Fencing is a term that refers to a collection of three combat sports. The foil, épée, and saber (sometimes saber) are the three disciplines of modern fencing, with winning points determined by the weapon’s contact with an opponent. Singlestick, a fourth discipline, debuted in the 1904 Olympics but was eliminated after that and is no longer used in modern fencing. Fencing changed into one of the first Olympic sports activities to be introduced. The contemporary sport evolved towards the end of the nineteenth century, based on ancient swordsmanship abilities, with the Italian school modifying the historical European martial art of classical fencing, and the French school subsequently perfecting the Italian method.
Since the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, when the modern Olympic movement was born, fencing has competed at every Summer Olympic Games. Olympic fencing is divided into three categories:
There are 3 sorts of cutting-edge fencing, every of which makes use of a unique sort of weapon and has unique rules; for that reason, the game itself is split into 3 aggressive scenes: foil, épée, and saber. Most aggressive fencers pick out to focus on one weapon only.
History Of Fencing
Fencing may be traced back to the evolution of swordsmanship for duels and self-defense. Fencing is thought to have begun in Spain, and some of the most influential literature on the subject was written by Spanish fencers. Diego de Valera’s Treatise on Arms was written between 1458 and 1471 and is one of the oldest surviving manuals on western fencing (despite the title, Diego Valera’s work was on heraldry, not fencing) long before dueling was outlawed by the Catholic Monarchs. During the conquest, Spanish armies spread fencing all over the world, even to southern Italy, which was a major source of conflict between the two countries. Fencing is referenced in the drama The Merry Wives of Windsor, which was written before 1602.
The mechanics of contemporary fencing started in an Italian Renaissance school of fencing in the 18th century and were developed by the French school of fencing under their influence. The Spanish faculty of fencing died out, and the Italian and French faculties took their place.
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Development Into A Sport
Domenico Angelo, who established a fencing institution, Angelo’s School of Arms, at Carlisle House, Soho, London in 1763, was a driving force behind the turn toward fencing as a pastime rather than military instruction. He taught the aristocracy the popular technique of swordsmanship there. For over a century, his school was administered by three generations of his family and dominated the art of European fencing.
Although his attacking and parrying tactics were very different from contemporary practice, he created the key rules of stance and movement that still govern modern sport fencing. In his important book L’École des armes (The School of Fencing), published in 1763, he was the first fencing teacher to highlight the health and sports aspects of fencing over its function as a killing craft.
During the 1880s, French fencing teacher Camille Prévost compiled and codified basic norms. Many legally recognized fencing organizations, such as the Amateur Fencers League of America, the Amateur Fencing Association of Great Britain, and the Fédération Nationale des Sociétés d’Escrime et Salles d’Armes de France, were created during this time.
The first regularised fencing match was placed in 1880 at the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington for the first Grand Military Tournament and Assault at Arms. A number of competitions involving army officers and troops were held throughout the Tournament. Each combat lasted five hits, and the foils were black-pointed to help the judges. In 1896, the Amateur Gymnastic and Fencing Association drafted an official set of fencing rules.
Side judges were replaced with the Laurent-Pagan electrical marking device in 1933, with associate perceptible tone and a red or inexperienced light-weight indicating once a bit landed. In 1956, the foil was mechanized, and in 1988, saber. The scoring box eliminated judging prejudice and allowed for more precise scoring of faster movements, lighter touches, and more back and flank touches than previously.
Other Variants
Other variations include wheelchair fencing for disabled people, chair fencing, one-hit épée (one of the five events that make up modern pentathlon), and non-Olympic competitive fencing. Chair fencing is similar to a wheelchair fence, except it is designed for those who are not disabled. The opponents sit on opposite chairs and fences while sitting, following all of the standard fencing rules. The American Fencing League (as opposed to the United States Fencing Association) is an example of the latter: the competition structure is different, and the right of way regulations are read differently. School and university matches in a number of nations depart slightly from the FIE standard.
When ESPN2 bought the rights to a number of matches and aired them in its “ESPN8: The Ocho” programming block in August 2018, a form of the sport including toy lightsabers gained global popularity.
Fencing In Olympics
Fencing competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo featured 12 events, marking the first time that men and women competed in all three weapons in both team and individual events.
The games were originally set to take place from July 25 to August 2, 2020, but were postponed owing to the COVID-19 epidemic and rescheduled for July 24 to August 1, 2021.
At the 2020 Summer Olympics, there were 200 quota positions for fencing. Individual slots were available in four zonal qualifying events, with the Fédération Internationale d’Escrime (FIE) Official Ranking as of 4 April 2020 serving as the primary criterion.
In each of the team competitions, eight teams qualify. Each team must have at least three fencers. The top four teams in the standings earn a spot in the tournament. As long as it is rated in the top 16, the next best-ranked team from each zone (Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Oceania) will qualify. If no teams are rated between 5th and 16th in a zone, the best-placed team that has not previously qualified will be chosen, regardless of zone.
The three fencers from the team event immediately qualify for individual competition in individual events. Six additional places will be awarded based on the rankings (ignoring fencers from countries with team qualifications and only considering the top fencer from each country): the top two fencers from Europe and Asia-Oceania, as well as the top one fencer from each of the Americas and Africa, will qualify. Zone qualifying tournaments will give 4 extra spots (1 per zone); only nations without a qualified fencer in an event will be able to compete in these zone qualifying competitions.
A minimum of 8 quota slots are guaranteed for the host country, Japan.
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