Women's Olympic Foil

Four years ago, I was very active on the National Novel Writing Month Young Writers' Program (NaNo YWP) forums, and each day, I posted an overview of what had occurred in the fencing at the Olympics.

I decided to continue writing summaries, but I'll post them here, instead.

In the round of 32: Lee Kiefer v. Monica Peterson, American v. Canadian. Lee dominated the beginning of the first period, and then Monica came back and was within a point of Lee, who then changed foils and started scoring again. The second period was mostly Lee -- Monica got a few touches, including a couple after Lee was at 14 points, but Lee was in control.

Both women are five foot four, but Lee has longer legs. Sometimes she sits really low and deep, but other times she's pretty high up -- higher than Monica, who also leans a little. Lots of off-targets and in-fighting in this bout, and it moved pretty quickly. They didn't go up and down the piste a lot. Their first intentions came early, and usually either a first or second intention hit or was off-target.

So Lee Kiefer is the only American female foilist to advance past the Round of 32. It's disappointing for Nzingha Prescod and Nicole Ross; Zingy especially was expected to do better than she did.

Other important results: Elisa di Francisca rolled over Mona Shaito. The first period was reasonable (6 to 2), but in the second period Elisa scored 9 points and shut out Mona. Valentina Vezzali, defending gold medalist, won 14 to 8.

Lee's next bout is in the second half of the Round of 16 against Gil Ok Jung, who beat Aida Shanaeva 15 to 14 in the Round of 32. In the first half, though, is #1 in the world, Hyun Hee Nam of S. Korea, against Aida Mohamed, who defeated Nzingha Prescod in the Round of 32. I saw a bit of Carolin Golubytskyi (of Germany)'s previous match - she did very well, and has a non-bouncy style I like - but in this round she's matched up against Elisa di Francisca, who looked positively dominant.

So, in the round of 16 are three French, three Italians, two Japanese, two South Koreans, one Russian, one German, one American, one Chinese, one Hungarian, and one Tunisian.

The only competitors who rolled like Elisa di Francisca in the round of 32 were Astrid Guyart of France (won 15-2) and Arianna Errigo of Italy (won 15-4). Neither Nam nor Vezzali, the favorites, were as dominant. Astrid faces Ines Boubakri of Tunisia, who defeated Nicole Ross. Arianna Errigo faces Kamilia Gafurzianova, who defeated Martyna Synoradzka15-8.

Hyun Hee Nam was up 3-1 against Aida Mohamed at the end of the first period. They're moving up and down the piste a lot, and lots of off-target when they do manage to attack. Nam can be really bouncy at times. 4-4 at the second break. Nam needed to stop missing her ripostes, and  she to be careful when the taller Aida was in distance but Nam wasn't.

At the end of the third period it was 6-6, so extra time. Nam thought she won on a parry riposte, but the director called off-target. After a few minutes, the result was no point and a yellow card for Nam. On the next point, though, she got the touch and won.

In the other bouts. Arianna won 15-7. Astrid lost 10-15. Chieko Sugawara of Japan beat Corinne Maitrejean of France 15-9.

Now Lee Kiefer v. Gil Ok Jung. They were moving a lot. At the first break, Lee was up 4-2, and there had been some infighting near the end of the period. Lee was moving a lot better than she showed against Monica. The infighting increased dramatically, as did the off targets. Jung came on strong at the end of the second period. Tied 11-11 with 1:42 left in the third period.  Lee was moving better again. It was close at the end, with Lee up 14-13, and they had to check the last touch on video, but Lee won, 15-13.

Carolin Golubytskyi gave Elisa di Francisca some trouble in the first two periods of their Round of 16 bout. It was 9-8 Elisa with two minutes left in the third period. Elisa is tall, but she was sitting pretty deeply in her en garde. The last two minutes were almost all Elisa. She won 15-9.

Ikehata won 15-11. Valentina Vezzali won 15-6, so that sounds like it was pretty easy for Valentina.

In the quarters, Ines Boubakri against Valentina, Lee against Arianna, Chieko Sugawara against Elisa, and Ikehata v. Nam.

So, Lee and Arianna. Arianna scored the first two touches, but Lee responded with two touches on ripostes. Lee was sitting pretty far down in her en garde this match. Arianna was leaning a lot. Lee’s back foot was a lot more turned out than Arianna’s – actually, maybe Arianna’s is turned in more than normal – and Lee’s en garde was pretty wide. Lee got a point on an attack and then on a counter riposte. They were barely using any time because they're just coming in. Arianna got a couple of touches with attacks in preparation on Lee, and Arianna led 13-8. The final score was 15-10, Arianna Errigo winning.

Elisa definitely used her reach against Sugawara. Elisa, 15-9. Nam won 15-6. Boubakri and Valentina were tied 7-7, in extra time, and Valentina won. So three Italians and Nam in the semis.

Nam v. Elisa. Elisa towers over Nam. Both fencers stayed really low and had wide en garde positions. The crowd was very much rooting for Elisa. They weren't moving much, small steps, rocking back and forth. Elisa was trying to hit Nam's blade, but Nam was keeping it up off target. Nam is a lefty, but it wasn’t really helping her. A lot of her hits were off-target, closer to Elisa's arm. It was 2-2 at the end of the first period. Nam got some good touches on Elisa’s upper outside quadrant. At the end of the second period, the score was 5-5. Nam was bouncing off and on throughout the bout, but she was really bouncy at the beginning of the third period. Both fencers were moving their blades, but Nam was using a huge vertical range, and Elisa was mostly keeping hers on target. The beginning of the third period was all Nam, and she was up 9-5. Elisa, however, came back, and the crowd was supporting her very vocally (singing, clapping, chanting).  The third period ended with the score tied 10-10, so extra time. Eight seconds into extra time, Elisa’s attack landed, and she won, advancing to the final.

Valentina and Arianna. Valentina won the first three points. Arianna started attacking, then – she seems more comfortable on offense – and so she lead 6-5. Arianna kept her foil at a higher angle in en garde than did Valentina. They started moving more. Lots of off-targest by Arianna. Arianna did a good job landing her ripostes. On the rare occasion that Arianna missed a riposte, Valentina did a good job of landing a remise. Quick touches, using very little time. The end of the first period, and the score was 12-9, Arianna. Valentina fought back a little at the end, but Arianna won, 15-12.

So it was Nam and Vezzali in the bronze medal bout. Vezzali bent her back leg a lot more than did Nam. They were both down really low, and there was a lot of  blade contact. They barely move, and then one of them attacks really suddenly. At the end of the first period, it was 2-2. In the early second period, they kept getting really close to each other and then passing each other, causing halts. It was 6-4 Valentina at break. Valentina got a yellow card, but I didn’t see why. Nam got lots of touches quickly, and it was 10-6 Nam. Valentina, though, came back, and with 9 seconds left in the third period, she was down 10-12. In the last nine seconds, she got two touches, so they went into extra time tied 12-12. Neither fencer attacked early in the extra time, but eventually Valentina attacked and got the touch, securing an Italian sweep of the medals.

And the final!

Arianna v. Elisa. The tall Italian bout.

They both geot really low occasionally, but they didn't stay low much. Arianna is also a lefty. How did I not catch that? The first two touches were Elisa's. They were both moving their blades a lot. Their styles seemed so similar except that their en garde was somewhat different. At period it was 3-2 Elisa. They were both beating the other's blade. Lots of off target, lots of attacking without much warning (my coach called that exploding). Arianna made some mistakes – there was one touch where she just ran at Elisa. It looked like she was going to fleche, but she never actually did. They were doing a sort of flow more than anyone else I watched bout today. Not the very set flow I learned, but a flow, just going with each other. It was 7-7 after break. Arianna got ahead 10-8, but Elisa came back and tied it 11-11. This was still the score at the end of the third period. Early on in extra time, Elisa attacked, and her attack landed. Elisa di Francisca is the gold medalist.