NYC World Cup: Women's Foil Individual

[Craig]

In women's foil competition, Polish sensation Sylwia Gruchala first defeated defending World Cup champion Valentina Vezzali of Italy and then French fencer Adeline Wuilleme to win her second World Cup gold in a row. The final score of the gold medal match was 15-11.

The top US finish was Hannah Thompson at 37th.

Women's Foil Individual
1 GRUCHALA Sylwia POL
2 WUILLEME Adeline FRA
3 SCARLAT Roxana ROM
3 VEZZALI Valentina ITA
5 YOUCHEVA Ekaterina RUS
6 TRILLINI Giovanna ITA
7 KOENIG Rita GER
8 SEIGNEUR Celine FRA
9 BAUER Simone GER
10 MAGNAN Clothilde FRA
11 CARLESCU BADEA Laura ROM
12 ZHANG Lei CHN
13 CERNY Christina FRA
14 MENG Jie CHN
15 IBRAHIM Evine FRA
16 SCHIEL Gesine GER
17 KNAPEK Edina HUN
18 GRANBASSI Margherita ITA
19 SZABO-LAZAR Reka ROM
20 STAHL Cristina ROM
21 WOJTKOWIAK Malgorzat POL
22 GAILLARD Laetitia FRA
22 VARGA Katalin HUN
24 OHAYON Ayelet ISR
25 NAM Hyun Hee KOR
26 SU Wan Wen CHN
27 LAMONOVA Eugyenia RUS
28 VARGA Gabriella HUN
29 SUGAWARA Chieko JPN
30 SCARPA Frida ITA
31 JESZENSZKY Szilvia HUN
32 LELEYKO Olga A. UKR
33 BOJKO Svetlana RUS
34 MOHAMED Aida HUN
35 LOBYNTSEVA Olga RUS
36 NIKICHINA Viktoria RUS
37 THOMPSON Hanna (19, Rochester, N.Y./Rochester Fencing Center/Ohio State Univ. '05)
38 ZIMMERMANN Iris (22, Rush, N.Y./Fencers Club/Stanford '05)
39 FACIONI Francesca ITA
40 KRYCZALO Alicja POL
41 LIU Yuan CHN
41 MROCZKIEWICZ Magda POL
43 CROSS Emily (16, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club)
44 RYBICKA Anna POL
44 UCHIYAMA Mika JPN
46 ZIMMERMANN Felicia (27, Rush, N.Y./Rochester Fencing Center)
47 SALVATORI Ilaria ITA
48 SMART Erinn (24, Brooklyn, N.Y./Westbrook Foundation)
49 NAKAGAWA Noriko JPN
50 GEFFROY Marie Gwenaelle FRA
51 NAPOLITANO Marie FRA
52 TAKUBO Ayumi JPN
53 HUET Gwenaelle FRA
54 JONES Melanie (31, New York, N.Y./Metropolis)
54 MAITREJEAN Corinne FRA
56 CARBONE Alejandra A. ARG
57 CZUCKERMANN-HATUEL Linia ISR
58 NOTT Adrienne M (15, Rochester, N.Y./Rochester F.C.)
59 AMENT Andrea (20, Gates Mills, Ohio/Saturn Fencing Center/Notre Dame '05)
60 CAVAN Kathryn (21, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club/Columbia '03)
61 ANGELOVA Anna BUL
62 KNOP Magdalena POL
63 DATOO Camille GBR
63 NEMECEK Samantha J (16, Alto, Mich./West Mich. F.A.)
65 KAWANISHI Maki JPN
66 SMITH Eloise GBR
67 KHOUADE Irina RUS
68 SKLADANOWSKA Oktawia POL
69 THORNE Tracey USA
70 KIM So Jung KOR
71 GUYART Astrid FRA
72 FLORENDO Jessica S. USA
73 SEVOSTIANOVA Nelli KAZ
74 DAVIA Irini GRE
75 KALLI Nikoleta GRE
76 FUJIWARA Hitomi JPN
77 ROTHFELD Silvia BRA
78 MOUMAS Melanie FRA
79 ESIMJE Jaqueline NGR
80 CHARBONNEAU Martine CAN
81 GARDE-TSCHERTOK Anne Cathrine DEN
82 LUITJEN Cassidy USA
83 KERSHAW Debbie GBR
84 GLASSER Allison D USA
85 VOIGT Leigh CAN
86 GONZALEZ Antonieta MEX
87 WILLETTTE Doris E USA
88 O'MALLEY Nora P.C. CAN
89 LARCHANKA Katsiarvna BLR
89 THOMPSON Metta USA
91 CAPLETTE-CHARETTE Audrey CAN
92 FINKEL Kelsey J USA
92 JENNINGS Susan USA
94 CHIN Meredith M USA
95 PAUNOV Nadia BUL
96 KANESHIGE Christina Y USA
97 LEAHY Jacqueline USA
98 IBARRA Hatyumi MEX
99 Chantasuvannasin NUNTA THA
100 SACHS Elif Z USA
101 ESCANELLA Mirtheseka PUR
102 LAIK Leticia CAN
103 ACOSTA Sacha PUR
104 CAPATINA Julia CAN
105 MOUKHAMEDGAREEVA Natalie KGZ
106 CHANG Lois GBR
106 PILLSBURY Dana M USA
108 VINES Kristin A USA
109 MENDELSOHN Alisa R USA
110 NAJM Tamara M USA
111 ISOMOTO Maki JPN
112 EMERSON Abigail USA
113 ST. JACQUES Jill M USA
114 DAOUST Elise CAN
115 SINKIN Ilana B USA
116 ABDIKULOVA Zoya USA
117 ENRIGHT Irene CAN
117 Wichien PIMCHUDA THA

[nahouw]

Originally posted by Dragonfly

Despite the 15-4 score, Vezzali, the world and Olympic champion, refused to give Gruchala any credit for the victory.

Vezzali delayed the bout a few times to change swords, and her gamesmanship continued afterward. "I didn't fence like I fence," she said.

I agree that the writer didn't write about the other US results -- Women's Sabre Team 1st, Sada 1st, Emily 6th and Keeth 7th. Why wasn't somebody from USFA PR with Felicia when she gave this interview to give these other highlights to the reporter? Writers can only write about what they hear -- it is the responsibility of PR people to make sure that writers hear everything in the best light -- to make sure that things don't get spinned wrong.

Also, I really do not like the way the writer slanted Valentina -- yes, Sylwia was fencing good -- I didn't see her in the individuals, but I watched as she took Poland to 3rd place over Romania in the team event by overcoming a 10 point deficit -- it was amazing. Italy won the team event, and they defeated Poland in the semi-finals -- where was this writer to capture this??

As to Valentina's comments that she wasn't fencing well -- that was entirely true and not an excuse -- I saw her in a match in the team competition, and it just wasn't her. I overheard a young fencer from Fencers Club who was telling her non-fencer friend that Valentina was so good and so perfect. I thought to myself, what is she taking about? Yes, generally always, but today, Valentina is fencing horribly. And then after the bout, Andrea (Italian coach) had a long talk with her -- he _never_ has to have a talk with her after a bout, so this is a sure sign that something wasn't right.

Valentina has 3 Cadet Worlds golds; 1 Junior Worlds silver, 2 Junior Worlds gold, 1 Olympic gold, 1 Olympic silver, 2 World Championship golds, 1 World Championship silver, 2 World Championship bronzes, 2 Team Olympic golds, 4 World Championship silvers, and for 6 times has been the winner of the World Cup at the end of the season. Sylwia only has 3 Junior World bronzes.

This reporter obviously didn't do any research at all and just wrote his opinion rather than fact. What's going on with the reporters at the NY Times?

[Dragonfly]

It was unflattering to the US womens foil team, very much so, especially to Iris: "Iris was gone by lunch". Please, there has to be a more athletic way of saying that the US team did well but weren't able to make it to the finish or whatever. What I did notice about the results is that us foil team were sort of grouped right around the same area in terms of place. That's when I began to think about the coach thing, not to take away from anyone's abilities, but I thought if the womens foil team had not just one but several coaches, they might have exposure to several styles of fencing, and also body types. For example if your coach is on the average height/weight, and you have an assistant coach on the taller side or shorter side, or a ukranian for example, they'd have opportunity to warm up with someone different. Just a thought. They didn't mention the men very much at all. And then I did understand what Valentina was saying- essentially, "this isnt' like me today". I don't think that made her sound negative at all, but still, the article needed a little spice, like a dash of red pepper or something. Addendum: that's too tepid, I'll go all out and say a red hot chillie pepper, that was a big event.

p.s. by the way, I just e-mailed one of our "Board members" here as she is a writer, and asked, why, since she's also a fencer, doesn't she write and submit articles, does the USFA have a writer on staff who can go to these events and write specifically for the press? will the press allow a "Professional USFA" writer to submit articles?

[Craig]

1 VEZZALI Valentina ITA 248
2 TRILLINI Giovanna ITA 223
3 YOUCHEVA Ekaterina RUS 216
4 GRUCHALA Sylwia POL 206
5 BOJKO Svetlana RUS 186
6 MOHAMED Aida HUN 174
7 KOENIG Rita GER 160
8 BAUER Simone GER 132
9 WUILLEME Adeline FRA 131
10 SCARLAT Roxana ROM 123

Erin Smart is at #33

[edew]

Originally posted by Dragonfly
It was unflattering to the US womens foil team, very much so, especially to Iris: "Iris was gone by lunch". Please, there has to be a more athletic way of saying that the US team did well but weren't able to make it to the finish or whatever. What I did notice about the results is that us foil team were sort of grouped right around the same area in terms of place. That's when I began to think about the coach thing, not to take away from anyone's abilities, but I thought if the womens foil team had not just one but several coaches, they might have exposure to several styles of fencing, and also body types. For example if your coach is on the average height/weight, and you have an assistant coach on the taller side or shorter side, or a ukranian for example, they'd have opportunity to warm up with someone different. Just a thought. They didn't mention the men very much at all. And then I did understand what Valentina was saying- essentially, "this isnt' like me today". I don't think that made her sound negative at all, but still, the article needed a little spice, like a dash of red pepper or something. Addendum: that's too tepid, I'll go all out and say a red hot chillie pepper, that was a big event.

p.s. by the way, I just e-mailed one of our "Board members" here as she is a writer, and asked, why, since she's also a fencer, doesn't she write and submit articles, does the USFA have a writer on staff who can go to these events and write specifically for the press? will the press allow a "Professional USFA" writer to submit articles?

I don't think the NYTimes takes unsolicited material to be printed as articles. They may use it as a press release for which they'll follow up with articles written by their staff writers, but don't expect them (or any other major newspaper) to write something that's sent to them.

Also, I receive the national edition of the NY Times (being I live on the West Coast). They didn't mention fencing in the Saturday paper at all. It's really stupid because they provide all the national sports news, but anyone with any interest in that can get that information from almost anywhere: online, west coast papers, sports bar, etc.

And even worse, because of the time-zone difference and the deadline to put stories to bed, we in the west coast generally don't even get half late-breaking sports results (we won't get the NBA championships from last night, for example).

So what's the point for NY Times to publish generic sports stories in the national edition instead of something interesting that happened in NY, like the World Cup?

[Dragonfly]

The article I found was sent to my Yahoo e-mail, since I subscribe to the NY Times on line. So, I don't know what the hardcopies look like. Whew, at any rate, you're right about the unsolicited news stories. What do you think if the USFA had it's own staff writers to attend events and take their own picture and write their own stories, maybe the Times would eventually accept them as an Associated Press writer? It would be something to work out, those kinds of things take time. Also, they would only probably want stories on National events or World Cup events cumulating in Olympic event stores.

In looking at the world rankings it's sort of an upset. Erin Smart is a real cutie. I hope she moves up, but that Aida girl seems to want something too. I wish there was a way for everyone to win simultaneously!

Now let's see what Miss Erin can do...Go Erin - Erin go braugh! I wonder if the other girls were tired of all the commotion and fencing and need a little rest. I'm sure they'll be back. That Valentina Girl seems to be something of a Phenomena. Has Erin ever had to fence Valentina anyone from the US team? If so, what are their reactions to her fencing? [beside ouch]

[edew]

Speaking of cuties, I'll bet a nice face shot of Gruchala in the sports section of the NY Times would encourage plenty of people to consider fencing as an athletic endeavor (or at least a chance to head over to Poland).

[Wizardly]

Off topic: I'm amazed there isn't a "Babes of Fencing" section in the photo galleries. Male and female, of course.

On topic: I have nothing worthwhile to say.