Olympic Report
The delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games finally took place at Makuhari Messe B in the Ariake district of Japan’s capital, 24 July to 1 August.
Outside Japan, nervous energy enveloped the final weeks leading up to the Games, amidst a state of emergency, calls for its cancellation, reports of city-wide protests, Covid-related quarantine measures and positive cases. The reality was somewhat different. Protests did occur but they were minimal, peaceful and respected by the authorities. There were some positive cases related to the Games but the quarantine measures put in place kept these low and most of the positive cases were imported. The strict and regular testing procedures also ensured there wasn’t the predicted outbreak.
However, these Games were different and as IOC President said, they will be remembered by everyone involved. Empty stadia, military-style procedures way beyond anything previously and a lack of Olympic branding outside of the venue locations, meant that Tokyoites not directly involved in the Games, perhaps, wouldn’t have known that the Greatest Show on Earth was happening on their doorstep. Those lucky enough to be involved, quickly got used to the protocols and lived by them – apart from very few who were swiftly dealt with.
For fencing, very little was different inside the venue. It remained our once every (usually) four-year opportunity to showcase the sport we love. It was still the career pinnacle of every athlete, coach, referee and administrator involved. The global access to the sport through traditional and new media was still at its peak. Of course there were complaints about the BBC’s lack of fencing coverage amongst the sport’s community. As frustrating as this was, pointing the finger at the BBC demonstrates a lack of understanding of the changes made by the IOC regarding television rights for these Games. Right or wrong, the IOC put the rights up for tender and the BBC were – and never will be – able to compete with Discovery +. Not everyone can afford subscription services but the £29 special offer provided by Discovery could have been a lot more.
The most important thing though, without a doubt, was the spectacular showcase put on by the fencers and all involved in the presentation. Here, we take a look back at what happened on the piste.
Women’s Epee
Tokyo 2020 Olympic fencing programme began with the women’s epee individual tournament with Beijing 2008 silver medalist from Romania, Ana Maria Popescu the favourite, at least on paper. However, whilst Korea’s Injeong and Rio 2016 bronze medalist Sun Yiwen of China stood second and third in the rankings, there was a plethora of other medal contenders. Those included the Brazilian World Champion, Nathalie Moeullhausen, Italian Mara Navarria, Kong Man Wai Vivien from Hong Kong, Korea’s Kang Young Mi, Coraline Vitalis from France, Tunisia’s Sarra Besbes and the Estonian Katrina Lehis.
The biggest story of the day started in the top quarter of the draw. During the global hiatus from international sport, Russian Fencing elected to finalise their selections domestically and picked 19-year-old Aizanat Murtazaeva for the ROC. It proved a wise decision because first she knocked out Choi, the winner of the last qualification event. She then edged Kelley Hurley from the USA. Kong also progressed to the quarterfinals, beating Poland’s Knapik-Miazga on route. Mutazaeva’s great day continued when she knocked out Kong to progress to the semi-finals.
All three Chinese fencers were drawn in the second quarter which would have been a disappointment for Head Coach, Hughes Obry. Italy’s Federica Isola edged out Tunisa’s hope, Besbes before eliminating one of the Chinese fencers, Lin Sheng, to make the top eight. The remaining Chinese fencers, Sun and Zhu Mingye faced each other to join Isola and it was Sun who made it through comfortably. Sun went on to beat Isola to make the semi-finals.
The third quarter featured one of the toughest draws of the entire fencing schedule, Moellhausen against Italy’s Rosella Fiamingo, who hold three World titles between them. Fiamingo took the fight but only just before beating Aleksandra Jareck of Poland to make the quarterfinals. Lehis lay in wait having come through a tight match with Poland’s Ewa Trzebinska and a more comfortable one with Navarria. Lehis went on to damage Italy’s chances further by easing past Fiamingo and into the top four.
In the main, rankings meant nothing in the bottom quarter as Japan’s Sato Nozomi defeated Kang and Estonia’s Julia Bejajeva beat Vitalis. They faced each other next and it was Beljajeva that prevailed. Popescu lived up to her billing coming??? Singapore’s Kiria Abdul Rahman and Song Sera from Korea. She went on to comfortably beat Beljajeva to progress to the top four.
Sun’s experience showed in the first semi-final and she beat Murtazaeva 12-8. Not even Lehis’s massive reach advantage was enough to stop Popescu in the second as the Romanian progressed to the gold medal match 15-11.
So Murtazaeva faced Lehis for the bronze medal. Lehis patiently pressed from the off but after a minute without a hit both fencers were shown the P-yellow card for passivity. Lehis continued to press and went into the first break 3-1. With the pressure on Murtazaeva it was a surprise to see Lehis continue to press in the second period. She did and the Russian drew level within 30 seconds and went into the lead with a lovely flick to the inside wrist. Lehis refocused and opened the distance to re-establish the lead and then drew Murtazaeva out. By the second break the Estonian was 7-4 up and in control. The Russian had no choice but to press and Lehis controlled her perfectly to claim the Olympic bronze 15-8. The result also makes Lehis the first Estonian to claim an Olympic fencing medal.
Passivity was called at the start of the gold medal match and immediately the fencers jumped into action. Sun was doing all the pressing but it was Popescu who picked off her opponent twice early on. The Chinese fencer changed her approach to level, forcing Popescu to press herself. Sun went into the break 3-2 up but with the pattern of play yet to be established. That became clearer in the second period as Popescu elected to operate off of her opponent’s blade and Sun either ignoring Popesu’s beats or waiting for the moment to disengage attack. The Romanian snuck into a 7-6 lead at the second break but with the pair so close it was still anyone’s title. With the pressure of a second passivity call, Sun pressed immediately in the final period and levelled. Sun then went ahead twice only for Popescu to level on both occasions before a second passivity call with 26 seconds left on the clock. The Romanian then took a chance on the attack but Sun got the hit in defense With just 12 seconds remaining Popescu levelled again in the third phase of her attack and the fight went to extra time. Despite Popescu getting priority she was keen not to be pushed to the back line straight away and stepped in to push the Chinese fencer back. Sun brilliantly took the opportunity to land the winning attack and become China’s first ever individual epee Olympic Champion.
Men’s Sabre
Men’s sabre also took place on day one of the Games, and what a start to the tournament! Not only is this the discipline the most spectacular to those that don’t regularly watch fencing, but the mouth-watering prospect of whether Hungarian Aron Szilagyi could win three consecutive Olympic titles kept fencing fans on their seats all day (or night in the UK). His main opposition came in the form of Korea’s Oh Sanguk – heir apparent – and the USA’s rising star Eli Dershwitz. Outside runners included Szilagyi’s teammate, Andras Szatmari, Sandro Bazadze from Georgia, German Max Hartung and the Italian trio, Enrico Berre, Luca Curatoli and Luigi Samele.
Egypt impressed in the top quarter of the draw with Mohamed Amer defeating the USA’s Rio 2016 silver medallist, Daryl Homer and Ziad Elsissy beating the ROC’s (Russian Olympic Committee) reigning European Champion, Veniamin Reshetnikov. Amer and Elsisy’s run ended in the next round, going out to Oh and Bazadze, respectively. A classy quarterfinal performance from Bazadze against Oh, under the calming guidance of Christian Bauer, saw the Georgian take out one of the medal prospects 15-13.
In the next quarter, Hartung eased through Hungary’s Tamas Desci before facing Iranian Ali Pakdaman, who had previously taken out Szatmari. Pakdaman’s usually aggressive approach was tempered with some fantastically smart decision-making, and he beat Hartung to make the top 8. Pakdaman then faced Szilagyi for a place in the semi-finals. The Hungarian had stormed through the Iranian’s teammate, Mojtaba Abedini, in the previous round. Szilagyi’s form was breathtaking as he rolled through Pakdaman 15-6.
Seeding meant that there could only ever have been one Italian men’s sabre Olympic medalist in Tokyo as Berre, Curatoli and Samele were all in the third quarter. It was also the quarter that saw two big names fall earlier than expected. In the round of 32 Romania’s Iulian Teodosiu felled reigning World Championship bronze medalist Curatoli while Mohammad Rahbari of Iran upset France’s 2020 Montreal GP champion, Bolade Apithy. Neither made it any further as Berre took out Teodosiu and Samele defeated Rahbari to set up an all-Italian quarterfinal which Samele won.
It was a tough draw for the ROC’s Kamil Ibragimov in the bottom quarter but he beat Germans Benedikt Wagner and Matyas Szabo to make the quarterfinals. All eyes were on Dershwitz in this quarter though, and he eased through the home nation’s Streets Kaito before coming up against Korea’s Rio 2016 bronze medalist, Kim Junghwan. The Korean who had come out of retirement stunned the American in the quarterfinals to make the top four.
Both semi-finals were tight affairs but Szailgyi came through against Bazadze 15-13 and Samele defeated Kim 15-12. The losers had one more chance of making the Tokyo podium in the bronze medal place play-off as the winners went on to compete for gold.
The first half of the bronze medal match began with both fencers going at each other and Bazadze taking a 4-2 lead. Both Kim and Bazadze then began to come off the line looking to react to their opponent’s action and, with much of the fight happening in the middle, they went into the break with the Georgian leading 8-7. Despite Bazadze starting the second period, Kim pulled him back in with sharp attacks off the line and then taking the fight out of the middle. At 11-11 the 37-year-old Korean called the doctor for an injured front ankle. Magic spray applied, and Kim took the lead 12-11 only to recall the doctor for an accidental hit to the back of the head. A lengthier pause to proceedings included not only some more spray for Kim but also both fencers changing their gloves. When the fencing resumed Kim was more clinical and more decisive, taking his second Olympic bronze in a row 15-11.
Szilagyi started the gold medal match in stunning style – a sharp attack off the line, a trademark beauty of a late parry riposte and a long attack saw him storm into a 3-0 lead. Whether it was nerves or not, Samele only started to flow at 5-1 down but rallied to 8-5 down at the break by opening the distance for some longer attacks. Szilagyi continued his dominance and if anything showed even more variety in both attack and defence, taking the fight 15-7. In addition, the high level of his decision-making was exquisite and he made Olympic history by becoming the first men’s sabre fencer to win three consecutive individual Olympic titles.
Women’s Foil
Fencing’s second day at the Games began with the women’s foil tournament and ROC’s reigning Olympic and World Champion Inna Deriglazova was the favourite. Competition came from Ysaora Thibus of France, the USA’s Lee Kiefer and Italian pair London 2012 silver medalist, Arianna Errigo and Alice Volpi.
As expected Deriglazova stormed through the top quarter of the draw beating Poland’s Martyna Jelinska, Hungarian Fanni Kreiss and Jeon Hee Sook from Korea to make the semi-finals.
The two fancied Italians, Errigo and Volpi were both drawn in the second quarter which would have been a frustration for Italy’s Commissario Tecnico, Andrea Cipressa. Errigo beat Canada’s 16-year-old sensation, Jessica Guo whilst Volpi edged Germany’s Leonie Ebert, to set up a scintillating quarterfinal. Volpi had been one of the form fencers before the halt to international sport but she arrived in Tokyo well-prepared and eased past Errigo.
In the third quarter, Kiefer comfortably beat Amita Berthier from Singapore before winning a nervy contest against Canada’s Eleanor Harvey. Meanwhile Japan’s Ueno Yuka put in great performances to beat Egypt’s Nora Mohamed and Nicole Ross from the USA. The quarterfinal between Kiefer and Ueno was close for a while but the American pulled away to make the top four.
The bottom quarter saw a great showing from Canada’s Kelleigh Ryan who made the quarter-finals by beating Azuma Sera of Japan and more impressively ROC’s Adelina Zagidullina. She would have been expecting to face Thibus in the quarters but that was not to be because Larissa Korobeynikova of the ROC beat her. The Russian then edged past Ryan to complete the semi-final line-up.
Both semi-finals were relatively straightforward as Deriglazova beat Volpi 15-10 and Kiefer stunned Korobeynikova 15-6.
Volpi came out for the start of the bronze medal match like her shoes were on fire. She built a 5-1 lead in no time at all. A great video appeal from Korobeynikova not only went her way but gave her time to rethink her strategy. She began landing her attacks and started to close the distance on her counters to negate the Italian’s flick to shoulder. The Russian threw in a fabulous stop-hit on her way to drawing level at 7-7. The body language on the piste was clear to see – Korobeynikova’s confidence grew as Volpi’s ebbed away. The Russian began landing everything, including another video appeal, to go 11-7 up before Volpi landed sixte flick to shoulder to stop the rot. The Italian opened the distance and managed to recover to 12-10 before the clock ran out in the first period. When the bout resumed the intensity increased further as Volpi attempted to speed things up. Despite a failed appeal the Italian grittily fought back to 13-13 and then took the lead only for Korobeynikova to level with a closing counter. The Russia lured the Italian into a flick parry riposte and the set up worked as she stepped in to take the Olympic bronze with another closing counter.
Kiefer started the gold medal match with a determined look against the favourite Deriglazova and went 5-3 up with the variety that she’s known for. It slowed the Russian down but that only gave Deriglazova more thinking time. Known for her strategic prowess she battled back to 5-5 and then 7-7 but went into the first break 8-7 down. They both came out for the second period keen to show their supremacy but ended up scrapping a little. Once both settled, Kiefer was the one to land a couple of hits before Deriglazova landed a brilliant stop-hit. Again Kiefer built a lead working with actions off the blade in attack and defense, only for Deriglazova to fight back to 12-12. The Russian then blew the last of her video appeals before Kiefer landed a counter to get within one hit of the title. Deriglazova got one back before a beautifully timed counter-block from Kiefer took her to Olympic gold and into the history books. Not only did she become the USA’s first woman to claim an Olympic foil medal, she also became the USA’s first Olympic foil gold medalist.
Men’s Epee
The other weapon to be contested on day two was men’s epee and all eyes were on reigning World Champion, Gergely Siklosi from Hungary, the man he beat in the World final, ROC’s Sergey Bida, Korea’s reigning Olympic Champion, Park Sangyoung, in-form Ukrainian and winner of the final qualifier (Kazan World Cup) Igor Reizlin, France’s Yannick Borel and Japan’s Asian Champion Yamada Masaru.
In the top quarter the World and Olympic Champions were on a collision course. It went to form as Siklosi defeated China’s Dong Chao and Moroccan Houssam Elkord whilst Park knocked out the USA’s Jacob Hoyle and Minobe Kazuyasu of Japan. The quarterfinal was a tight one but Siklosi overcame Park.
The second quarter also went to seeding. Italy’s Andrea Santerelli took care of the ROC’s Sergey Khodos and Frenchman Alexandre Bardenet to set up a quarterfinal with Yamada who beat Kyrgyzstan’s Roman Petrov and Kazakhstan’s Ruslan Kurbanov. It was another close quarterfinal but Santarelli upset the home crowd by beating Yamada.
In the third quarter Reizlin had a tough draw but battled through Benjamin Steffen and Max Heinzer - both from Switzerland. The biggest upset of the tournament came from Egypt’s Mohamed Elsayed who comfortably beat Borel before going on to defeat Lan Minghao from China. Reizlin stopped the Egyptian’s run in the quarterfinals but only just.
In the bottom quarter Bida held his form to beat Yeisser Ramirez from the USA and Japan’s Kano Koki. Meanwhile, the French team’s Borel-based disappointment would have been countered by the performance of Romain Cannone. He beat Venezuela’s London 2012 Champion Ruben Limardo and Dutchman Bas Verwijlen to make the quarterfinals. He didn’t stop there either, going on to beat one of the favourites Bida to make the top four.
In the first semi-final Siklosi maintained his shot at the Olympic title, defeating Santerelli 15-10. Cannone also continued his fine form of the day to beat Reizlin by the same score.
Reizlin started the bronze medal match much more mobile, dancing in and out of distance but Santarelli landed a confidence boosting flick to the foot to get the scoreboard moving and slowed his opponent down. Just over 50 seconds passed before Reizlin was forced out to avoid a passivity warning. Santarelli was ready and landed a second. A counter attack and a double meant Reizlin got on the scoreboard before the period ended but he trailed 4-2. Reizlin started the second period as he did the first, moving freely and landed a foot hit of his own before drawing level with a counter. In this tense encounter it would have been acceptable for the pair to play passivity but they didn’t. Both went for their actions equally successfully and they went into the second break tied at 8-8. The start of the final period saw another hit to foot and it was Santarelli at it again but the Ukrainian struck back immediately. The distance closed up and Reizlin struck twice before landing his second hit to foot to bring the score to 13-10 in his favour. Despite another great foot hit from Santarelli, Reizlin claimed the Olympic bronze medal 15-12, becoming the first Ukrainian to win a men’s epee Olympic medal.
The gold medal match began with the accustomed efficiency that is expected from Siklosi pitted against the free-flowing energetic flamboyancy of Cannone. The Frenchman struck early twice with a flick and a fleche before the Hungarian landed a simple direct attack. The tone of the match was set and the pair traded hits and went into the break tied at 4-4. At 6-6 in the second period Siklosi was carded for barging and appeared frustrated by Cannone’s incredible mobility. It was the turning point in the match and the Hungarian elected to open the distance. His attacks began to look too predictable for Cannone who at worst came away with double landed three single light counters plus a couple of binding ripostes. The Frenchman went into the second break 14-9 up and went on to claim the Olympic crown 15-10. It was the first time a French men’s epeeist had claimed the title since Eric Srrecki did it at Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
Women’s Sabre
The third and final day of the individual competition began with the women’s sabre tournament. The main story of the day was simple – could the ROC’s Sofya Velikaya convert the two silver medals she had won at the two previous Olympics into gold? Her biggest rival for the title was Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan but other contenders were in the mix. Manon Brunet from France, China’s Shao Yaqui, Hungarian Anna Marton and the USA’s Eliza Stone were all threats too.
The first big surprise of the day came in the top quarter where Kharlan went out to China’s relatively unknown Yang Hengyu. Yang then went out to the ROC’s Sofia Pozdniakova who had previously knocked out Rosella Gregorio from Italy. Qian Jiarui from China did a great job beating Hungary’s Liza Pusztai but Pozdniakova was too much for her in the quarterfinals.
There were more surprises in the second quarter as Stone fell to Azerbaijan’s Anna Bashta. Bashta went on to face Olga Nikitina of the ROC and took her close but ultimately failed. Brunet handled India’s first fencing Olympian, Bhavani Devi before beating Japan’s Emura Misaki and the French contender dispatched Nikitina with ease to make the top four.
In the third quarter, Zaynab Dayibekova from Uzbekistan who had qualified through Asia’s zonal was the biggest surprise of the day. She defeated Shao with comfort before beating Korea’s Yoon Jisu to make the quarterfinals. Marton also made it beating Maria Perez Maurice from Argentina and Korea’s Choi Seeyeon and the Hungarian went on to knock out Dayibekova.
In the bottom quarter Velikaya demonstrated calm determination beating Hungary’s Renata Katona and Italian Irene Vecchi. Korea’s London 2012 Champion Kim Jiyeon faced the USA’s Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Champion Mariel Zagunis for a quarter-final spot against the Russian. Zagunis prevailed but was then well-managed by Veilkaya.
The semi-finals were fairly one-sided as Pozdniakova beat Brunet 15-10 and Velikaya defeated Marton 15-8, to set up an all-Russian final.
Brunet started the bronze medal play-off sharper than Marton, luring her into finishing and landing one parry riposte and two long attacks to go 3-0 up. That made the Hungarian indecisive off the line and Brunet began attacking. By the time they got to the break a confident-looking Brunet was 8-2 up. The French fencer came out for the second period and won the decision-making battle to go 11-2. Marton rallied but it was too late and Brunet converted fourth place at Rio 2016 to bronze in Tokyo.
The gold medal match was a repeat of the 2018 World Championship final where Pozdniakova stormed into a massive lead and went on to win. Add to that the pressure Velikaya must have been feeling in her third consecutive Olympic final, (having lost the previous two,) it was not surprise that Pozdniakova landed the first hit. Velikaya’s nerves settled and she went 3-1 up with two attacks and a stop-cut. She converted that to 7-4 only for Pozdniakova to land her attacks off the line. Velikaya landed a long attack to take them to the break in a finely balanced final. When they came out for the second period the pair traded hits to 10-10 before Pozdniakova went on a run of three attacks off the line followed by a counter-parry riposte. Velikaya got one back with a super counter-block but then elected to bring the fight out of the middle on the defense. Pozdniakova was patient with her long attack and landed the winning hit, taking the Olympic title 15-11. Despite the heart-break for Velikaya she showed her class in warmly congratulating her teammate on the podium piste.
Men’s Foil
The men’s foil tournament was also held on day three and British hopes were high for Marcus Mepstead. The 2019 World silver medalist was certainly in the running along with Italy’s World number one, Alessio Foconi and the reigning World Champion, Enzo Lefort. Other contenders included Italy’s reigning Olympic Champion Daniele Garozzo and in-form Americans Nick Itkin, Gerek Meinhardt and Alex Massialas. There was also interest in the ROC’s Kirill Borodachev who was showing promise prior to the global lockdown.
There was a big upset at the top of the draw as Meinhardt went out early to the ROC’s Vladislav Mylnikov. The Russian didn’t capitalize, losing to London 2012 silver medalist Alaaeldin Abouelkassem from Egypt. Japan’s Shikine Takahiro had a great day as he beat Hong Kong’s Choi Chun Yin Ryan and then Abouelkassem to make the top four.
Garozzo and Lefort were drawn in the same quarter and did their jobs beating Japan’s Matsuyama Kyosuke and Saito Toshiya respectively. Their match up in the quarterfinals was the pick of the bunch but Garozzo showed his best form to prevail.
The third quarter saw an out-of-form Massialas go out to Peter Joppich from Germany. He faced Czech fencer Alexander Choupenitch next, but was unable to overcome a fencer who has been showing signs of a big result for a few years. There was disappointment for Great Britain when Marcus Mepstead went down to Egypt’s Mohamed Hamza. However Hamza was fencing the tournament of his life and went on to beat Athens 2004 bronze medalist Andrea Cassara from Italy.
The bottom quarter saw Itkin take out the ROC’s Anton Borodachev before losing to his twin Kirill in the next round. Foconi and Cheung Ka Long of Hong Kong faced each other in the 16 and the Italian surprisingly went out to a heavy defeat. Then, in a stunning display in the quarter-final, Cheung clawed his way back from a 14-9 deficit against the young but commanding Russian to make the top four.
In the first semi-final Garozzo continued his strong run beating Shikine 15-9 to make his second consecutive Olympic final. In the second semi Cheung, who had been fencing well all day, took out Choupenitch 15-10.
The Czech athlete began his bronze medal play-off with a sense of urgency and dominated the distance to go 5-0 up, using his reach to land counter-attacks before running away. Japan’s first shot at a medal was fading fast. Whether Shikine attacked fast or slow Choupenitch had the answer and went 11-5 up. Finally the Japanese fencer worked out how to land his attack – starting fast to draw the parry, keeping his blade out of the way and then landing the final action. He landed a few of these broken time attacks but he solved the puzzle too late into the fight and Choupentich claimed bronze with a parry riposte. In doing so he became the first athlete from the Czech Republic to win an Olympic fencing medal.
Garozzo came on to the piste for the final with a look of steely determination in his Olympic title defence. On the other side Cheung Ka Long looked calm and relaxed having fenced well in his semi-final. Garozzo got the better start, taking a 4-1 lead with a mix of his modern and classic fencing. Cheung though laid out his game plan to keep the distance dangerously close and it started to work for him. He combined attempted stop-hits, attacks into preparation, closing counters and, when he got the chance, longer attacks with absence of blade, to go into a 6-4 lead. Garozzo fought back with a long but patient attack but injured his front leg in doing so. After a short medical time-out, Garozzo came back on and was moving freely. The problem for him was that Cheung was full of confidence and continued dominating with his variety to go 10-5 up. Garozzo turned it around though, using second intention to lure out the counter and then either finish his attack or find a parry. He got back to 10-9 down before Cheung went on another run, including a lightning fast attack into preparation to get to 13-10. Garozzo only managed one more hit as Cheung claimed Hong Kong’s first ever Olympic fencing medal, the men’s foil gold. He became only the fourth non-European to claim that title.
