Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre ; winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, singlestick, appeared in the 1904 Olympics but was dropped after that, and is not a part of modern fencing. Fencing was one of the first sports to be played in the Olympics. Based on the traditional skills of swordsmanship, the modern sport arose at the end of the 19th century, with the Italian school having modified the historical European martial art of classical fencing, and the French school later refining the Italian system. There are three forms of modern fencing, each of which uses a different kind of weapon and has different rules; thus the sport itself is divided into three competitive scenes: foil, épée, and sabre. Most competitive fencers choose to specialize in one weapon only.
A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length.
A foil is one of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing, all of which are metal. It is flexible, rectangular in cross section, and weighs under a pound. As with the épée, points are only scored by contact with the tip, which, in electrically scored tournaments, is capped with a spring-loaded button to signal a touch. A foil fencer's uniform features the lamé. The foil is the most commonly used weapon in competition.
The épée, sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern épée derives from the 19th-century épée de combat, a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword.
Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to any martial art involving the use of a sword. The formation of the English word "swordsman" is parallel to the Latin word gladiator, a term for the professional fighters who fought against each other and a variety of other foes for the entertainment of spectators in the Roman Empire. The word gladiator itself comes from the Latin word gladius, which is a type of sword.
Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.
The Fédération Internationale d'Escrime, commonly known by the acronym FIE, is the international governing body of Olympic fencing. Today, its head office is at the Maison du Sport International in Lausanne, Switzerland. The FIE is composed of 157 national federations, each of which is recognized by its country's Olympic Committee as the sole representative of Olympic-style fencing in that country.
Fencing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. There are three forms of Olympic fencing:
The World Fencing Championships is an annual competition in fencing organized by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime. Contestants may participate in foil, épée, and sabre events.
Collegiate fencing has existed for a long time. Some of the earliest programs in the US came from the Ivy League schools, but now there are over 100 fencing programs in the US. Both clubs and varsity teams participate in the sport, however only the varsity teams may participate in the NCAA championship tournament. The first NCAA fencing tournament was held at Northwestern University in 1941. Due to the limited number of colleges that have fencing teams, teams fence inter-division, and all divisions participate in the NCAA Championships.
Olha Hennadiyivna Kharlan is a Ukrainian right-handed sabre fencer.
The European Fencing Championships is an annual top-level European fencing competition organized by the European Fencing Confederation.
Andrea Cassarà is an Italian left-handed foil fencer, two-time individual European champion, 2011 individual world champion, and three-time Olympics medalist.
Arianna Errigo is an Italian left-handed foil and sabre fencer.
Erwann Le Péchoux is a French left-handed foil fencer. Le Péchoux is a four-time team European champion and four-time team world champion. A five-time Olympian, Le Péchoux is a 2016 team Olympic silver medalist and 2021 team Olympic champion. Le Péchoux competed in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Inna Vasilyevna Deriglazova is a Russian right-handed foil fencer.
Gu Bon-gil is a South Korean right-handed sabre fencer.
Áron Szilágyi is a Hungarian right-handed sabre fencer.
Enzo Lefort is a French right-handed foil fencer.
The NCAA Fencing Championships are awarded at the annual tournament held in March to determine the NCAA's national collegiate individual and team championships in fencing. Individual champions are determined by performance during the NCAA fencing team championship competition. Unlike most NCAA sports, the fencing championship is a single National Collegiate championship rather than being split into divisions.
Alaaeldin Abouelkassem (EGY)
Lahoussine Ali (MAR)
Alexandre Bouzaid (SEN)
Souhaieb Sakrani (TUN)
Juliana Barrett (RSA)}
Algeria