Fencing at 2008 Summer Games: Fencing originated in the historical days from the ancient form of combat. Fencing is a form of art, in which combat is fought, armed with swords, knives, pikes, bayonets, clubs etc. the modern sport event fencing refers to the European school of swordsmanship and various events evolved from them. The Federation Internationale d'Escrime or the FIE is authorized to govern the sport at international level.
Fencing in the Summer Games: Fencing was introduced to the Olympics' schedule in the 1896 Athens Summer Games. Since then, the event has been contested at every Summer Games. The fencing competition at the Olympics is held in eleven categories. The sport has been categorized on the basis of weapon used during the fight and the number of fighter involved in it. The various categories of fencing at the Olympics are-
| Individual foil for men
Team foil for men
Individual epee for men
Team epee for men
Individual sabre for men
Team sabre for men
|
Individual foil for women
Team foil for women
Individual epee for women
Team epee for women
Individual sabre for women |
Rules of fencing: The Federation Internationale d'Escrime or the FIE sets the rules for fencing at the international level. Some of the rules followed during the competitions are-
The fencing competitions should be held on a strip. The length and width of the strip are specified by the FIE rulebook.
The stripe should be properly marked.
For a fencing bout, at least three people should be involved.
A number of judges are appointed during the fencing competition to monitor the combat.
The offensive and defensive actions are specified in the rules for the sport set by the FIE.
Method of holding the weapons and the way in which those should be executed are determined by the FIE.
The duration of bouts during the competition is fixed by the FIE.
The movements of the judges during the bout have to be according to the rules made by the FIE.
The fencers can be penalized or disqualified for delaying action during a bout.
Hitting the competitor with an illegal action of the weapon is a punishable offence.
Medal winners in fencing: Brice Guyart, Salvatore Sanzo, Andrea Cassara, Young Ho Kim, Ralf Bissdorf, Dmitri Shevchenko, Marcel Fischer, Wang Lei, Pavel Anatolevich Kolobkov, Geza Imre, Aldo Montano, Zsolt Nemcsik, Vladislav Tretiak, Stanislav Pozdniakov, Sergey Sharikov and Bence Szabo are some of the leading fencers in the field of international fencing. Some of the famous female fencers at the international stage are Maria Valentina Vezzali, Giovanna Trillini, Sylwia Gruchala, Timea Nagy, Laura Flessel-Colovic, Maureen Nisima, Mariel Zagunis, Tan Xue and Sada Jacobson.
