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Page 1 of 4 Olympic fencing has come and gone. Four years is the perfect amount of time between Olympic Games. Any more frequent, and they wouldn't carry the same gravitas and significance. Any less frequent, and the media hype would be unbearable. Here is the Fencing.Net breakdown of the 28th Olympiad, our review of the action and our guesses for future trends in fencing.
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| Mariel Zagunis ascends to fencing heaven, finally free of earthly concerns. Photo courtesy Serge Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com
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Our coverage of the NBC coverage
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Keeth Smart and squad broke open the entrenched international sabre super-club, once and for all. Photo courtesy Serge Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com
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Most fencers were overjoyed to learn that NBC would televise the sport. The recognition is nice, of course, but there was more to it. Some fencers were curious about what Olympic-caliber fencing actually looked like. It's an odd state of affairs when afficionados of a sport aren't used to seeing it played at its highest levels. Can Olympic-level fencing be seriously developed in America, if there isn't a common vision of the far goal?
So it didn't take long for the issues to pop up: Fencers scream when they hit? Fencers look askance at directors after questionable calls? Fencers express!? The questions prompt (sometimes uncomfortable) answers, and then there is long debate. It's all good. In the end, 30 seconds of Sada Jacobson on Bravo has probably ended dozens of small-salle arguments, clarified the meaning of footwork for hundreds of up-and-coming fencers, and spared our coaches a collective thousand man-hours of explanations.
The coverage also left US fencing with a new level of public mindshare and a wealth of enduring images: Zagunis flying through the air, wrapped in a flag. Ivan Lee channelling the some very high blood pressure into his Podzniakov bout. The US Men's Sabre Team, one call away from a medal, twice. Erin Smart, dejected, covered from the omnipresent cameras by an American-flag waving friend. The picture of Tiompkin hanging in the air over his opponent (you can almost hear him telling the team: "Guys, watch this. I'm getting on the front page!").
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Tiompkin (floating, right) catches air with his fencing version of an alley-oop soul-grind. Photo courtesy Serge Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com
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The general viewing audience may think fencing is a small sport, but fencing has never thought this. Athletes who will never be millionaires strut like prima-donnas, and do flips when they win the Gold. Teams trash-talk, like on city handball courts. They form conga lines, unlike on city handball courts. Contests are personal, and real, and globe-spanning. The national coverage of fencing has blown this wide open — and if "perception is reality," then the reality of fencing has undergone a shift.
Next: The USA's future in fencing
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