CW |TECHNIQUE
“Speed, athleticism, mental toughness, balance, flexibility and dexterity with the metre-long steel blade are the qualities required”
she modestly admits that she is “excited and quite chuffed” to be in the British team for her first Olympics. The only British gold medallist of either sex in fencing was Gillian Sheen in the 1956 Games in Melbourne, who took top spot with the individual foil. “Fencing is a European martial art. Italy and France consistently produce top performers, who often are supposedly in the carabineri or the military, but in reality are full-time fencers. Germany and the former Soviet Bloc countries are good. America is strong now as it ‘imported’ a lot of former Eastern Bloc coaches and the new guys on the block are China, Japan and Korea,” says Kruse, who has beaten the world’s best to take two silvers and two bronzes in the annual European championships. He outclassed the world No.1 Andrea Cassarà of Italy in a competition in Japan in April this year to be ranked 13th in the world. Sheppard’s individual foil contest was scheduled to start
and finish on Saturday July 28 at the ExCel exhibition centre in London’s Docklands. Kruse’s bid for glory was to be settled on Tuesday, July 31 when the men’s individual foil was due to be held. It was the day after Kruse’s 29th birthday. For both sexes, the contest began with 64 fencers, so they would have had to win five knockout bouts to reach the final for the gold.
AN INCREDIBLE MENTAL SPORT
A sporty youngster, Kruse came to fencing by chance, giving it a go as a 10-year-old at Finchley Foil, a club near his north London home. “I’d done a lot of sports - tennis, football, karate – but at my first attempt at fencing I was destroyed by a girl and I realised what an incredible mental sport it was.” Fencing suited him and he shone early, thanks to what he describes as “world-class coaching” from a former Polish Olympian, Ziemek Wojciechowski, who is still his coach as well as coach to the British fencing team. Wojciechowski’s specialty is the foil, which is lighter than the other principal fencing swords, the épée and the sabre. “Men don’t fence with women, but apart from that
fencing is a unique combat sport because there are no weight classes or height distinctions. So someone like me at 6ft 3ins can fight someone at 5ft 5ins,” Furse explains. “There’s a huge mental component to the sport and the one thing you can’t be is overweight (he is about 12 stone 6 lbs) as you have
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to move your own bodyweight fast and often along the piste (the 14x2m electric mat on which the bout is conducted).” Sheppard agrees that the mental combat is possibly more exhausting than the physical effort itself. “In terms of other sports, fencing is a bit like boxing or squash. You are trying to hit your opponent without getting hit yourself and it requires speed and fast reactions. If you are behind or ahead with just a few seconds to go, there is a lot of mental stress,” she says. “I am quite a defensive fencer. I like to get ahead and then defend, making my opponent come to me, allowing me to counter attack. I am quite explosive and quick.” At 5ft 5in and a trim 8 stone, Sheppard is at once neat but
powerful. “Fencers of my size have a lack of reach compared to taller women, but in general we have better coordination and a lower centre of gravity, so we move more quickly. And our torso offers a smaller target area, of course. Of the top eight women in the world, three are of my size and the other
The last British fencing medal was a silver won by Bill Hoskyns in the men’s épée in Tokyo in 1964
five are much taller, so both body types can be successful.” Speed, athleticism, mental toughness, balance, flexibility and, of course, dexterity with the metre-long steel blade are the ingredients of a champion. The technique of defending and attacking at speed in foil fighting is described in the phrase parry and thrust. In the foil class, the target area is restricted to the front and back of the torso. The winner is the first to score 15 hits on his or her opponent. The hits are registered through a push-button on the point of the blade which is linked to an electronic scoring apparatus. To score, the foil’s button must be depressed for at least 15 milliseconds with a force of at least 550 grams-force. Foilists wear conductive jackets covering their target area, which allow the scoring apparatus to differentiate between on- and off-target hits. The piste
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