Gerek Meinhardt holds the early lead as the US entry for the 2008 Olympic Games. Cassara and Vanni from Italy are shut out as the qualification criteria makes the Olympics a weaker tournament than the 2007 World Championships.
There's no chance for a country to get a medal sweep in Men's Foil at the 2008 Olympic Games. That's becuase unlike 4 other fencing disciplines, Men's Foil does not have a team competition for Beijing, so there are a maximum of 2 fencers qualified per country.
The 2007 Pan American Zonal Fencing Championships are being held this week outside of Montreal, Canada.
These events count as Grand Prix events in terms of points and count towards Olympic qualification. For the Olympics, teams are qualified based upon overall world ranking. The zonal championships count as team events for the teams and as Grand Prix events with double points for individuals.
Now that the Olympics are less than a year away, it's time for the psychological pre-game show to begin.
During an interview with the Chinese national media, Wang Jian, leader of the Chinese national fencing team, was asked why the country's top fencers did not participate in the 2007 World University Games in Bangkok. "Chinese top fencers did not come to Bangkok for the Universiade. Instead, they will compete in the Asian Championships to be held this month in China and the World Championships in Russia in September," Wang said.
Mariel Zagunis was featured on the Today show along with Keeth Smart in the 8am hour. While we don't have video of that yet (it's on my TiVo at home), we do have this clip that showed in Portland last night.
Serge Timacheff speaks with Jim Carpenter, who just took over the post as Director of High Performance for the USFA. In this interview, Jim talks about the state of the US fencing team and how their chances of qualification for the Olympics look as well as the relationship between the USFA and USOC.
Listen in, grab a Coke and some Chicken McNuggets and learn more about the state of the US Team.
Gerek Meinhardt holds the early lead as the US entry for the 2008 Olympic Games. Cassara and Vanni from Italy are shut out as the qualification criteria makes the Olympics a weaker tournament than the 2007 World Championships.
The 2007 Pan American Zonal Fencing Championships are being held this week outside of Montreal, Canada.
Serge Timacheff speaks with Jim Carpenter, who just took over the post as Director of High Performance for the USFA. In this interview, Jim talks about the state of the US fencing team and how their chances of qualification for the Olympics look as well as the relationship between the USFA and USOC.
