacks, rather than risking anything else. Tarantino suffered brain lock against Damien Touya in the final bout--he not only lost, but he looked clueless about why he wasn't getting the touches.

MR

[Gav]

Gav, Jason Rogers beat Charikov 9-5 to get the US back in the game and ahead. Lee and Smart basically fought even bouts until Smart's bout against Podz.

I am currently at work and cannot refer to the DVD directly, however a couple of points:

Apart from that fight he wasn't inspiring at all. US was obviously behind at that point. One exceptional bout does not make him any more worthy of comment.
The fact that the lead swapped shows that it was a reasonably close fight. However I would also mention that, a combination of factors were possibly at work here: the russian was probablly over confident, Rogers knew that the metaphorical finger need to be taken out. A shift for one fight.

I stand by my point. IDidn't find Rogers to be a stand out fencer in that match.

I'll watch it again, probably on Friday. If I find that I am wrong I'll post as such.

[sabreur]

Originally Posted by Gav

I stand by my point.

Different strokes....

I actually liked the way Rogers fenced--he has very clean footwork and is very solid (IMNSHO).

He's just not as athletic as Lee or Smart.

MR

[edew]

I also thought Rogers had some fairly good actions. He doesn't have the explosiveness of Lee or Smart from the on guard line. He can't make the blazing flunge attack from the on guard line like Lee did against Poz and Charikov. But Rogers had very good command of distance and was very capable of making his marching attacks land.

I also thought Rogers is shorter than Lee and Smart, but that's not quite true (he might be, but only insignificantly). I think that's because when I first saw Jason, he was around 12 or so, and he was, then, quite short. He's grown since.

Also, Jason is certainly not as lanky as either Lee or Smart, so the appearance is that Jason is squattier. Just wait until Momtselidze shows up!