Foils and sabres sharpened for Rio duels
Five things on Olympic fencing in Rio:
+ One of the oldest Olympic sports fencing made its appearance at the 1896 games in Athens with the foil and sabre, weapon of choice for the Magyar tribes to resolve their differences and fight off foes in the Ural Mountains. The epee made its debut in 1900. In the women's competition, the foil came in in 1924 in Paris, the epee in 1996 and the sabre in 2004. Fencing covers 10 events, five apiece for men and women. It's staged in the 10,000-seater Carioca Arena in the Barra Olympic Park from August 6-14.
+ Fencers use three different types of sword: the foil, epee and sabre varying in flexibility with different rules for each weapon. So for example in foil, fencers score points with the tip of the blade on the opponent's torso, whereas the target area in epee is the entire body. In all 2122 athletes will be lunging and thrusting on the piste in Rio.
+ Fencing has a deep romantic tradition in cinema, from the swashbuckling swordsmanship displayed by Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers to The Mask of Zorro and the present day Game of Thrones. Pierce Brosnan showed off his sharp skills with an epic electrical epee duel as James Bond in Die Another Day with central villain Gustav Graves. Star Wars reinterpreted the ancient art with those spectacular light saber battles.
+ Italy topped the medals table in London with three golds in its haul of seven medals. The 2012 Games saw sport's traditional superpowers having to share the limelight with fencing minnows with Venezuela celebrating their first fencing gold courtesy of Ruben Limardo in individual epee. But the signs are that normal service will resume in Rio judged by the three world championship held since with Russia, goldless in London, bouncing back, and Italy maintaining their form. Russia are now coached by French fencing master Christian Bauer. France are intent on putting things right after a disastrous medal-less 2012 headed by their world number one Gauthier Grumier.
+ Fencing has had its share of drama at the Olympics. In 2012 South Korea's Shin A-Lam staged an hour long sit-down protest on the piste after her 6-5 semi-final defeat to Germany's Britta Heidemann. The two fencers had been locked at 5-5 inside the extra minute period. The German then scored what she thought was the winning hit, but the Korean coach claimed the assault came after the final second was up. In Montreal in 1976 in the fencing leg of the modern pentathlon, Boris Onishchenko was caught cheating in the most audacious way by using a specially equipped epee which signalled a hit on his rival, Britain's James Fox, when he touched a secret button.