Modern Olympic fencing is really lame, IMO
Modern Olympic fencing is really lame, IMO. It’s nothing like classical fencing. It’s like watching a couple of 4 year olds playing a game of “I touched you first!”. Many of the “winning blows” would barely leave a scratch on you in a real sword fight. I’m not saying athletes don’t have any skills… they are very fast and have good reflexes and sure footwork. However, the rules and the technology need a lot of tweaks before I can think of it as a true sport again. It’s like what happened to paintball. It used to be a fantastic game of stealth and skill and out-thinking the other team. Not it’s all about throwing as much paint as fast as possible in the general direction of your opponent and hoping it hits some tiny part of him sticking out from behind a cable spool or whatever he or she is hiding behind. Fencing is now about who can thrust the furthest the fastest and nobody even hardly bothers to block or parry, it’s pointless with the rules being the way they are.