You thought a USFA Presidential recall was bad?

[esskreemr]

Not even close...

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/spor...7400311640.htm

While staying at Taenung Training Center, a sports training complex for the national team athletes, in December, Nam had eyelid surgery due to a problem with her eyelashes on a weekend. However, without reporting further, she had an additional fat-injection treatment on her cheeks, and failed to attend her daily training program for a few days because of her swollen face.

As soon as it found out about the case, the KFF expelled Nam from the center on Dec. 26, before imposing the unexpected and shocking punishment on her for an unprecedented case in Korean fencing history.

Shame, she looked rather cute in the 'pre' pic.

[rcmatthews]

At least they didn't make her commit hari-kari.

[CvilleFencer]

Let me be the first to offer Sung-woo and Hyun-hee positions as coaches at the Charlottesville Fencing Alliance here in lovely scenic and historic Central Virgnia! As Director I think the harshest punishments I have ever leveled against fencers/coaches would be having to advance-lunge around the lap track and listen to my 30 minute diatribe on why Wagner was a hack.

Glad I am not a fencer in the "free and democratic" South Korea. Going from my own past experiances there I can't say I am horribly surprised, but it sure does suck for them. Teams need disipline but that is beyond insanely absurd. And I was serious about the job offer!

[MikeHarm]

So whats the idea behind barring people from having plastic surgery without permission for staying on the fencing team? Is it a cultural thing or is it more about making sure they aren't using drugs as part of the treatment that show up in testing without their coaches knowing about it?

[veeco]

I actually know Sung-Woo, the coach who is mentionned in the article. He went through the Maitre d'Armes training program in France, was coaching at my club during that time, and lived in the same neighborhood as I did in Paris.

He is a very nice person, a dedicated one, and a great fencing coach, both in foil and epee. I have had some of my best results in tournaments after taking a few lessons from him. When he left France, he was both sad to leave and very excited to go back to his country and take such an important position there. I sure hope everything goes well for him, as I am sure that South Korea's result in the women's foil team event last year was by no small means due to him.

[kalivor]

So whats the idea behind barring people from having plastic surgery without permission for staying on the fencing team? Is it a cultural thing or is it more about making sure they aren't using drugs as part of the treatment that show up in testing without their coaches knowing about it?

What's the idea? Seems pretty simple:

If you're part of an Olympic training program, you shouldn't be having unnecessary elective surgery. Period. You certainly shouldn't be having any sort of non-emergency surgery/medical treatment without your coaches knowing about it beforehand. Period. You certainly shouldn't be skipping training sessions without notifying your coaches. It seems pretty clear from the article that she was in the middle of a national team training camp of some sort when she disappeared -- I suspect this would get her suspended from any national team, if not necessarily for as long a period of time.

This woman was holding a spot on the Olympic roster for her team. She unnecessarily put herself at risk -- at risk of failing a drug test, at risk of complications arising from surgery. In addition, she missed practices without permission for an elective procedure.

Why should she be trusted with a spot on the National team for the next Olympics? They instead suspend her through those Olympics, making sure she will be unable to qualify, and give the spot to someone who's not going to miss practice unannounced for whimsical reasons.

Sounds reasonable to me. On the harsh side of reasonable, to be sure, but reasonable.

[Feltan]

There is something fishy about the photo in the article. The caption says she is celebrating after winning a foil bout, but it sure looks to me like she is holding an epee. I wonder now if that is even the correct person in the photo.

Regards,
Feltan

[esskreemr]

There is something fishy about the photo in the article. The caption says she is celebrating after winning a foil bout, but it sure looks to me like she is holding an epee. I wonder now if that is even the correct person in the photo.

Regards,
Feltan

Here's biography for that tournament:
http://universiade.daegu.go.kr/fra/g...?ad_no=6201992

It says she has bib #1992 which is the number on her mask. She's a little over 5 feet tall and 99 pounds. It does kind of look like an epee but she's tiny. Since she's not wearing a lamé, perhaps she was helping someone else warm up?

[Zilverzmurfen]

The girl in the photo is also a leftie. If someone knows for sure which hands she fences with this might be a clue to if it trully is Nam.

[kalivor]

There is something fishy about the photo in the article. The caption says she is celebrating after winning a foil bout, but it sure looks to me like she is holding an epee. I wonder now if that is even the correct person in the photo.

Regards,
Feltan

Here's biography for that tournament:
http://universiade.daegu.go.kr/fra/g...?ad_no=6201992

It says she has bib #1992 which is the number on her mask. She's a little over 5 feet tall and 99 pounds. It does kind of look like an epee but she's tiny. Since she's not wearing a lamé, perhaps she was helping someone else warm up?

Look at the picture again:

1. She is clearly wearing a lamé. Check out the seam area between the arm and the torso -- there's some colour difference, and two flap-type things. One would be the jacket/lamé, the other the lamé zipper. The lighting isn't that great, so it isn't entirely obvious that the lamé is there, but you should be able to see it if you look closely.

2. She is clearly holding a foil. The tip is taped, and the blade extends from the centre of the guard -- an epée would be off-centre. That it is a foil she is holding seems very obvious to me.

Are the two of you looking at the same picture I am?

[rory]

...useful information...
Since she's not wearing a lamé, perhaps she was helping someone else warm up?

I'd say she *is* wearing a lame. You can see the texture of the material, and the way it's hanging at the front. 800N jackets don't do that. It's a very white-ish lame, but it is a lame.

And if you look at the ratio of hand size to guard size you'll see it's about right for a foil not an epee.

Looks legit to me.

[Feltan]

2. She is clearly holding a foil. The tip is taped, and the blade extends from the centre of the guard -- an epée would be off-centre. That it is a foil she is holding seems very obvious to me.

Are the two of you looking at the same picture I am?

Apparently not......in the photo I am looking at, the end of the weapon (where the tape on a foil would be) is not even in the picture. And, the bell guard in the photo I am looking at has the epee-like curve that covers the hand.

Regards,
Feltan

[esskreemr]

The girl in the photo is also a leftie. If someone knows for sure which hands she fences with this might be a clue to if it trully is Nam.

She's a leftie:
http://times.hankooki.com/special/daegu_universiade.htm

Uhllman mask, allstar head band (upside down in both photos).

Somebody needs to give out a few headbands to fencers who are going to be in news stories...

[kalivor]

Apparently not......in the photo I am looking at, the end of the weapon (where the tape on a foil would be) is not even in the picture. And, the bell guard in the photo I am looking at has the epee-like curve that covers the hand.

Regards,
Feltan

Ah, then I would suggest clicking on the original link, and looking at the photo that goes along with the article. In this photo, the foil is helpfully angled upwards, and you can see the colour of the (blue) glove to the base of the thumb.

[esskreemr]

Ah, then I would suggest clicking on the original link, and looking at the photo that goes along with the article. In this photo, the foil is helpfully angled upwards, and you can see the colour of the (blue) glove to the base of the thumb.

It is a foil, for sure. The foil is not angled up, it is angled down. That is not tip tape. She is turned around nearly facing the reel so the reel cord connector (body cord restraint disengaged and body cord out) almost looks like a tip and tip tape...

[Feltan]

Ah, then I would suggest clicking on the original link, and looking at the photo that goes along with the article. In this photo, the foil is helpfully angled upwards, and you can see the colour of the (blue) glove to the base of the thumb.

You must be viewing the Canadian version!

I am looking at the original link posted; probably two different photos linked differently.

In any case, it is probably her.

Regards,
Feltan

[kalivor]

It is a foil, for sure. The foil is not angled up, it is angled down. That is not tip tape. She is turned around nearly facing the reel so the reel cord connector (body cord restraint disengaged and body cord out) almost looks like a tip and tip tape...

I think you might be right. If so, the photo's at such an angle that the reel cord goes right across the centre of the guard. Regardless, it is a foil guard, and she's wearing a lamé.

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!


The entire South Korean WF team, with names in text, is on picture here:

http://www.korea.net/news/news/newsV...108&SearchDay=


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

[Black Jeebus]

Omg! Like the most inane arguements ever! Blither-blather-drither-drather!

[edew]

Definitely a foil: symmetric guard and red tape at the end of the blade. Definitely a lame as well.

I can use a female foil coach...is she interested?