From 6 to 14 August, Rio de Janeiro will host Olympic fencing competition... The Olympic fencing tournament will last 9 days. There will be medals in six individual and four team disciplines.
the site offers you a full schedule of fencing competitions on Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, use the program so as not to miss the performances of your favorite athletes. Cheer for your favorites, let the strongest win!
Fencing. Rio 2016 Olympic Games Fencing Schedule
August 6. Saturday -Sword. Women. Individual championship
22:00 Semifinals
August 7. Sunday -
Rapier. Men. Individual championship
22:00 Semifinals
23:15 Fight for third place
23:45 Final. Award ceremony
8 August. Monday -
Saber. Women. Individual championship
22:00 Semifinals
23:15 Fight for third place
23:45 Final. Award ceremony
August 9. Tuesday -
Sword. Men. Individual championship
22:00 Semifinals
23:15 Fight for third place
23:45 Final. Award ceremony
August 10. Wednesday -
Rapier. Women. Individual championship
23:30 Semifinals
01:20 Fight for third place
02:15 Final. Award ceremony
Saber. Men. Individual championship
00:30 Semifinals
01:50 Fight for third place
02:45 AM Final Award Ceremony
11th August. Thursday -
Sword. women. Team championship
19:15 Semifinals
12th of August. Friday -
Rapier. Men. Team championship
18:00 Semifinals
23:00 Fight for third place
00:30 Final Award Ceremony
August 13. Saturday -
Saber. Women. Team championship
17:30 Semifinals
23:00 Fight for third place
00:15 AM Final Award Ceremony
August 14th. Sunday
Sword. Men. Team championship
19:15 Semifinals
23:00 Fight for third place
00:30 Final Award Ceremony
Monday ended enchantingly for Russian sports fans. Just when the hands of the clock in Moscow were crossing past midnight, one of the most exciting fights of recent years took place in Rio de Janeiro - two Russians competed in the final of the saber fencer tournament, Sophia the Great and Yana Yegoryan.
And if it were not for the Imperial March, which personifies all the evil in the Star Wars film, which the organizers, either deliberately or through thoughtlessness, put before the Russian finale, nothing would have darkened this wonderful Russian evening. But we knew that this evil march only precedes the Russian anthem, which would inevitably have sounded at the end of the fight, no matter who won.
Sophia is not great yet
The favorite of this fight, of course, was Sophia Velikaya, occupying the first line of the world ranking. It seemed that she was going to this victory all her life. She was the first "natural saber fencer" in our team - a girl who did not switch to this sport from another, but immediately started fencing with a saber.
An athlete could have become truly great much earlier - four years ago in London, at the XXX Summer Olympic Games. It did not grow together - in the final, the Russian woman was opposed by a Korean athlete Kim Ji Young... It is not known what happened on the platform, but Sophia surrendered almost without a fight - the Korean won with a score of 15: 9.
Final of the London Olympics. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
It is difficult to imagine how the fate of the Russian woman would develop after the Olympic Games if she succeeded. Even before the start, she had thoughts of ending her career if she won. You still won't jump above the gold medal, and continuing to fence, stepping into the fourth dozen for the sake of repeating success, is not the best motivator for a girl.
But fate decided in its own way. The defeat only provoked the Great One. At that moment, she realized that she could not avoid another four-year cycle of preparation - the gold medal hanging around the Korean woman's neck was too brightly shining in her eyes.
Since then, Sophia, greedy for victories, has won two world titles and has become the winner of the European Championship five times. She proved to the whole world long ago that she is the best saber fencer on the planet. All that remained was to prove it to myself - to win the gold in the Olympic Games.
But when Sophia was just starting to practice fencing, she could not even think that she would ever at least be at the Olympic Games. And the point here is not even that the girl did not believe in herself. It's just that before the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the women's saber was not included in the Summer Olympics program.
After it became known that women's saber fencing was still included in the program of the Olympic Games, many intermediate foil fencers, who could hardly count on winning their sport, began to retrain themselves - to switch to the saber.
Sophia was different from them. For a long time she was the only "natural saber fencer" in the entire Russian national team. And she proved over and over again that retraining is both more difficult and worse than starting to learn something from the very beginning.
In 2003, 18-year-old Sophia Velikaya already became the European champion - a medal was won in the French Bourget in team competition. This was followed by further victories at the championship of the continent and the planet as part of the team in 2004. In 2005, Sophia became the second on the planet, winning silver. And in 2006, her first personal victory came to the Great - in Izmir she became the European champion, having won not only in the team, but also in the individual competition.
However, Sophia had to wait another whole five years for the first title of world champion, which she would not have to share with anyone. Only in 2011, on the eve of the start of the London Olympics, she was able to win the title of the strongest saber fencer on the planet - this fateful event took place in Italian Catania, where Russia also won the team championship.
Sophia the Great (right), 2006. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
But, if not for Gregory the Great ... Not that Gregory the Great who was Pope at the turn of the 6-7 centuries, but Sophia's older brother. So, if not for him, perhaps we would not have had such a wonderful Olympic champion.
At one time, Grigory was the first to go to train in Moscow. He practiced fencing and showed some promise. At some point, he called Sophia in Alma-Ata and said that, according to his information, saber fencing for women could soon be included in the program of the Olympic Games. He invited his sister to try herself in this sport and even advised a young coach, Dmitry Glotov, who was his friend.
Having decided that being a natural saber fencer is much better than retraining from a foil, having weighed all the pros and cons, the still very young Sophia packed her things and went to conquer Moscow.
The student has surpassed the teacher
But Sofia, apparently, was not destined to win at the Olympics. She was surpassed by another "natural saber fencer", much younger and more hungry for victories - 22-year-old Yana Yegoryan.
The girl had just started to enter the Russian national team, when the whole world was already talking about Sophia, and her defeat at the London Olympics was considered an annoying accident - in 2012. However, in four short years, the beginner saber fencer, who had just passed from juniors to the senior category, not only entered the top five saber fencers on the planet, but also began to challenge the recognized masters of this business.
Born in the capital of Armenia, the city of Yerevan, the girl moved with her parents to Khimki near Moscow when she was only six years old. Soon she was sent to fencing, which she began to practice under the guidance of Sergei Semin.
Yana Yegoryan. Photo: RIA Novosti / Grigory Sysoev
In 2010, she was already the winner of the Youth Olympic Games, which were held in Singapore. Since 2012, when she first joined the adult Russian national team. Yana managed to win three gold medals at the European Championship, from 2013 to 2016, and became the winner, silver and bronze medalist of the World Championships. But only one of these awards, the bronze of the world championship, was individual for Yana. And now - the Olympics. A chance that Yana hasn’t had yet.
Fencing - olympic sport, in which the rivals fight with the help of a special sporting melee weapon, which is completely safe. Regular fencing is not at all safe, because it is a combat discipline that has been actively used in the past during hostilities. But as has happened with many martial arts, this discipline today has also become exclusively athletic in nature.
Participants in fencing games
212 men and women will come to the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, there will be 106 people each. According to the results of the competition, 10 sets of medals will be awarded, 5 for women and 5 for men. One country can exhibit no more than 16 fencers, moreover, no more than 8 of them are women and men.
The International Fencing Federation uses the principle of rotation of disciplines for a competition such as the Olympics. The 2016 Summer Olympics will not offer the same fencing disciplines as the London Games 4 years ago. Then the command saber was for men, and the command rapier for women. In Rio, men will have a command sword and women will have a command saber.
Disciplines common to men and women:
- Sword;
- Team sword;
- Rapier;
- Saber.
Summer Olympics participants must prove themselves in order to qualify for the Olympics. For this, the Olympic qualification of the competition is provided; it is different for each continent. All competitions are regarded as a qualifying tournament. The selection is also influenced by the world ranking of athletes.
Fencing competition calendar
Competitions for those who practice fencing will take place from 6 to 14 August. The finals of competitions in a specific discipline will be held daily. Schedule:
- August 6: individual epee championship, women;
- August 7: Men's individual foil championship;
- August 8: Women's individual saber championship;
- August 9: individual epee championship, men;
- August 10: Women's individual foil championship, men's individual saber championship;
- 11 August: women's team championship in epee;
- 12 August: Men's Foil Team Championship;
- 13 August: women's team saber championship;
- August 14: men's team championship in epee.
In each discipline, in order to win, you need to inflict a certain number of blows or thrusts on the opponent first. The competition is given a certain period of time, after which the fight is terminated.
Athletes compete in protective clothing: they have jackets made of metallized fabric and masks with rigid mesh. A glove must be worn on the hand that does not hold the weapon. The weapon is connected to the electrical panel. If a swordsman strikes an opponent, then this is fixed on the shield, a light comes on. If the strike was not powerful enough, for example, when the athlete just slid over the opponent, the thrust is not recorded by the electrical system.
The rapier and epee presupposes stabbing, but with a saber it is already possible to deliver a chopping blow. Each type of weapon has a guard that protects the working hand from damage. For disciplines, the parts of the body allowed for strikes differ.
A fencing track is used for the duel. Its length is 14 meters.
The swordsman's goal is to stab the enemy and avoid the stab himself. Victory is awarded to the one who is the first to deliver a certain number of injections to the opponent in accordance with the rules or to deliver more such injections within a specified period of time.
Fencers wear white uniforms because until electronic scoring equipment was invented, pricks were imprinted on the white surface by an ink-soaked piece of cotton taped to the tip of the weapon.
OLYMPIC GAMES
Fencing has been included in the program of the Olympic Games since 1896 - personal competitions for men on foils and sabers, from 1900 on swords (in 1904 and on sticks); in 1896 and 1900 professionals (the so-called maestro) took part in the competition. Since 1912, the team championship has been played in swords and sabers, since 1920 - in foils. Since 1924, a personal championship has been held, since 1960 - a team championship among women on foil, since 1996 - a personal and team championship in epee, in 2004 a personal championship was held, and in 2008 a team championship in saber fencing among women.
The record holder for the number of conquered Olympic medals is the Italian swordsman Edoardo Manjarotti, who from 1936 to 1960. won 13 medals at the Olympic Games: 6 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze. Another great swordsman, Aladar Gerevich from Hungary, won three medals less, but he has more gold medals - 7. Two Italians are in the lead in the list of champions for women - Valentina Vezzali, 5 times Olympic champion, and Giovanna Trillini, who has won 4 Olympic gold medals.
RUSSIA
In the Soviet Union and Russia, there are many wonderful blademakers, there are many double and triple Olympic champions... But only four fencers hold the title of 4-time Olympic champions. These are foil fencer Elena Belova and saber fencers Viktor Sidyak, Viktor Krovopuskov and Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
Photo - Sergey Kivrin and Andrey Golovanov
The goal of the swordsman is to strike (strike) the enemy and avoid the thrust (strike) himself. Victory is awarded to the one who is the first to deliver a certain number of punches (strokes) to the opponent in accordance with the rules or to deliver more such injections within a specified period of time. Modern fencing consists of three disciplines: foil, epee, saber. The length of the sports saber is 110 cm, its weight is 500 g, the hand of the foil fencer is protected by a round guard with a diameter of 12 cm. The length of the sports saber is 105 cm, its weight is 500 g, it is also equipped with a guard, but differs from the foil by a blade of trapezoidal variable section. The saber is the only kind in sports fencing in which, in addition to thrusting, chopping blows can be delivered. The length of the sports epee is 110 cm, its weight is 770 g, the epee has a flexible triangular blade and a round guard with a diameter of 13.5 cm. Foil players are allowed injections only in the torso, for epee fencers - in all parts of the body, except for the nape not protected by a mask, for saber fencers - injections ( blows) to all parts of the body above the waist. Fights are held on a fencing track 14 m long and 1.8 - 2 m wide.
Athletes perform in protective jackets covered with a metallized fabric and masks with a metal mesh and in a glove on an armed hand. Thrusts and blows made by fencers are registered with lamps on an electric apparatus. They are fixed on the basis of an electrical circuit passing through the fencer's weapon and his clothing, connected to the apparatus by a wired system.
Fencers competed at the very first Olympic Games of our time (1896). Fencing is one of the four sports included in the program of all Olympiads without exception. Participants in the 1896 Olympic Games competed in foil and saber wrestling (men only). The strongest among the foil fencers was the Frenchman Yu.-A. Gravelotte, among the saber-fencers - the Greek I. Georgiadis.
Another feature of fencing is like Olympic discipline lies in the fact that already at the very first Olympic Games, professionals (fencing instructors), the so-called masters, were allowed to participate. This peculiar privilege was noted in the rules developed by the founder of modern Olympism, Baron P. de Coubertin. Foil masters took part in the Games of 1896 and 1900. In 1900 they were joined by epee and saber fencers, who also competed at the intermediate Olympic Games in 1906.
Since 1904, the team championship in foil fencing has been played at the Olympic Games (the first champions are the Cuban team), since 1906 - in sabers (Germany). Epee competitions were also added to the program: from 1900 - personal (R. Vonst, Cuba), from 1906 - team (France).
Women took part in the Olympic fencing (foil) competition for the first time in 1924 (the winner was E. Osier from Denmark). The team foil competition was included in the program in 1960 (the first champions were female athletes from the USSR, currently the women's team foil was excluded from Olympic program). Since 1996, women have also been competing in fencing with epee (in Atlanta, the French were the first: both in the team and individual standings - L. Flezzel). At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the individual saber fencer competition was held for the first time (won by M. Zagunis, USA).
There are record holders among the Olympic fencing champions. Italian N. Nadi is the only fencer who won 5 gold medals on one Olympic tournament(in 1920): in personal - rapier and saber - and all three command types of the program (another gold medal he received at the Games in 1912 for winning the foil tournament). His compatriot E. Manjarotti collected the largest collection of Olympic awards among all fencers - 13 (6 + 5 + 2), the athlete won them at five Olympic Games (1936-1960) in fights (individual and team) on epee and foil. Hungarian saber fencer A. Gerevich is the only athlete in history who won six Olympics in a row (from 1932 to 1960), while in 1948 he won gold in both individual and team events, and received the last of his highest awards at 50 years. Another famous Hungarian saber fencer R. Karpati took part in four Games, having won 6 gold medals.
It should be noted that until the mid-1950s, fencers in Hungary (saber), as well as Italy and France (foil and epee) were the undisputed favorites Olympic competitions- and world fencing in general. (For example, the Hungarian saber fencers from 1908 to 1960 won nine gold medals in the team competition at the Olympic Games - they won another title in 1988). But in the end. In the 1950s – 1960s, they faced serious competitors, primarily in the form of athletes from the USSR, as well as fencers from Germany, Poland and some other countries. The team of our foil fencers set a collective record by winning the Olympic tournament four times (in 1960, 1968, 1972 and 1976).
