After the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics the Games move on to Brazil 2016.

Australia finished 10th on the Medal Placings (our Lowest placing in 20 years at ’92 Olympics), not surprising considering the population and the funding compared to other more supported countries.

Hopefully the younger generation watching these Fantastically run Olympics will be inspired and join their local sporting organisations!

Bring on Brazil !!

Sunday’s Final Event saw Chloe Esposito compete in the London Olympic Pentathlon (Fencing, Swimming, Horse Riding, Pistol Shoot / Run).

After Epee; Chloe ranked 28th/36, after a great swim (5th) 21/36, after the ride (8th) 16/36, after the combined (5th) Chloe finished a great tournament just outside the medals in 7th!

Gold to Lithuania, Silver to Great Britain, Bronze to Brazil  .

Congratulations Chloe a fantastic Australian result .. Bring on Brazil!

London 2012 Link

Saturday’s Event saw Ed Fernon compete in the London Olympic Pentathlon (Fencing, Swimming, Horse Riding, Pistol Shoot / Run).

After Epee; Ed ranked 29/36 , after the Swim (33rd) 35/36, after the Horse Riding (3rd!) 17/36..

Winner after the combined: Svoboda CZE (Olympic Record).

Ed Fernon improved on his way through the competition and came 27th overall

Women’s Foil Individual: Gold E. Di Francisca Italy, Silver A. Errigo Italy, Bronze V. Vezzali Italy, (4th H. Nam South Korea)

   Men’s Sabre Individual:  Gold A. Szilagyi Hungary, Silver D. Occhiuzzi Italy, Bronze  N. Kovalev Russia, (4th R. Dumitrescu Romania)

Women’s Épée Individual: Gold Y. Shemyakina Ukraine, Silver B. Heidemann Germany, Bronze Y. Sun China, (4th L Shin South Korea).

        Men’s Foil Individual: Gold S.Lei China, Silver A.Abouelkassem Egypt, Bronze B.Choi Korea, (4th A.Baldini Italy).

      Men’s Épée Individual: Gold S.Fernandez Venezuela, Silver B.Piasecki Norway, Bronze J.Jung Korea (4th S.Kelsey U.S.A). 

Women’s Sabre Individual: Gold J.Kim. Korea, Silver S.Velikaya Russia, Bronze O.Karlan Ukraine, (4th M.Zagunis U.S.A). 

 Women’s Foil Team: Gold Italy,  Silver Russia, Bronze Korea, (4th France).

    Men’s Sabre Team: Gold Korea,  Silver Romania, Bronze Italy (4th Russia).

Women’s Épée Team: Gold  China,  Silver Korea, Bronze U.S.A, (4th Russia).

         Men’s Foil Team: Gold Italy, Silver Japan, Bronze Germany, (4th U.S.A).

Website Link                                          Medal Tally

London 2012 Fencing Competition Details.

Day 9: Last day of Olympic Fencing culminates in the Mens Foil Teams: Italy ranked 1st in almost a huge upset the Italians finally beat the British Team (45:40). Japan beat China (45:30) containing the Olympic Champion Sheng Lei.  U.S.A beat France who leave London without an Olympic Medal, and in the last Quater Final Germany v Russia fought out a long match, in a huge comeback of (11 points to 6) by 2008 Olympic Champion Benjamin Kleibrink in the second last match and Peter Joppich scored 11:4 to win the match 44:40.

In Semi Finals, Italy cruise into final match over the U.S.A, Germany almost with a second stunning comeback win, but Japan (first medal of the games) held on to win on priority 41:40.  

Italy took the Gold beating Japan, Germany beat the U.S.A to claim Bronze.

13 Different Countries have won medals, Italy 3 Gold, and Korea 1 behind on medals and Gold, with China also 2 Gold.

Day 8: Womens Team Épée: in one of the most unpredictable events of the games, the quarter finals appeared that any team could go on to win.  With Both China and Korea having a celebrated Games it was these two countries that eventually met in the final with China winning their second gold of the games. The U.S.A beat Russia by 1 hit to take Bronze (their first medal of the Games).

Day 7: Mens Team Sabre: Korea stepped up again, and up to 2nd on the medal table winning Gold in the Men’s Sabre beating Romania (first silver for London) in the final.  Italy took their second bronze of the Olympics beating Russia in the bronze medal match. The event matched similar to the individual results with Korea taking Hungary’s place for the gold.

Day 6: Womens Foil Teams: Italy’s dominant Foil team won their second gold of the games beating Russia in the final. Korea beat France (unusually their first semi final of the games) to take the Bronze.

Day 5: (2 events today) Venezuela win their first Gold Medal in Men’s Epee, Ruben Limbardo Gascon beat Norwegian Bartosz Piasecki (the First Norwegian Medalist). Jinsun Jung of Korea beat Seth Kelsey of USA in the Bronze medal playoff by 1 hit.

Women’s Sabre: Korea win their first Gold Medal in London, Jiyeon Kim beat Russian Sofya Velikaya for Gold. Olga Kharlan of Ukraine beat former World number 1 and reigning Gold Medalist Mariel Zagunis of U.S.A in the Bronze medal playoff.

Day 4: Men’s Foil: China win their first Gold Medal in Foil, Sheng Lei beat Egyptian Alaaeldin Abouelkassem (the First African and Egyptian Medalist) 15:13 in a close final.    Byungchul Choi of Korea beat former World number 1 Andrea Baldini of Italy in the Bronze medal playoff 15:14 by 1 hit.

Day 3: Women’s Epee: Ukraine win their first Gold Medal in Fencing, Yana Shemyakina beating Brita Heidemann Germany (2008 Gold Medalist). In a controversial semi final match Heidemann beat Korea’s Shin A Lam on time in the last second of Extra Time, World Number 1 Yujie Sun of China then beat Shin in the Bronze medal match.

Day 2: Men’s Sabre: Hungary wins Gold at the Games with Aron Szilagyi beating Diego Occhiuzzi of Italy in the Final of the Mens Individual Sabre. Nikolay Kovalev of Russia beat Romania’s Rares Rumitrescu for the Bronze. Szilagyi beat 2008 Champ Zhong Ma from China on his way to the final.

Day 1: Italy has trifected the Women’s Foil winning Gold, Silver and Bronze! Italy Won won back to back Gold medals in Womens Foil as they dominated, Elisa Di Francisca Won Olympic Gold beating Arianna Errigo (Silver) in a closely contested match.

Valentina Vezzali (2000, 2004 and 2008 Champion) was unable to win 4 Golds in a row as she won the Bronze, beating Hyan Hee Nam of Korea in a typical Vezzali comeback.

London 2012 Website

In a great announcement, great advertising and recognition for our Sport

4 Athletes will also be carrying their National Flag in the Opening Ceremony.

Valentina Vezzali ITALY

Laura Flessel Colovic FRANCE

Mariel Zagunis USA

Nguyen Tien Nhat VIETNAM

So who if any country is going to dominate the 2012 London Olympics ?

The logical choice is Italy, with 3 world number 1’s and the most number of athletes competing (equal with USA).

With only 1 day to go .. Who do you think?

The BBC has a nice concise article on all the sports likely medal winners :

Link

Schedule for the Fencing Competition at the Games

There is a very good APP on ITunes for the Olympic Games..

“London 2012 Results”

4 Athletes will also be carrying their National Flag in the Opening Ceremony.

The ‘Telegraph’ article on Australia’s Olympic hopeful in Pentathlon Ed Fernon has been training with the Victorian and Australian Epee Squad to hone his skills prior to London 2012.

Link

(Ed is competing on the 11th) from 5pm AEST.

(Chloe Esposito is competing on the 12th) the last event of the Games 5pm AEST.

Congratulations to both Aussies for qualifying and the best of luck.

Download Pentathlon Format

Fencing.net has some information on the latest updates for Fencers/Teams qualifying for the London Olympics…

Check it out Link 

London Olympic Games Fencing Timetable 

July 28
Women’s individual Foil

July 29
Men’s individual Sabre

July 30
Women’s individual Épée

July 31
Men’s individual Foil

August 1
Men’s individual Épée

Women’s individual Sabre

August 2
Women’s Foil Teams

August 3
Men’s Sabre Teams

August 4
Women’s Épée Teams

August 5
Men’s Foil Teams

The Qualification for Team Events at London 2012 are more than hotting up!

Most Team events have 1-2 competitions to go, with a number of nations almost assured of a spot, and a number still relying on future results or other nations helping them!

Fencing.net has a few articles on results of recent Team events notably the Paris CIP and upcoming Epee in Legnano, Italy.

Link

Fencing is often referred to as a sport involving both these strategic games…

Here is a good article on GBR Foilist Jamie Kenber’s thoughts on the BBC Fencing Page Link 

The AOC recently interviewed Evelyn on her prospective chances for 2012 London Olympics..

read the link Here 

Fencing.net has an interesting forum discussion on the possible FIE banning of Bayonet Sockets for Foil/Sabre

for the London Olympics and thus only allowing 2 prong wires.

For more details follow the discussion here 

Fencing.net has a great article on the current qualification for the London 2012 Olympics.

for more infoLink  

The London Olympics Fencing Schedule has been released.Download Word Document London Olympic Fencing Schedule

The Youth Olympic Games are on in Singapore.                                              

For Fencing Results Link

At the FIE Congress, it was announced that Men’s Team Epee and Women’s Team Sabre will be out of the 2012 Olympic Games. Italy and the USA won these medals at Beijing.

Unfortunately the FIE was unable to gain the 2 medals and, (until the IOC allows fencing to expand at the Olympics), there will always be two weapons that don’t get to have a team competition.

For more information go to fie.ch and fencing.net

Australian Olympic Funding, will it be increased or decreased?

The A.O.C. has a decision to make and negotiations with the Federal Government will need to be strategic.

One article in the media at the moment is commentary from AOC President, John Coates,

Link: Reuters

More info available once the review has been completed.

What will be the result for Fencing?

The Logo’s and pictograms for each sport have been released.

Check them all out on the link to the Official Website

There is a nice info page on the website : http://www.london2012.com/sports/olympic/fencing.php

Golf and Rugby 7’s have been added to the 2016 Brazil Olympics in Rio.

In an interesting IOC Vote both sports will be returned to the Olympic Program after having previously been removed.

All Olympic Sports are open to both genders; So will Rugby? and how many Nations will be able to organise a team?

Golf is a multinational Sport but is much stronger in traditional nations who already do well on the medal table.  How many golfers will represent a country and how many golfers will qualify.

Fencing is still in the program but will still be stuck with only 10 medals with 2 team events missing out, such a shame for those fencers in that 4 year cycle.  

Here is a link to a site that has Olympic Fencing matches

Check it out link

The Beijing Olympics Fencing schedule has completed.

Some video will filter its way onto the net… Courtesy of BBC Olympic Site Link

Day 9: Final day of Fencing. Mens Sabre Teams.  France beat USA in the final to win their Second Gold of the meet. Link 

Day 8: Russia beat the USA in the Womens Foil Team for their first medal – Gold of the Olympics. 

Italy after losing their semifinal won the Bronze.  Link

Day 7: France beat Poland in Mens Epee Team for their First Gold Medal of the Olymptics, whilst Italy holds off China for Bronze.

Link to Results

Day 6: Ukraine wins its first medal – Gold in an incredible Final of the Womens Sabre Teams.

Link to results

Day 5: Germany wins double gold on day 5 with convincing victories in the

Mens Foil to KLEIBRINK Benjamin Philip

Link

and Womens Epee to HEIDEMANN Britta 

Link

Day 4: China wins its first Mens Sabre Gold Medal with ZHONG Man beating 2 Frenchmen in the Semi and Gold Medal match.

Link

Day 3: Italy wins its second Gold at the Games as Valentina Vezzali wins back to Back to BACK! Olympic Medals. 

Link

Day 2: Italy wins Gold at the Games with Matteo Tagliariol beating Fabrice Jeannet from France in the Final of Mens Individual Epee. 

Link

Day 1: The USA has trifected the womens Sabre winning Gold, Silver and Bronze!

Mariel Zagunis won back to back Gold medals as the USA dominated.

Link

The Fencing schedule can be found Here

Jo Halls lost first up on Monday 10am against her Cuban rival Link

Yahoo7 Article

Amber Parkinson lost on wednesday 230pm against her Japanese opponent Link

Fencing Medal Tally

Individual and Team Winners:

The Beijing website has updated dates of Fencing events: August 9-17,Or for more information : Beijing.      Venue photos and Olympic location Link                                                     

 Follow all the Australian Athletes on the link* International Athletes link.          Link to ESPN intro to Olympic FencingAnother link on everything for the Olympics from Yahoo7

The Events and Weapons

The Fencing Timetable for the Beijing Olympic Games

Saturday 9th: Womens Sabre Individual & Finals

Sunday 10th: Mens Epee Individual & Finals

Monday 11th: Womens Foil Individual (Jo Halls) & Finals

Tuesday 12th: Mens Sabre Individual & Finals

Wednesday 13th: Mens Foil Individual & Finals

Wednesday 13th: Womens Epee Individual (Amber Parkinson) & Finals

Thursday 14th: Womens Team Sabre Finals

Friday 15th: Mens Team Epee Finals

Saturday 16th: Womens Team Foil Finals

Sunday 17th: Mens Team Sabre Finals.

The Athletes competing at the games can be found at the FIE.CH LINK 

Wikipedia has the full list of Olympic Medalists

Mens Link to Wikipedia

Womens Link to Wikipedia

NBC America has Fencing footage of the recent Beijing Olympics.

Link NBCOlympics.com

You may need to download microsoft silverlight to watch.  Until the Media outlets release Olympic Coverage this is the best bet!  Then Again you may have to be in the USA to watch…

Links to Youtube Olympic Fencing

Foil: Link

Sabre: Link

Epee: Link

if you find more… post on forum.. if they’re notable..it’ll get posted.

Australias Angie Darby competes today (Friday 22nd) in Beijing in the Modern Pentathlon

10:30 am (all AEST) 10m Air Pistol [ranked 36/36]

12:00 Epee – 1 touch [31/36]

4:30 pm Swimming 200m Freestyle [35/36]

7:00 pm Horseriding Showjumping [7/36]

10:00 pm Athletics Track 3000 m  [31st]

Competition details can be found on the Beijing Site

The Mens competition was won by Russian Moiseev in back to back Olympic Golds. Link

History of the Modern Pentathlon Beijing Link

Day 9 Fencing:

Mens Sabre Teams

Gold Medal match France beat USA Link

Bronze medal match Italy beat Russia.

Results Link

Gold medal:  France

Silver medal: France

Bronze medal: Italy

4th: Russia 

5th: Belarus

6th: China

7th: Hungary

8th: Egypt

Day 8 Fencing:

Womens Foil.

Results Link

Gold medal:  Russian Fed. 

Silver medal:  United States 

Bronze medal: Italy 

4th: Hungary

5th: Germany

6th: China

7th: Poland

8th: Egypt

Day 7 Fencing:

Mens Epee.

Teams Finals 

Gold Medal match: France  beat Poland 

Bronze Medal match: Italy beats China

Poland climbs over China to make the Final in an exciting Mens Epee Tournament 

Results Link

Gold medal:  France 

Silver medal: Poland 

Bronze medal: Italy

4th: China

5th: Hungary

6th: Venezuela

7th: Ukraine

8th: Korea

9th: South Africa

Day 6 Fencing:

Womens Sabre.

Top Seeds France and USA lose in the semi’s…

Gold Medal Match: Ukraine v China is a cracker won by 1 point …..link to incredible turnaround match scores.

Results Link

Gold medal:  Ukraine

Silver medal: China

Bronze medal: USA

4th: France

5th: Russia

6th: Poland

7th: Canada

8th: South Africa

Day 5 Fencing:

Womens Epee Individual.

Australia’s Amber Parkinson lost to HARADA Megumi JAPAN 15-9 in the round of 32

Bout link

 Link

Results Link

Gold medal:  HEIDEMANN Britta GERMANY

Silver medal: BRANZA Ana Maria ROMANIA

Bronze medal: MINCZA-NEBALD Ildiko HUNGARY

Day 5 Fencing:

Mens Foil Individual.

Link

Results Link

Gold medal:  KLEIBRINK Benjamin Philip GERMANY

Silver medal: OTA Yuki JAPAN

Bronze medal: SANZO Salvatore ITALY

Wednesday 13/8/08: Mens Individual Foil and Womens Individual Epee is on today.  

The 2008 Beijing Olympics are underway.       

The Beijing website has updated dates of Fencing events: August 9-17,

Keep an eye on the 2008 Olympic Page for updated results and News

Event Timetable can be found under “2008 Olympic” page.

Or for more information : Beijing

* Venue photos and Olympic location Link      

* Follow all the Australian Athletes on the link .

* International Athletes link .

Link to ESPN intro to Olympic Fencing .

Another link on everything for the Olympics from Yahoo7 .

Day 4 Fencing:

Mens Sabre Individual. photos

China wins its first Olympic Sabre Gold Medal in an amazing display by beating France in the Semi and Gold medal match. Link

Results Link

Gold medal:  ZHONG Man CHINA

Silver medal: LOPEZ Nicolas FRANCE

Bronze medal: COVALIU Mihai ROMANIA

You can watch replays of 2008 Olympic Competition Fencing on

Casttv

Day 3 Fencing:

Womens Foil Individual.

Gold medal:  VEZZALI Maria Valentina  ITALY

Silver medal: HYUNHEE Nam KOREA

Bronze medal: GRANBASSI Margherita ITALY

Gold Medal Match

VEZZALI Maria Valentina  ITALY  def 6-5 HYUNHEE Nam KOREA Bout Link

LINK
Jo Halls Australia fought back bravely from 10-5 down but just couldnt beat Misleydis Company from Cuba losing 15-13, in the round of 64 (32nd seed). Link

Yahoo7 Article

Full Results Beijing Link

Photos and Fencing.net link soon

Day 2 Fencing:

Mens Epee Individual.

Gold medal: Matteo Tagliariol ITALY

Silver medal:  Fabrice Jeannet FRANCE

Bronze medal: Jose Luis Abajo SPAIN

Full Results Beijing Link 

Photos and Fencing.net link

The USA has trifected the womens Sabre winning Gold, Silver and Bronze!

Mariel Zagunis won back to back Gold medals as the USA dominated.

Photos and Fencing.net Link

The Fencing schedule can be found Here

Jo Halls fences first up on Monday 10am against

COMPANY Misleydis  Link

Amber Parkinson fences last on wednesday 230pm against

HARADA Megumi Link

Day 1 Fencing:

Womens Sabre Individual.

Gold Medal:  Mariel Zagunis USA

Silver Medal: Sada Jacobson USA

Bronze Medal: Rebecca Ward USA

for full results Beijing Link

Photos and Fencing.net link

The countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics is over!!

The Opening Ceremony starts at 8pm Beijing Time. 

The Beijing website has updated dates of Fencing events: August 9-17,

Keep an eye on the 2008 Olympic Page for updated results and News

Event Timetable can be found under “2008 Olympics” page.

Or for more information : Beijing

* Venue photos and Olympic location Link      

* Follow all the Australian Athletes on the link .

* International Athletes link .

Link to ESPN intro to Olympic Fencing .

Another link on everything for the Olympics from Yahoo7 .

Australian Pentathlete Angie Darby has won her battle to Compete in Beijing, and will now be able to attend the opening ceremony on Friday night.

Darby 21 from Melbourne, was cleared by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne Switzerland yesterday.

A British lawyer initially attempted to rub Darby out, claiming she had not satisfied the selection criteria by qualifying at recognised international competitions.  This then went to the CAS after the Greek Olympic Association took up the attack.

Angie will compete in the 5 event program on the 22nd (day 14).

Link to Olympic Site

Italian World Number 3 Andrea Cassara will be Andrea Baldini’s (Former world number 1)  replacement for the Olympic Mens Foil Individual Competition beginning on Wednesday 13th August in Beijing.

Baldini tested positive for Furosemide (Lasix) in Kiev in the European Championships last month.  Baldini lost in the 8 at the European Championships, but has since had his points removed after the test. 

Cassara is the current European Champion winning the same event.

The Fencing Timetable for the Beijing Olympic Games

Saturday 9th: Womens Sabre Individual & Finals

Sunday 10th: Mens Epee Individual & Finals

Monday 11th: Womens Foil Individual (Jo Halls) & Finals

Tuesday 12th: Mens Sabre Individual & Finals

Wednesday 13th: Mens Foil Individual & Finals

Wednesday 13th: Womens Epee Individual (Amber Parkinson) & Finals

Thursday 14th: Womens Team Sabre Finals

Friday 15th: Mens Team Epee Finals

Saturday 16th: Womens Team Foil Finals

Sunday 17th: Mens Team Sabre Finals

Friday 22nd: Womens Modern Pentathlon (Angie Darby)

For Further Information .Beijing Site.

World Number one Italian Foilist Andrea Baldini has been removed from the Italian Team for the Beijing Olympics, for failing a drugs test during the last European Championships.

Details all over the web…. Courtesy of Reuters 

* Baldini’s B sample has also proved positive on Monday 4/8/08 GMT Reuters

There is a very good article on Drugs in Sport in Reuter titled “Zero Tolerance” Article Link

A new publication has been released for sale at the Beijing Olympics on the “Worlds Best Fencers” by Jie Ao.  Available in English, French and Chinese.

link         

What do the Olympics Mean To You?

The Motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius, translated from Latin meaning Swifter (Faster), Higher, Stronger. 

Baron Pierre de Coubertain chose these words to depict the ethos of the Olympics. 

The Olympic Creed: ” The most important thing is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

I like this one:  In Fencing we cannot, learn without trying, win without losing, and compete without opponents.

Fencing looks like it will be streamed live on the web for the Beijing Olympics.

Webtv,

here is another one. link  

NB has a good link on fencing also

check it out!

 The Fencing Timetable for the Beijing Olympic Games

Saturday 9th: Womens Sabre Individual

Sunday 10th: Mens Epee Individual

Monday 1th: Womens Foil Individual (Jo Halls)

Tuesday 12th: Mens Sabre Individual

Wednesday 13th: Mens Foil Individual

Wednesday 13th: Womens Epee Individual (Amber Parkinson)

Thursday 14th: Womens Team Sabre

Friday 15th: Mens Team Epee

Saturday 16th: Womens Team Foil

Sunday 17th: Mens Team Sabre

Friday 22nd: Womens Modern Pentathlon (Angie Darby)

For Further Information .Beijing Site.

Australian Olympians have been involved in some interviews of late…

Links are available

The West Australian 

The Official Site of the 2008 Australian Olympic Team

The Official Site of the 2008 Australian Olympic Team

The Official Site of the 2008 Australian Olympic Team

Angie Darby interview

Jo Halls ABC interview 

Radio Interview

if you know of any more…please email: chris@swordfightersaustralia.com

as at 16 June 08,

The FIE has ratified the athletes and teams who will be competing in the Beijing Olympics in August.

for more details FIE.CH