2007 World Championships - "Official" Thread

[zéphirin]

...The US must have been the only fencers who were overseas that long, who had to eat the local food, who had to breathe the local air...

But why stop there?
... ...

At the risk of over-stepping the normal bounds of civility on this board -- might I respectfully suggest that your nappy is sorely in need of being changed. Whether the contents are from normal channels or a direct conduit from your brain is unclear – but either way, that output (and your post) are one and the same.

Oh boy! What's going on here? Did the Capt. rough your feathers or something? Maybe it would be just as appropriate on your part if you were to change attitude or maybe the size of your briefs which seem to make you sooo irritable!

I don't need to defend the Capt. but for what it is worth, jet lag which American fencers had to overcome in St. Pete (Russia, not Florida) ranged between 7 and 11 hours... not exactly the same as their European opponents. As a matter of fact, this "excuse" is ALWAYS used to explain below par performance for athlete who have to travel far and wide to such important events.

But you already knew that, didn't you? It must be the size of your undies!

[veeco]

Jet lag definitely is a 3itch.

There is an interesting document on the US fencing website explaining different strategies to cope with jet lag for the Beijing Olympics. Some of the stuff is really common sense, other is actually interesting. It would be interesting to see if this can be done also for other competitions...

[glowstix]

How 'bout we alternate between Kansas City and Calgary?

sounds good to me..why not!??!! i hear the saddledome is lovely this time of yr.

[FoilyDeath]

Jet lag definitely is a 3itch.

There is an interesting document on the US fencing website explaining different strategies to cope with jet lag for the Beijing Olympics. Some of the stuff is really common sense, other is actually interesting. It would be interesting to see if this can be done also for other competitions...

Sorry, but lets not blame bad performance on jetlag. Personally, I think blaming it on anything is inane and pointless, as 7th place is one hell of a respectable result, but for gods sake, jetlag? If you think jetlag is going to affect your ability to fence, you get there earlier. Common sense, especially at that level.
We really shouldn't be looking for excuses at all: they fenced pretty damn well. Perhaps not as amazingly as was expected, but hey, you can't keep bringing in the golds all the time. The world catches up eventually.

[RF]

I thought they had a training camp before worlds in europe... wouldn't that tale care pf all that jet lag stuff??????????

[oiuyt]

Cross-post from FencingForum:

For those who understand French, there is a difficult to believe (from a British perspective that is) thread on Escrime-Info on whether or not finishing at the top of the medal table in Leningrad with eight medals (including 4 gold) constitutes success.

Doit on se satisfaire de ces mondiaux ? (Should we be satisfied with these world championships?)

http://www.escrime-info.com/modules/...=8817&forum=22

The first post argues that one weapon (epee) is responsible for most of their success and that team golds in men's foil and sabre merely disguise poor performances in the individual events (two last eights).

The writer compares the situation with France winning the Davis Cup in tennis but never having a winning individual in grand slams.

Kind of makes you despair...

Just thought it was interesting enough to share here. Continued discussion on FF points out a Frenchman won the French Open in 1983, so the poster on escrime-info isn't completely accurate in his analogy.

-B

[oiuyt]

WFT Gold medal match bout 9, part 2 of 2

Leading 25-24 with 12 seconds remaining (around 3:53 on the linked clip), Poland's Gruschala manages to pick up two cards (yellow, then red) in the course of 5 seconds of bout time (there's also another phrase between the two incidents) to allow Russia's Lamanova to tie up the match.

Both times she appears to believe that Lamanova is starting too early off the "Fence!" command (although it doesn't appear to be the case either time).

Could have been very costly mistakes.

-B

[Capt. Slo-mo]

I thought they had a training camp before worlds in europe... wouldn't that tale care pf all that jet lag stuff??????????

RF: That's the plan, and to some degree, it works. Part of the confusion is based in the distinction between jetlag and living for a short time in a far different time zone.

There are a few ways to look at competing overseas.

1. Fool the body. Some proponents of this theory think you should arrive at the last minute, sleeping on the plane if at all possible, fence, and skedaddle before the body has a chance to hit the crash button. It might work for some, but it hasn't been our most valuable scenario.

2. Short term adaption: this idea has you arrive 2 days before competition, have a day to acclimate and sleep off the travel fatigue, fence, and then then head home before true biological reset begins.

3. Long term adaptation. Some studies have indicated that it can take a full day for every time zone crossed for the biochemical processes to re-set. Granted, after a week or two, you're a lot better at sleeping when you should, and being up at generally appropriate times.
In our experience, there is generally a low spot about 4-5 days into the process where fatigue trumps acclimatization. In some cases, depending on stress, food, difficulties sleeping and environment issues, the continued accumulation of fatigue will over-ride the continued acclimatization benefits.

That's why it's sometimes a misnomer to think: "I've been here for a week. I should be just as strong and happy as being back home!"

It's no longer a "jet-lag" issue so much as a travel fatigue issue.

[Craig]

WFT Gold medal match bout 9, part 2 of 2

Leading 25-24 with 12 seconds remaining (around 3:53 on the linked clip), Poland's Gruschala manages to pick up two cards (yellow, then red) in the course of 5 seconds of bout time (there's also another phrase between the two incidents) to allow Russia's Lamanova to tie up the match.

Both times she appears to believe that Lamanova is starting too early off the "Fence!" command (although it doesn't appear to be the case either time).

Could have been very costly mistakes.

-B

Perhaps she's complaining that she did not here the "pret" command. In the second case she doesn't really seem set.

Craig

[veeco]

When I saw this, I was just thinking that she wanted to wait for the noise from the crowd to quiet down before starting to fence again.

Obviously, the other team being Russia, and the event taking place in Russia didn't help much...