Olympic Fencing

  Fencing is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons. Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games. The sport of fencing is divided into three weapons.

Foil: a light thrusting weapon that targets the torso, including the back, but not the arms. Touches are scored only with the tip; hits with the side of the blade do not count, and do not halt the action. Touches that land outside of the target area stop the action, and are not scored. Only a single hit can be scored by either fencer at one time. If both fencers hit at the same time, the referee uses the rules of right of way to determine which fencer gets the point.

Sabre: a light cutting and thrusting weapon that targets the entire body above the waist, except for the hands. Hits with the edges of the blade as well as the tip are valid. As in foil, touches which land outside of the target area are not scored. However, unlike foil, these off-target touches do not stop the action, and the fencing continues. In the case of both fencers landing a scoring touch, the referee determines which fencer receives the point for the action.

Epee: a heavier thrusting weapon that targets the entire body. All hits must be with the tip and not the sides of the blade. Touches hit by the side of the blade do not halt the action. Unlike foil and sabre, Epee does not use right of way, and allows simultaneous hits by both fencers. However, if the score is tied at the last point and a double touch is scored, nobody is awarded the point.

The earliest surviving treatise on fencing, stored at the Royal Armories Museum in Leeds, England, dates from around 1300 AD and is from Germany. It is known as I.33 and written in medieval and Middle High German and deals with an advanced system of using the sword and buckler (smallest shield) together.

From 1400 onwards an increasing number of fencing treatises survived from across Europe, with the majority from the 15th century coming from Germany and Italy. In this period these arts were largely reserved for the knighthood and the nobility – hence most treatises deal with knightly weapons, such as the roundel dagger, long sword, spear, poll axe and armored fighting mounted and on foot. Wrestling, both with and without weapons, armored and unarmored, was also featured heavily in the early fencing treatises.

By the 16th century, with the widespread adoption of the printing press, the increase in the urban population and other social changes, the number of treatises increased dramatically. After around 1500 carrying swords became more acceptable in most parts of Europe. The growing middle classes meant that more men could afford to carry swords, learn fencing and be seen as gentlemen. By the middle of the 16th century many European cities contained great numbers of fencing schools, often clustered together, such as in London at "Hanging Sword Lane". Italian fencing masters were particularly popular and set up schools in many foreign cities. The Italians brought concepts of science to the art, appealing to the Renaissance mindset.

Olympic fencing refers to the fencing seen in most current competitions, including the Olympic Games and the World Cup. Competitions are conducted according to rules laid down by the FIE, the international governing body. These rules evolved from a set of conventions developed in Europe between mid-17th and early 20th century. The three Olympic weapons are foil, epee, and sabre. In competition, the validity of touches is determined by the electronic scoring apparatus and a set of rules called right of way or priority to eliminate referee error and bias. Olympic 2012 is held in London. Olympic Tickets are being sold in large amount. Purchasing ratio of Fencing Tickets is higher than other Olympic Tickets. Global Ticket Market is very trustful, secure, easy and having lesser prices for all Olympic Tickets. If you want to pur chase Fencing Tickets, just go to Global Ticket Market and buy Fencing Ticket easily at very cheap rate.