We entered the rather enormous North Arena 1, which provided some indication of the immense size of the Excel Centre as it infered there had to be at least one other North Arena and at least 2 South Arenas. We were like a river of flesh, directed to flow through various streams, not quickly but steadily.
North Arena 1 was divided into two long sets of bleachers facing each other, and large rectangular platform between (14 metres long and 2 metres wide) for the competitors, plus room for officials, coaches, etc.. At the far end was a wall, and the near end facilitated media and commentor seating. The place was packed and very warm and stuffy. Our seats were high up, and the platform below was lit with lines of coloured lights, which looked like the set of a bad sci-fi TV show.
Our tickets were for the men's epee and the women's sabre. There are 3 disciplines in fencing at the Olympics: foil, epee and sabre.
In foil, points are scored only when the tip of the blade touches the torso of the opponent. The epee blade is shorter and less flexible than the foil. Only the tip of the epee can score a point, not just on the torso but any point on an opponent's body, from head to toe. Sabre users can score with the tip of the blade, but also using the sabre's edge as well as its tip, and on opponents' torso, arms or head. The first person to get to 15 wins. If both feet of one fencer leave the strip, the other person is award a point.
Of course we didn't know any of this. My only knowledge of fencing derives from old Bugs Bunny cartoons and B films, both of which seemed to feature tall aristocratic men with thin moustaches leaping from stairs to chandeliers to tables and swishing long blades of silver left and right before lunging forward to stick the blade through the villan's heart.
You'd think that the audience would have received some details about what we were about to see. the rules for example, or the difference between the dicsilplines. But no, the comentators did not consider the conveyance of information an appropriate use of the microphone, although they certainly loved using it for the over-theatrical introduction of names.
I have a feeling that I will not take up fencing, nor attend any more compeitions. From my vantage point, the art of fencing seemed to comprise a bit of jumping forward and back, waving the blade a bit, then leaping forward in a wild lunge while removing their masks and uttering an unhowly screeching yowl. Then a point would be awarded or not and the entire performance happened again: hop, hop, hop, lunge, aaarrrrrgh!
Bit it was a wonderful to watch the performances of players from South Korea, Venezuala, Norway, Ukrainia, USA, Russia - such as vast array of countries. And we witnessed a changing of the guard: Limardo Gascon (men's epee) became Venezuela's first gold medallist since 1968, having beaten the world champion (Italy's Paolo Pizzo) in the quarter-finals. In women's sabre, Russian world champion Sofya Velikaya was beaten by Korea's Jiyeon Kim.
I love the Olympics!
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