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Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: West Coast
Posts: 2,367
| It was a skinnier meet in Madrid, with the Russian, Polish, Italian and Chinese squads taking a breather in this last World Cup before the final Grand Prixs in Italy and Algeria, and Olympic team selection.
Dagmara Wozniak was coming off her dramatic silver medal in Budapest, and looking to keep moving up the FIE Points list. Mariel was looking for her first win this year. The fencer from Singapore was looking for her diamond earring. At one point, half the US squad was at the base of the bleachers, searching on hands and knees for the errant earring. Caroline Vloka sits down some 20 feet from the frantic activity, and asks: "Hey, what are you looking for?" When she hears it's an earring, she calmly looks around, reaches between her feet, and says: "This one?" There was much rejoicing.
All of the US fencers made it into the 64 in Madrid, and all but one advance. The round of 32 is not as kind. Caroline Vloka and Caity Thompson fall by the wayside, and Dagmara pairs up against one of the rabbit-quick Korean fencers that seem to show up in great numbers every meet. Eun Hee Jung has Dagmara fighting from behind nearly the entire bout. Unlike Budapest, on this day, Dagmara's match-changing parries are just a little late, and the director signals that Dagmara is dragging Jung's point off her lame. Dagmara brings it back to 14-all, but can't pull out the win, and is done in the 32.
Jung, like many of her fellow Korean fencers, consistently pushes the needle on the Inquartata Scale of Intolerable Shrieking (ISIS) all the way to the max, often pegging an ISIS 9.8 or 9.9 out of 10. (10 being the piercing level of a nuclear-powered dentist's drill coring out an industrial diamond)
Emma Baratta has a great 32, stunning French fencer Anne-Lise Touya 15-10 with a mixture of overpowering attacks in opposition and some strong parries. Emma falls to Canadian Olga Ovtchinnikova in the 16.
Mariel, Sada Jacobson and Becca Ward cruise through the 16s. Sada stumbles against Cecile Argiolas of France after looking overpowering in her first three rounds. The semis pit Mariel against Argiolas, and Becca against the leather-lunged Jung of Korea.
Mariel leads for most of the match, with Argiolas frequently attempting--and failing--to draw an attack in prep call against Mariel's advances. Argiolas several times stomps her foot so loudly it echoes in the gym as she glares in disgust at the director. As the match nears the end, one of these calls seems to enrage the French fencer, and she furiously goes on the attack, knotting the match at 13-all, and then taking the lead for the first time 14-13. Mariel walks to the end of the strip, pulls the mask, adjusts the hair, and makes her plan: a perfectly executed parry-riposte off the on-guard line, and the match is 14-all. On the next action, Argiolas is in full retreat, and inexplicably, chooses the one action that has failed all afternoon--the attack in prep. This time it catches Mariel before she can extend. It's a one lighter for France, and the bout is over.
Jung and Becca square off in the other semi final, and the American keeps the Korean off balance with a mix of tempos and defensive actions just enough to prevent Jung from unleashing more than a handful of window rattlers. Becca advances 15-9.
Just as Argiolas and Ward prepare to take the strip for the final, they're waved back to their seats so there can be, well...dancing. It's Spain, after all. First, we're treated to a neo-belly dancer in an enormous skirt...but wait! There's a man hiding inside the skirt, and he dances with her too...while still inside the outfit!
That's entertainment, folks! But there's more. A new guy seems to be slapping ants on his chest and legs, and then stomping them on the gym floor, but it eventually turns into a dance routine with finger snapping, clapping and all sorts of one man percussive elements. Then a buddy of his comes out, and they launch into something that appears to be a two person Spanish River Dance. But there's still more! The second new guy pulls out silver balls on two strings, and then whirls them around, banging them into the floor while he dances, the clacks of the balls keeping time with his fancy bootwork.
Ok, I admit it, that was pretty cool, although if I'd been the facilities manager, I would have been cringing every time the wooden floor got pounded by either the spinning balls or the boot heels.
So now, Argiolas and Ward have had their 10 minute break from the semis, and a 15 minute cool-down from the Flamenco Follies. Back to fencing.
In the final, Argiolas gets far more attacks in prep than she ever dreamed of. Unfortunately, they're all one-lighters for Becca, who puts on a clinic that, on several occasions, has the substantial Spanish audience gasping in disbelief. 15-8, Becca has her third World Cup win in four tries this year, and it's tapas for everyone.
A tip of the visor sombrero to Mexican fencer Angelina Larios, who is in the running for the final American Continental slot for the individual Olympic competition. Larios had her best day ever in Senior WS World Cup action, finishing 13th, and gaining valuable points against Cuban fencer Maylin Gonzalez.
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Last edited by Capt. Slo-mo; 03-02-2008 at 04:33 PM.
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