Recent Comments

In American fashion, the basketball teams will be staying on a luxury cruise ship instead of the accommodations provided by the Olympics, which is probably a wise decision.

Junior guard Wyatt Teller echoed the coach's sentiments, albeit in cut-off, bibbed overalls.

Yep, that team is a lot of fun to watch. My wife and I are going to Rio and we've got tickets for the Women's Soccer Gold Medal Match. Hopefully we'll get to see the US Women bring home another gold!

Anyone else catch the Women's soccer team taking out New Zealand? Pretty sure that's going to be my favorite sport to watch in Rio, along with wrestling.

What's it like watching it a 2nd time? I enjoyed it so much I've thought
about doing that.

Gonna binge watch this weekend. My wife hopes is going to be the spiritual successor to The Chronicle.

VT_Fencer's Guide to Watching Fencing During Rio 2016

Hello sports fans! Welcome to the longest TKP post I will ever write. Imagine watching Virginia Tech in the College Football Playoff. Now imagine that it's happening for 9 days straight. That's what watching fencing at the Olympics is like for myself and many other fencers. I'm writing this primer to give everyone an introduction to the sport itself, the schedule of events, and some athletes to keep an eye on.

The Three Weapons

There are three different weapons in the sport of fencing, each with their own set of rules and method of scoring. Below you'll find a short description of each weapon, and an image with that weapon's valid target area highlighted.

1. Foil
Foil is a stabbing weapon, meaning that the fencer must depress a button at the tip of their weapon on the other fencer's body to register a hit. Foil is the only weapon where a fencer can register an "off-target" touch (indicated by a white light on the scoring box). The only valid target area is the opponent's torso. Foil is also governed by a set of rules called right-of-way. With right-of-way only the fencer who is controlling the action may score. The fencer who starts their attack first holds right-of-way. If that fencer is blocked or "parried" then the other fencer now holds right-of-way, and they are now allowed to score. A fencer also loses right-of-way if their attack stops short of the opponent.

2. Epee
Epee is also a stabbing weapon, but the entire body is valid target area. It's also the "slowest" weapon when it comes to the pace of the bout. You'll find that epee bouts have long periods of little action while the fencers try to draw one another into situations where they can launch an attack. What really differentiates epee from the other two weapons is the lack of right-of-way rules. Either fencer may score at any time as long as they land a hit before their opponent. Epee is also the only weapon that allows for "double touches", meaning both fencers hit at the same time. Epee is also where you'll most commonly see the "non-combativity" rule enforced. If both fencers fail to score for one minute of action then the bout is moved to the next period without a break between the periods.

3. Sabre
Sabre is the only slashing weapon in Olympic fencing. In sabre the fencers may score with any part of the length of the blade by hitting the other fencer from the waist up, including the head. Sabre, like foil, is also governed by right-of-way. Sabre is also the fastest weapon in Olympic fencing. You'll notice in sabre the fencers will leap off of their lines as soon as the referee starts the action in an attempt to gain right-of-way before their opponent. This leads to many simultaneous calls where the referee believes neither fencer established the right-of-way first.

The Events

Each weapon has an individual event for both men and women. Individual events start with an imcomplete table of 64 that's seeded based on the current FIE rankings established over the course of the Olympic qualifying fencing season. Bouts consist of 3, 3 minute periods separated by 1 minute breaks, and the first to 15 touches wins. Since sabre is so fast there are only two periods, and the 1 minute break takes place as soon as once fencer reaches 8 touches.

There are also team events. Because of time restrictions only 4 team events are held at each Olympics based on a rotation. This year there are no Women's Foil or Men's Sabre team events. Team events take place in 9, 3 minute legs, of 5 touches, fenced round robin between the 3 members of each team. Team matches go to a total of 45 touches to win, or until time expires in the final period. As soon as a team reaches the "target" score for that period (5 in the 1st, 10 in the 2nd, etc.) the match moves on to the next leg. If the "target" amount of touches is not reached prior to time expiring in the period the target number still increases in the next period.

Schedule

Links to the NBC streams and full tableus may be found here.

I understand if you're not up for watching 9 straight days of fencing. If you're looking for the best time to watch some Americans take home some hardware you'll want to watch Men's Individual Foil, Women's Individual Sabre, Men's Team Foil, or Women's Team Sabre.

The Athletes

I'm going to highlight the best (based on a combination of my subjective opinion and current FIE world ranking) American athlete from each event. The full roster may be found here.

Courtney Hurley - Women's Epee

Courtney Hurley was the hero in Team USA's only fencing medal at London 2012, scoring the winning touch in sudden death overtime against Russia to secure the bronze in the Women's Team Epee. She enters Rio ranked #21 in the world with three top-32, and three top-16 results this season. Her first bout will be at 9:45am EST on August 6th.

Miles Chamley-Watson - Men's Foil

Penn State graduate Miles Chamley-Watson has more swag than the rest of Team USA put together. In the 2013 season MCW became the first man in American fencing history to become individual world champion. He enters Rio ranked #18 in the world with two top-16 finishes, and a silver medal this season. His first bout will be against Russian fencer Artur Akhmatkhuzin, who he absolutely boat raced in the 2013 World Championships gold medal bout, at 10am EST on August 7th.

Mariel Zagunis - Women's Sabre

Mariel Zagunis is the greatest American fencer ever, bar none. She arrives in Rio ranked #3 in the world coming off of one of her best seasons in recent memory, and is looking to add a 3rd individual Olympic gold to her collection after falling short in London 2012. She begins her campaign for a 3rd gold at 9am EST on August 8th.

Jason Pryor - Men's Epee

Jason Pryor has been the model of consistency in what has otherwise been a less than stellar Olympic cycle for the US Men's Epee Team. I've also had the pleasure of getting my ass kicked by him personally at US Fencing nationals during the 2013-2014 season. He enters Rio ranked #24 in the world, and has shown signs of greatness having knocked off world #1 Gauthier Grumier in the round of 64 at this season's Doha Grand Prix. His first bout will be at 9:45am on August 9th.

Lee Kiefer - Women's Foil

Lee Kiefer has been going toe to toe with the world's best since she was just 16, and narrowly missed a medal at London 2012 finishing 5th in her individual event. She enters Rio ranked #3 in the world with two bronze medals, and two silver medals this season. Her first bout will be at 9:25am EST on August 10th.

Daryl Homer - Men's Sabre

Daryl Homer has been the anchor of a US Men's Sabre squad that was depleted by the retirement of Beijing 2008 medalists Tim Morehouse and James Williams after London 2012. He placed 8th at London 2012, is currently ranked #6 in the world, and took home the silver at last year's world championships. His first bout will be at 12:05pm EST on August 10th.

Footnote on Celebrations

Many first time watchers are put off by the amount of yelling and screaming that takes place during a fencing bout. I assure you, it's perfectly normal and not considered taunting. Every fencer understands that yelling after a touch is a part of the sport, although some foil and sabre fencers will take it to new levels in order to try and persuade the referee to award them the touch.

There is celebration yelling in almost every sport, you just usually can't hear it over the broadcast. Don't believe me? Take a look at this picture.

Interested In Fencing?

Fencing is a fantastic workout and incredibly fun to do casually or competitively. It's also one of the safest Olympic sports, with an injury rate lower than table tennis, badminton, and even curling! You can start fencing at any age too! It's not uncommon for me to compete against fencers who are fencing their first tournament at age 50+. Fencing also makes for a great after school activity for kids and teenagers. Almost all fencing clubs offer introductory beginners' classes and will provide you with all of the equipment needed to get started. If you or your kids are interested in fencing please let me know what city you're in in the comments below, and I'll be happy to direct you to the best fencing club local to your area.

If anyone has any questions about the athletes, techniques, or fencing in general I'll do my best to answer.

Go Team USA!

tl;dr America is actually pretty good at this now. Tune in Sunday from mid-morning through early evening to see our best chance at winning some hardware.

Thanks for the info Ryan. Any TMac sightings? All looking good on that front?

Fantastic! I love how the Orange and Maroon just seem to go together so well!

USA Today hasn't been the sole sponsor for some time. ESPN used to co sponsor it but pulled out when the coaches started manipulating the votes, voting teams they beat to get themselves more points under the old BCS system.

Everything looked good. Although, we were only allowed to watch the first 6 periods (30 minutes).

Thanks, Ryan. Looking forward to your reports.