Fencing – A Unique Olympic Sport

Fencing is a popular sport in the West, in France, and has been included in official competitions at the Olympics. Although it appears to use weapons, this sport is actually very safe, with many strict regulations that fencers must comply with. Let’s learn about this unique sport with 5JL.

What is Fencing?

Fencing is a martial art sport, with the nature of confrontation between two competitors – swordsmen. When participating in competitions, fencers must fully comply with the regulations on protective clothing.

There are 3 types of swords used in fencing competitions: rapier, three-edged sword, and slashing sword. Based on the classification of swords, this sport is also divided into 3 small formats. In each sports festival, a fencer will only compete in 1 event.

Before it was recognized as a sport, fencing was known as a pastime of the French aristocracy in the 15th century. It was not until the end of the 19th century that it was considered a sport and officially competed for the first time in 1896.

The Origin of This Sport

Although it is known as a game of the French aristocracy in the 15th century, some documents suggest that fencing originated in Spain. But no matter which country it originated from, when mentioning this sport, people will always mention Domenico Angelo.

Angelo was the first person to open a fencing school and train students in basic rules of fighting postures. And although the school was opened with the intention that students could participate in real combat at any time.

But Angelo himself stressed the beauty of the art, and acknowledged its health benefits to the practitioner rather than its usefulness as a form of life-and-death combat.

Angelo’s school, which had been in operation for three generations, was a mainstay of European fencing for nearly a century. The first official fencing tournament was held at the opening ceremony of the Royal Army Games at the Royal Agricultural Buildings, Islington, in 1880.

Later, when the sport was introduced into official competition, thanks to modern technology, scoring devices were installed in the swordsmen’s armour, quickly and accurately calculating the light thrusts and limiting the arguments between judges when observing with the naked eye.

Additional Knowledge about this Fencing Sport

Governing Body

The governing body of this sport is the International Fencing Federation, whose French name is Fédération Internationale d’Escrime – abbreviated as FIE. Currently, the headquarters of FIE is located in Lausanne, Switzerland, with 145 member countries.

Basic Rules

• The fencing competition area is 14 meters long and 1.5 to 2 meters wide. The competition line is divided horizontally in half, and the fencers are only allowed to operate within this area. Once a fencer retreats beyond the competition area, it will be counted as having been stabbed once.
• Before entering the official match, the fencers are required to bow to their opponents, the referee, and the audience, to show respect. showing politeness and a noble spirit. Fencing is a noble and artistic sport. If the swordsmen do not perform this ritual, they may be disqualified from the competition.
• The time for the singles fencing competition – individual competition will be 3 rounds, and each round will last 3 minutes. The rest time between rounds is 1 minute.
• To be considered the winner, the swordsman must perform 15 valid stabs before his opponent. Or in the prescribed time of the match, whoever stabs more validly wins.
• In fencing, there is no concept of a draw. If after 3 rounds no one has a higher score, there is a 1-minute extra period. During that 1 minute, whoever scores the first valid point will be the winner.
• “Golden stab” is the rule applied when the time for the match is over and there is no winner. The referee will press the light board, the light will run randomly and stop in whichever direction, and the swordsman has the right to attack first. Within 1 minute, if swordsmen do not score points, the person with priority is the winner.
• In a three-edged sword, if the two swordsmen’s double thrusts are 1/25 of a second apart, both swordsmen are awarded a point.