In this guide you will find:
- Three kinds of fencing: épée, foil, and saber
- Olympic fencing basics
- Essential actions: simple scoring rules explained with videos
THREE DIFFERENT WEAPONS: ÉPÉE, FOIL, AND SABRE
Épée
- Touches scored: only by thrusting
- Special rule: the “double” touch – when both fencers hit each other at the same time, they both get a touch
- Target zone: entire body
Foil
- Touches scored: only by thrusting
- Special rule: right of way – if both fencers hit each other at the same time, the fencer with the initiative (the one who is going forward or makes contact with the blade) gets the touch
- Target zone: the torso (including back)
Sabre
- Touches scored: by thrusting and cutting
- Special rule: right of way – if both fencers hit each other at the same time, the fencer with the initiative (the one who is going forward OR makes contact with the blade) gets the touch
- Target zone: from the waist up (excluding hands)
OLYMPIC FENCING BASICS
Individual Events:
- Format: Fencers compete to 15 touches in a bracket of 64. The direct elimination format means that if you lose a 15-touches match, you are out of the competition. The last person standing wins the gold. The losers of the semifinals must fight for the bronze
- Duration: Each 15-touches match consists of three periods of 3-minutes with 1-minute breaks in between. If by the end of the three periods no one has reached 15 touches, the fencer with the most touches wins. If there is a tie, fencers go to a sudden death where the first person to score wins
Team Events:
- Format: Fencers compete to 45 touches in teams of three (and one alternate). The direct elimination format means that if you lose a 45-touches match, you are out of the competition. The last team standing wins the gold. The losers of the semifinals must fight for the bronze
- Duration: Each 45-touches match consists of nine periods of 3-minutes. If by the end of the nine periods no one has reached 45 touches, the team with the most touches wins. If there is a tie, fencers go to a sudden death where the first person to score wins
ESSENTIAL ACTIONS – ÉPÉE
- Double touch: both fencers score at the same time (as indicated by the lights going off)
ESSENTIAL ACTIONS – FOIL
Important: Colored lights (red and/or green) indicate a valid touch. White lights indicate the touch was off target, which means no points are awarded.
First things first: One-light actions are pretty easy to understand: whoever scores gets the point. But, it’s helpful to see how these actions look like before adding more complexity.
- Straight attack: the most basic offensive action
- Parry-riposte: a defensive action. Massialas (right) is the one to start the attack. However, Ota (left) blocks that attack, and then he scores. The action of blocking your opponent’s attack with your blade is called a “parry,” and hitting your opponent right after your opponent finishes an offensive action is called a “riposte.” Therefore, blocking your opponent’s attack and then hitting is called a “parry-riposte”
- Counterattack: a defensive action. Meinhardt (right) scores on Ota’s (left) attack. If Ota had also scored, it would’ve been his touch because Ota was going forward (Ota had the right-of-way). Therefore, in order to score on a counterattack, you must have a single light.
Two-light actions: Now it’s time to understand actions when two lights go off (whether it is red and green; red and white; green and white; etc).
Remember: In foil, there is right-of-way. This means that when both fencers hit each other at the same time, the fencer with the initiative (the one who is going forward OR makes contact with the blade) gets the touch.
Examples of right of way:
- Attack against counterattack: even though both fencers hit each other, the touch is awarded to Garozzo (left) because he was attacking (Garozzo had the initiative because he was going forward).
- Parry-riposte against remise: even though both fencers hit each other, the touch is awarded to Ota (left) because he blocked Meinhardt’s (right) first attack. In other words, Meinhardt lost his right-of-way after missing his first attack. So, even though Meinhardt hit on his continuation of the attack (which is called a “remise”), it was now Ota’s right-of-way.
ESSENTIAL ACTIONS – SABRE
Saber and foil are similar because they both have right-of-way.
First things first: One-light actions are pretty easy to understand: whoever scores gets the point. But, it’s helpful to see how these actions look like before adding more complexity.
- Direct attack: the most basic offensive action
- Parry-riposte: a defensive action. Dolniceanu (left) is the one to start the attack. However, Homer (right) blocks that attack, and then he scores. The action of blocking your opponent’s attack with your blade is called “parry,” and hitting your opponent right after your opponent finishes an offensive action is called a “riposte.” Therefore, blocking your opponent’s attack and then hitting is called a “parry-riposte”
- Counterattack: a defensive action. Anstett (right) scores on Szabo’s (left) attack. If Szabo had also scored, it would’ve been his touch because Szabo was going forward (Szabo had the right-of-way). Therefore, in order to score on a counterattack, you must have a single light.
Two-light actions: Now it’s time to understand actions when two lights go off.
Remember: In saber, there is right-of-way. This means that when both fencers hit each other at the same time, the fencer with the initiative (the one who is going forward OR makes contact with the blade) gets the touch.
Examples of right-of-way:
- Attack against counteratack: even though both fencers hit each other, the touch is awarded to Homer (right) because he was attacking (Homer had the initiative because he was going forward).
- Parry-riposte against remise: even though both fencers hit each other, the touch is awarded to Homer (right) because he blocked Dolniceanu’s (left) first attack. In other words, Dolniceanu lost his right-of-way after missing his first attack. So, even though Dolniceanu hit on his continuation of the attack (which is called a “remise”), it was now Homer’s right-of-way.
Important distinctions between foil and saber’s right-of-way:
In terms of saber’s right-of-way, some important distinctions with regard to foil are explained below:
- Attack on preparation: when both fencers attack at the same time, the touch is awarded to the fencer who extends the ARM (in case both fencers extend their arms, the touch is awarded to the fencer who extends the arm FIRST). This is Couturier’s (left) touch because even though both fencers attacked at the same time, Couturier extended his arm.
- “Attack misses” when your front foot lands on the strip: an attack is over the moment your FRONT FOOT lands on the strip. In other words: if you haven’t scored at the moment your front foot has landed on the strip, you no longer have the right-of-way because your attack missed. In the example, Homer’s (right) front foot had already landed on the strip before he was able to hit (his attack missed). Therefore, it is Dolniceanu’s (left) touch because he had the right-of-way.
Other distinctions:
- Time: rather than having 3 three-minute periods, saber matches only have two periods with a one minute break in between (the break starts when either fencer has scored eight touches). There is no time limit in saber bouts; fencers simply fence until the bout is over.
- Flunge: it is prohibited for fencers to cross their legs going forward. If this happens, the bout is stopped and the fencer who crossed legs is penalized with a yellow card. As a result, in saber we see a different type of fleche called “flunge,” where legs do not cross. Beautiful!
Thanks for visiting!
– Fencing Insider
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