Fencing and smoking

[afc fencer]

This was posted on the fie website:


"Press release the fencing makes a tobacco At the time of the world Day without tobacco, which takes place each year on May 31, the International Federation of Fencing joint on the initiative of the Olympic Committee International (CIO) and of the World Health Organization (WHO) for saying that the sport and the tobacco are completely irreconcilable! Lausanne, May 28, 2002 - next Championnats of the world which will take place from the 17 to August 23, 2002 in Lisbon (Portugal) will be placed under this banner in order to make so that the tobacco has never again its place in this sport Rene Roch, president of the International Federation of Fencing is further affirming: "One of the fundamental values of the fencing is the respect. To smoke, it is to lack respect towards oneself and the others and is irreconcilable with the fencing ". To this occasion, the International Federation of Fencing will launch a campaign through all the national federations in order to support this initiative and to proscribe the tobacco on the spot of drive and competitions and to require trainers and leaders to show the example. Rene Roch, president of the International Federation of Fencing, points out "the fencing is a scientist proportioning of calms and fury. A play of strategy where there is not better assistance than the human intelligence ". In connection with the fencing the International Federation of Fencing (TRUSTS) was founded on November 29, 1913 in Paris and account to date 110 Member States. Mr Rene Roch, of French nationality, is a president of TRUSTS Domiciled in Lausanne, Olympic city, TRUSTS it is the organization which governs the sport of the fencing which is practised in three disciplines: the foil, the sword and the sabre."

Don't u think that this is geting a littel to intrusive??

[shyHeidi]

... it translated "épée" into "the sword". *snicker*

Erm... My opinion on the article is that there are an aweful lot of "the"'s in there, any not too many periods, and the whole meaning of it all got rather lost in there somewhere. But maybe that's just 'cause it's late...

[135711]

i've met many fencer who smoke, it is difficult to arrive at a conclusion. many rated good fencers can smoke in moderation, there are fencers who get very nervous just before a competition and who smoke, i have spoken with a smoking fencer about it, as he is young, but he won't make it if he smokes, he may have to give it up entirely, but it's difficult, because the nicotine has entered into his system, and is like, part of his system, so he has to gradually wash it out, i don't know, are there any doctors on the board? i used to smoke, then gave it up entirely, but over the past 10 years, i may have smoked 1 pack of cigerettes each 6 months, on average, having gone 2 years without smoking entirly, but my grammar is so bad right now, and i have no idea what any of these means so i'll stop. maybe shy, the thing is they want to eliminate smoking all together during international/national compeitions, does it matter?

[afc fencer]

Well do they have the right to ban smoking? Maybe the countrys have a right to ban thier top fencers from smoking but i think the fie should stay out of it.

[swordsen]

The FIE has the right to do pretty much anything they want to. Witness some of the proposed rule changes and past changes even.

[MikeHarm]

I'm a non-smoker, but I find the ever growing harassment of smokers more offensive than second hand smoke.

[engardemisami]

I know that smokers will go to any lengths to get that fix. But don't you think that smoking and having the mask on is a bit too much to handle even for the most addicted smoker. How can you see through the mask and the smoke? Just pick up chewing tobacco. At least you can spit through the mask grill. That's not illegal, is it? - HEHE

[veeco]

It's already prohibited from smoking in all the venues where FIE approved competitions take place.

Of course, there is nothing that prevents anyone from going outside of the venue and smoking there.

I think that the intent of this press release is just for the FIE to take a stand on smoking and reminding people that smoking and sport are a bad combination.

What they could do is prohibit smoking from all FIE sponsored events, meaning that outside of the actual competition, in meetings of the board, opening ceremonies, parties, smoking would be prohibited regardless of the laws of the country that hosts this event.

For example, after the WC in Nimes, France, last year, there was a party where a lot of the people who organized the tournament, fencers, coaches went. People were smoking during that party. Maybe they will prohibit smoking in that kind of event.

Most likely, it's just another press release and nothing tangible will come out of it.

[Inquartata]

All they have to do is place nicotine on the list of banned substances. If they can ban OTC cold medicines and asthma inhalers there's little to prevent them from doing the same here.

However, I am with Mike Harm on this one. Though virulently anti-smoking myself, I am much more frightened at the trend toward demonizing and outlawing "unpopular" activities and the implications the trend has for other personal freedoms than I am by the perils of second-hand smoke et. al.

[shyHeidi]

Jeeze, I wouldn't think there'd be a reason to ban smoking from fencing... I mean, seems to me that anyone who is serious about fencing wouldn't start smoking, or would give it up, or something. I mean, it'd be hard to be very athletic and be a smoker, wouldn't it?
I suppose it depends on how much you smoke...
::shrug::

[schlager7]

[quote]Jeeze, I wouldn't think there'd be a reason to ban smoking from fencing... I mean, seems to me that anyone who is serious about fencing wouldn't start smoking, or would give it up, or something. I mean, it'd be hard to be very athletic and be a smoker, wouldn't it?
<hr></blockquote>
2 words: Aldo Nadi

[veeco]

Fencing is not sport where cardio vascular fitness plays a key role. Sure it's important at the higher levels to be fit and be able to keep a high intensity, but there are a lot of people out there who smoke and do really well.

[135711]

i agree, i have seen this also, however, to be fair, the smoker to whom i refer, took too long to get re-rated if he hadn't smoked he would have done better

[sabreur]

[quote]Originally posted by veeco:
<strong>Fencing is not sport where cardio vascular fitness plays a key role. Sure it's important at the higher levels to be fit and be able to keep a high intensity, but there are a lot of people out there who smoke and do really well.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I don't know--I think I have a tendency to come from behind and win DEs because my 44-year old heart and legs are in better shape than theirs--even though theirs are faster.

And if you think the smoking ban is enforced at FIE venues, you ought to go under the stands when one of the Russian sabre coaches is talking to one of their minions. Man, those Russian cigarettes stink!

Cheers, MR

[dragonflyIV]

Ok.. usually just a lurker here, but I think that people are missing the point on this one...

Non-smokers get irate about people smoking around them because this is a death addiction that shares!

I would rather be in the presence of a heroin junkie shooting up than a smoker junkie inhaling their fix.

I won't overdose on heroin unless the heroin junkie attacks me with the needle, but I can get cancer, asthma, emphysema, etc from some inconsiderate slob smoking in my presence.

A junkie is a junkie is a junkie and it doesn't matter how much they deny it and think that what they are doing won't kill them or others. The only thing that really matters to a junkie is their next fix and "to hell with the rest of us".

So the FIE wants to ban smoking? More power to them. I'd like to see my rights as a non-junkie citizen be protected for once.

[Catlady]

On fencing smokers/smoking fencers:

A guy who used to belong to the same club I do--he's now back at BYU (hock spit) with the Rebel Swords BTW--once took lessons from a European coach who was a chain smoker. He would halt the lesson, have a cigarette, put his mask back on, continue the lesson for a while, halt again, take off his mask, have another cigarette, etc. Not wise IMHO, but I would have paid to see it.

[135711]

well, here's my last post on this. i used to work in at ochsner foundation hospital. dr. alton ochsner pioneered research on lung cancer. he brought all of his medical students to autopsies and showed them a lung of a smoker; it was always pitch black with tar and nicotine stains. now, the tobacco companies have lessened the amounts of nicotine, but there's tar, so they made low tar, then there's the additional of other long-life chemicals, one being formaldyhyde, and sugar to make the taste sweeter. however, there is a small majority of people who are able to smoke less than 5 cigerettes per day and enjoy a high active lifestyle, there are also chimmney smokers, like one of my relatives who is close to 86, and never sick a day of her life other than a cough. so there is something else in our modern day lifestyle, that my contribute to longitivity, and that is the genetic pool having been changed, or weakened over the past 50 years or so. who knows that outcome other than a bunch of jelly fish worming around trying to get strong. air pollution is another factor, fencing in la [los angeles] would be different than fencing in the other la [louisiana]so there are many factors, but in the final anlysis, it would depend on when a person started smoking, and how much they smoke, but a person who has never ever smoked always will have the edge. the smoker would have to work harder to keep up.

[achilleus]

[quote]Originally posted by Catlady:
<strong>On fencing smokers/smoking fencers:

A guy who used to belong to the same club I do--he's now back at BYU (hock spit) with the Rebel Swords BTW--once took lessons from a European coach who was a chain smoker. He would halt the lesson, have a cigarette, put his mask back on, continue the lesson for a while, halt again, take off his mask, have another cigarette, etc. Not wise IMHO, but I would have paid to see it.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Ask Derek Cotton about his coach who smoked during the lesson, with the mask on!

Also heard of a german coach who cut a hole in the mesh of his mask so it was easier for him to smoke.

[Catlady]

Like 35711, I have seen actual lungs from smokers--back in the days when I aspired to the medical profession (I admit as well that I still consider going to nursing school at times). Not a pretty sight at all. Same with the livers of heavy drinkers. Aside from that, I learned that formaline+ latex gloves = a very naseauting odor, and that it's best to avoid meat after visiting the autopsy lab. <img src="graemlins/blah.gif" border="0" alt="[Blah]" />

However similar knowledge may not be a deterrent. I have a neighbor who is a (recently) retired nurse who smokes. I believe she started when it was not completely known how unhealthy smoking was, although she herself sees the irony in the situation of a nurse who smokes. My cousin is a nurse as well, she doesn't smoke, but has colleagues who do. Go figure.

One more comment, it's interesting how some people can smoke and not have it affect their athletic performance. I don't know any smoking fencers, or at least if I do I'm not aware of it, but I had a supervisor at a previous job who smoked pretty regularly, although not to the extreme. I can't say in what quantity since I didn't know him well enough to ask something that personal, and I have no way of making an estimate. Anyway, he said he started smoking in high school. At the same time he competed and did quite will in swimming.

[Boo Boo]

[quote]Originally posted by schlager7:
<strong>
2 words: Aldo Nadi</strong><hr></blockquote>

Two more words: Sergei Golubitsky

European venues seem to be horrific for smoking officials: at the Paris foil A-grade you had to fight your way through a fog of smoke to get in between the competition halls...

Boo