US Fencing Sunday - USFA Update

[Craig]

SYDNEY, Australia -- U.S. fencer Arlene Stevens advanced to the second round
of Sunday's Olympic women's epee competition before falling to the
competition's top seed.

Arlene Stevens (Fairport, N.Y.) scored the first three points of the third
and final period against Ildiko Mincza of Hungary, taking a 6-5 lead with
just 1:15 to play. But Mincza countered with two touches in the next 30
seconds and never trailed again. The Hungarian eventually advanced to the
round of 16 with an 11-8 victory.

Stevens' second-round bout marked the second straight day in which a U.S.
epeeist had lost a tight battle with one of the top fencers in the world.
Men's fencer Tamir Bloom (Millburn, N.J.) lost a second-round bout to
second-seeded Arnd Schmitt of Germany on Saturday.

"I'm very happy with the way I fenced; the only thing I'm not happy about,
obviously, is that I couldn't get that last touch to get me over the hump,"
said Stevens. "But for the Americans, I was facing No. 1, and Tamir went
against No. 2. The rest of our team has better positions, so I think they
have a chance to do very well."

Stevens advanced to the round of 32 via a 5-2 victory over Algeria's Zahra
Gamir. Stevens took the lead for good with three consecutive touches in the
final minute, giving her a 4-1 lead with 20 seconds remaining. The
three-touch margin seemed insurmountable since the first point of the bout
hadn't come until 1:02 had elapsed in the final period.

Stevens officially finished 32nd in the event. No. 14 seed Timea Nagy of
Hungary upset second-seeded Laura Flessel-Colovic of France 15-14 in the
semifinals and won the gold with a 15-11 triumph over Switzerland's Gianna
Habluetzel-Buerki. Flessel-Colovic defeated Tatiana Logounova of the Russian
Federation 15-6 to win the bronze medal.

The U.S. fencing team resumes competition Wednesday, Sept. 20, when Cliff
Bayer competes in the men's individual foil tournament. Bayer, the 12th seed
in the bracket, opens with a round-of-32 bout against 21st-seeded Ryszard
Sobczak of Poland. Women's individual foil runs the following day, with
Felicia and Iris Zimmerman joining Ann Marsh in representing the U.S.

2000 Olympic Games
Fencing Women's Epee Competition
Sunday, July 17, 2000


Gold Medal: Timea Nagy, Hungary
Silver Medal: Gianna Habluetzel-Buerki, Switzerland
Bronze Medal: Laura Flessel-Colovic, France

Gold-Medal Bout: Nagy def. Habluetzel-Buerki 15-11
Bronze-Medal Bout: Flessel-Colovic def. Tatiana Logounova, Russian
Federation, 15-6


U.S. Results

Round of 64
Arlene Stevens, Fairport, N.Y., def. Zahra Gamir, Algeria, 5-2

Round of 32
Ildiko Mincza, Hungary, def. Stevens 11-8

Stevens finishes 32nd.