Disciplines

The sport of fencing is fast and athletic, a far cry from the choreographed bouts you see on film or on the stage. Instead of swinging from a chandelier or leaping from balconies, you will see two fencers performing an intense dance on a 6-feet by 44-feet strip. The movement is so fast the touches are scored electrically - a lot more like Star Wars than Errol Flynn.

The Weapons

The Foil, epee and saber are the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. While some fencers compete in all three events, elite generally choose to focus their energies on mastering one weapon.

The Bout
Competitors win a fencing bout (what an individual "game" is called) by being the first to score 15 points (in direct elimination play) or 5 points (in preliminary pool play) against their opponent, or by having a higher score than their opponent when the time limit expires. Each time a fencer lands a valid hit - a touch - on their opponent, they receive one point. The time limit for direct elimination matches is nine minutes - three three-minute periods with a one-minute break between each.

Fencers are penalized for crossing the lateral boundaries of the strip, while retreating off the rear limit of their side results in a touch awarded to their opponent.

Team matches feature three fencers squaring off against another team of three in a "relay" format. Each team member fences every member of the opposing team in sequence over 9 rounds until one team reaches 45 touches or has the higher score when time expires in the final round.

Fencing at the Olympic Games will feature a single-elimination table format, much like that used in Tennis. There will be no preliminary rounds, as the initial seeding into the table will be determined by World Rankings.

How to Watch a Fencing Bout
For those new to fencing, it can often be challenging to follow the lightning speed of the fencers' actions. To become more comfortable in watching a fencing bout, it often helps focus on the actions of just one fencers. The fencer being attacked defends himself by use of a parry, a blocking-motion used to deflect the opponent's blade, after which they may attempt to score with a riposte (literally "answer" in French). In fact, you may notice a particular cadence to the bout as the fencers rhythmically alternate roles as attacker and defender.

Fencers seek to maintain a safe distance from each other - that is, out of range of the other's attack. Then, one may try to close this distance to gain the advantage for an attack. At times, a fencer will make a false attack - a feint - to probe the types of reactions and possible defenses by the opponent. Much of the fencing bout consists of this preparation, during which a fencer simultaneously determine their opponent's true intentions while feeding them false information of their own. The complexity of this deadly "conversation" between the two opponents represents one of the more subtle beauties of the sport

Of course, eventually one or both fencers will land a valid hit. When this occurs, the referee stops the bout and - in foil and saber - determines who was the attacker, if their opponent successfully defended themselves, and which fencer should be awarded a touch, if any.