Ouch! What a beating!

[Purple Fencer]

I just looked at Vezzali's scores from the DE table. Her first bout was 15/0...of the remaining bouts, the average score was 15/5. The only one who came remotely close was Aida Mohamad, and that ended up 11/10.

Talk about an overpowering opponent!

[edew]

She certainly was on some taliban busting, butt-kicking mission.

[I see dead people]

SCHLECHTWEG Chri, the man beat BISSDORF Ralf 1 round earlier, lost to Brice Guyart 15-1... what the hell was he doing?

[fred]

For a German, "Schlectweg" seems like a poor choice of name for a competitor! It means "badly"

Guess he shot his wad vs. Bissdorf...

[swordsen]

On a less impressive note, did anyone else note that at least two bouts in the round of 64 of mens' epee ended with scores of 3-2?
That would have to be some dull epee fencing.
And I say that as an epee fencer.

[Pommel]

Nothing dull about it if you ask me. Especially if you're the one fencing it.

[swordsen]

Oh if you are the one fencing it is it tension from hell. but it isn't much to watch....

[edew]

I dunno about that. I think low scores such as 3-2 in epee is just as exciting as 15-14; as long as the two are actually fencing, as opposed to killing time. Don't want to see that '84 Olympics sabre team gold match where they play chicken for five minutes. But if they're there, toe-to-toe, feinting, jousting, though not necessarily committing, well, that can be exciting.

[HilandDoug]

I would concur with Eric. A hockey game that ends 1-0 can be as exciting, or even more so, than one that ends 6-5.

[DJ Apostrophe]

id have to agree that 3-2 bouts are interesting
i saw our own Brad Baker (oiuyt) fencing in the pomme de terre this past summer... the most tense bout ive ever watched
end of first period score is 0-0
end of second period score is 1-1 (double)
end of third period score is 2-2 (another double)
Brad's opponent gets priority... for some reason becomes more agressive... more playing with the blade and such... brad takes advantage and with the only single light touch of the bout wins 3-2 ... my blood pressure was WAY up just watching... intense stuff man.

[swordsen]

I conceed the point. They can be very interesting.

Unfortunetly they often consist of people staring at one another and shuffling back and forth.

[oiuyt]

Hi all,

Just as a clarification to DJ Apostrophe's post: My opponent didn't become more aggressive, although he DID end up playing with the blades a lot more.

When he got priority I internally decided that I wouldn't particularly commit for the first 20-30 seconds when most people get WAY too anxious and lose their bout by not realizing a minute is plenty of time to set up a nice touch. I expected my opponent to continue fencing in the style that had until then scored a combined 4 touches in 9 minutes.

Instead he became much more DEFENSIVE. He started automatically retreating even without me pushing the distance. I of course took up the space he was giving me. He then realized (a few seconds into the period) that he was now pinned at the back of his warning zone. He panicked a bit and started trying to control the blades. I slipped off of a couple takes, disengaged a couple of times and scored what was easily the easiest touch of the bout.

The overtime period was fenced in a very different style than the rest of the bout. The main part of the bout was a very active constant give and take where we (almost) never were willing to come past the wrist as a target. We knew each other fairly well as fencers and knew from previous experience that when we fenced each other, the person who tried to push in too far or too fast was much more likely to be hit. Incidently, both double touches came on fleches, one from each of us. There were several other deepish actions which were defended successfully. Everything else was constant set-up and shots at the wrist.

DJ Apostrophe isn't the only spectator who has told me how much they enjoyed watching the bout in question. I can certainly agree with Pommel that there's nothing boring about it as a fencer. At least some of the time.

Of course about 4-5 years ago I directed a collegiate women's epee bout that was decided on priority V0-D0. Unlike the DE bout mentioned above, there wasn't much set-up and while nothing went past the wrist, it was extremely rare that shots went as far as the bell. Two fencers, both who had learned to defend and stophit but neither of whom had learned how to make an attack, or at least an attack that they were confident enough in to actually launch in competition.

-B