Rio 2016 Fencing
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THE SWORD British Fencing Magazine OCTOBER 2016 RIO 2016 FENCING KRUSE FOURTH AT FOURTH OLYMPICS P5 MEN’S TEAM FOIL SIXTH PLACE P5 PARALYMPIC SILVER FOR GILLIVER P6 OLYMPIC REPORTS PP8–16 OCTOber 2016 THE SWORD 1 www.leonpaul.com / [email protected] / 0044 203 011 1330 OCTOBER 2016 Editor Ed Rogers 8 Sandilands Limekilns Welcome to THE sword Fife, KY11 3JD T: 01383 872366 E: [email protected] Print Cambrian Printers Llanbadarn Fawr Aberystwyth Ceredigion SY23 3TN T: 01970 613059 Typeset by: JS Typesetting Ltd Photo: Agusto Bizzi T: 01656 788551 4 NEWS E: [email protected] Announcement From The Board Advertising Rio 2016 Fencing Hailed Karim Bashir Kruse Finishes Fourth In Rio M: 07855 252546 Sixth Place Finish For Men’s GB Foil Team E: [email protected] Paralympic Silver For Gilliver British Fencing accepts no Olympic Channel responsibility for the contents of BF’s New Brand Identity advertisements and reserves the right to refuse inclusion. 7 REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT The Sword, a quarterly magazine 8 OLYMPIC REPORTS founded in 1948, is distributed to Olympic Report Rio 2016 all individual and club members of An Olympic Journey British Fencing and its affiliates. It can also be obtained on subscription Youngest and Oldest Olympic and World Medallists – UK £20 18 DEVELOPMENT Overseas airmail £26 – direct from News from the Development Team HQ. Contributions are welcome. Good Practice in Coaching Photographs should include the names of those pictured and the 20 TECHNICAL photographer. Preliminary Investigations on Sabre Blade Ruptures Views expressed in The Sword do not 23 INTERVIEW necessarily reflect those of British Fencing. No part of the magazine An Interview With David Teasdale may be reproduced without permission from the 25 ROUND UP editor/photographer. Winton Cup 2016 The Malta Open 2016 Front cover image Guinness World Record Attempt Kruse (GBR) v Meinhardt (USA) Photo: Augusto Bizzi 30 REVIEWS Safeguarding Hotline The Mind-Forged Sword Liz Behnke, Equality and FIE Swordplay Safeguarding Manager M: 07526 003030 31 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Jim Pilkington Henry de Silva BRITISH FENCING 33 ARCHIVE CORNER twitter.com/britishfencing Royal Visit 1951 Bobby Winton Presenting 1951 Follow us on Facebook The Point www.britishfencing.com 35 RESULTS NEXT DEADLINe: 25th NOVEMBER OCTOBER 2016 THE SWORD 3 NEWS News RIO 2016 FENCING HAILED AS ‘MOST ANNOUNCEMENT EXHILARATING IN MEMORY’ FROM THE BOARD The Rio 2016 Olympic fencing competition has “This has been the greatest project of my life,” been hailed as one of the “most exhilarating in said Kulcsar, the 2007 world epee champion. memory” by International Fencing Federation “And I’m very proud to say the competition Secretary General Frédéric Pietruszka. went very smoothly.” Speaking on the last day of the competition, “Our No. 1 goal was to provide the athletes which saw France win gold in the men’s team with the ideal conditions in which to compete epee, the Secretary General expressed his while putting on a real show for the spectators delight at the quality of the fencing and the in the venue and the millions watching around sheer drama on display at the Carioca Arena 3. the world. We arrived in Rio knowing London had set the bar high for Olympic fencing, and “London was a hard act to follow,” said the we leave feeling that we have truly done our Secretary General, who won men’s team foil sport justice.” gold at the 1980 Games in Moscow. “But Rio 2016 fencing facts: the duels we have seen in Rio have been No. athletes: 213 every bit as dramatic: Many of the finals have NOCs: 48 gone down to the wire and I think it’s no Most medals: Russia (7 – 4 gold) exaggeration to say the Rio 2016 fencing has New appearances at the Olympics: Ivory Coast been one of the most exhilarating in memory. and Benin ”Russia topped the unofficial fencing medal Most successful athlete: Yana Egorian (RUS) table with four gold, one silver and two – 2 gold MARK Lyttle APPOINTED bronze, the country’s best haul in two No. countries to win medals: 10 (Russia, CHAIR OF BRITISH FENCING decades. Hungary, Italy, France, South Korea, Romania, This story can be read on BF’s website Hungary clinched second place with two gold, USA, China, Ukraine, Tunisia) using the following link: one silver and one bronze, while Italy was No. continents to win medals: 4 (Europe, third with one gold and three silver. 16th September 2016 North America, Asia, Africa) A total of ten sets of medals were won over For more information, visit http://www.fie.org the course of nine days of competition. It Links: More on fencing from Olympic.org was an event that FIE Sport Director Krisztian Check out the Rio 2016 fencing section Kulcsar spent much of the last three years Or the dedicated FIE Rio portal helping to organise. Several VIPs, including Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Hungarian President János Áder, dropped in to support their fencers. His Royal Highness Albert II, Prince of Monaco, His Excellency Sheikh Saoud Al Thani of Qatar, and American sprinting legend Michael Johnson were also in attendance during the nine days. Rio 2016 Official Press Release Photo: Augusto Bizzi 4 THE SWORD JANUARY 2016 He faced another American in the semi-finals KRUSE FINISHES in the shape of World number 1, Alexander FOURTH IN RIO Massialas. The American stormed into an 8-4 lead at the first break and never looked back, Kruse piped to the bronze medal going on to win 15-9. by Russia’s Safin Kruse still had a chance of an Olympic medal Londoner, Richard Kruse, 33, finished facing Russia’s, Timur Safin, in the bronze agonisingly close to Great Britain’s first medal play-off. The Russian got off to a good Olympic fencing medal in fifty-two years in start, landing multiple attacks to lead 9-5 Rio – losing out 15-13 in the bronze medal at the first break. Kruse fought back in the match to Timur Safin of Russia. Richard Kruse’s coach Ziemek second period, timing his counter actions Earlier in the day, Kruse demolished former Wojciechowski. Photo: Augusto Bizzi. better than in the first period and trailed by French Olympic fencer, now competing for just one, 14-13, at the second break. Safin Algeria, Hamid Sintes 15-4, in the round thoroughly entertaining match followed which wasted no time in the final period to secure of 32. He then faced an old adversary in Kruse won 15-12. He then took on America’s the bronze medal. Andrea Cassara from Italy. With both fencers World number four, Gerek Meinhardt and led competing at their fourth Olympics, a from the start, going on to win 15-13. British Fencing’s Performance Director, Alex Newton said; “Richard fenced so well all day today which makes it all the more disappointing that he wasn’t able to close out with a win for the bronze medal. I would like to thank all of the people who came and supported us today – it was just fantastic to have that level of support in the arena. I would also like to thank UK Sport and The National Lottery for their funding over the last four years, which alongside the support from the BOA has ensured we are the best prepared we could be for this competition.” Italy’s Danielle Garozzo, fenced beautifully in the final to upset the favourite, Massialas. Landing attack after attack, the Italian gave the American no time to breathe winning the Olympic title, 15-11. Chief Executive of British Fencing, Georgina Usher, concluded; “It was a great day of fencing and whilst Richard narrowly missed out on a medal, his exciting performances today won many more fans to our sport.” Kruse (GBR) left v Safin (RUS). Photo: Augusto Bizzi. KB – 7th August 2016 SIXTH PLACE FINISH FOR GB TEAM AT RIO Foil Team Finish Sixth After Quarterfinal Loss to Russia Great Britain’s Men’s Foil Team, James-Andrew Davis, Laurence Halsted, Richard Kruse and Marcus Mepstead (reserve) finished sixth at the Rio Olympic Games today, after losing 45-43 to Russia in the quarterfinal. The whole team took part in the fight with Russia as Mepstead replaced Kruse in the later stages, putting in a great performance. Despite this and a great fight back, Russia went on to win 45-43. In the placings matches, Great Britain beat Egypt 45-35 before losing 45-38 to China and thus finished sixth. British Fencing’s Performance Director, Alex Newton, said; “The boys fenced brilliantly against Russia but unfortunately some key decisions by the referee meant an uphill battle to win the fight. As a result we are disappointed that we could not repay UK Sport and the National Lottery with a medal for the support they have provided over the last four years. Losing to the eventual Olympic Champions does not make the result any easier.” “This has been a roller coaster of a four years with a huge amount of work from a dedicated and committed support staff team and they deserve such great credit. We have for the first time in over half a century had our best result at an Olympic Games and we hope that this inspires the next generation of fencers.” Georgina Usher, Chief Executive of British Fencing added; “The match against Russia was watched up and down the country as the team battled valiantly against the Russians. In the face of a hard draw and tough refereeing decisions the team were a credit to themselves and the nation. British Fencing pays tribute to the families, personal coaches, clubs and other members of the fencing community that have helped and supported our athletes over the years.