| Sport | Fencing |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Abbreviation | BF |
| Affiliation | FIE |
| Regional affiliation | CEE |
| Headquarters | London |
| Chairman | Mark Lyttle |
| CEO | Georgina Usher |
| Official website | |
| britishfencing | |
 | |
British Fencing (BF), formerly the British Fencing Association is the national governing body (NGB) for the Olympic sport of fencing in the United Kingdom.
In 1902, the Amateur Fencing Association (AFA) was founded as the governing body for amateur fencing in the UK. The requirements for amateurism have now been dissolved, and professionalism is permitted in the UK, so in 1996 the name was changed to the British Fencing Association. (A membership body for professional fencing coaches, the British Academy of Fencing, was not founded in its current form until 1949).
The AFA's had combined twin roles as both Home Country Governing Body for England and national governing body. In 2002 in response to public funding frameworks, a new, separate body - England Fencing - was formed specifically to carry out the certain governing body activities for England. Over time, the boundary between the two roles has eroded.
In 2016 a second major sponsor was announced, and Wilkinson Sword became British Fencing's new principal sponsor.
BF is responsible for all international fencing conducted while representing Great Britain. They control the selection criteria for all relevant competitions. They are responsible for any attendance by fencers at official FIE competitions, including the World Championships and World Cup competitions, and also at the Olympics under the IOC.
BF is also responsible for all national domestic events. It runs the British Fencing Championships in a variety of age categories and at all three weapons of fencing (foil, épée and sabre). BF licenses member clubs and competition organisers to run fencing competitions some of which earn participants ranking points. These points are used by the BFA to create national rankings at senior, junior (U20) and cadet (U17) level.
BF is responsible for ensuring that the sport has a robust governance structure, appropriately insured, and that those operating within the sport are appropriately qualified. It sets out the safety standards, rules and guidelines under which the sport operates, runs coaching schemes, and other activities relating to the promotion of fencing in the United Kingdom. In addition it runs a talent programme (funded by Sport England) to support young fencers (14-23) demonstrating motivation and capability to represent Great Britain. BF publishes a magazine, The Sword and collects membership fees on behalf of all the Home Country Associations - 40% of membership fees collected is passed to these associations.
In December 2015, a five-year sponsorship deal worth £1million with Beazley, the specialist Lloyd's insurer came to an end. During that time the investment from Beazley helped fund Great Britain teams (including Paralympic hopefuls), The National Academy, programs for increased grassroots participation to the sport, British Fencing run events, including World Cup events as well as marketing and promotion of the sport.
BF is currently sponsored by Wilkinson Sword.
Until March 2017 BF operated a World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) which was a programme, funded by UK Sport, [1] which helped British Fencing to fund those athletes who are likely to achieve podium success at the Olympic Games.
Under this programme, the Men's Foil Team qualified for Rio 2016 which was the first time that a Fencing team had qualified under the system introduced by the FIE 20 years ago. The team achieved sixth - narrowly losing to Russia, the eventual winners - and Richard Kruse came fourth in the individual event - the best Olympic results in decades.
In December 2016, UK Sport announced that they had withdrawn funding from fencing. [2] In the funding review, Fencing was banded by UK Sport as Band 4. This means that Fencing was considered a 'possible' not 'probable' medal winning sport for Tokyo 2020. Along with all the other sports in Band 4, Fencing lost its WCP funding.
Fencers are ranked by category (Cadet, Junior and Senior), weapon (foil, épée or sabre) and gender. Rankings are calculated from ranking points earned in competitions attended by the fencers. The number of points earned depends on the strength of the competition as well as how well the fencer did.
The Board of British Fencing (BF) is responsible for the overall governance, development and management of the sport of fencing in GB. The Board sets the strategic direction of the sport, appoints the CEO and monitors progress and results.
The board consists of twelve board directors, of whom eight are elected and four appointed by the board (these four being the chair of the board and of British Fencing, an additional director and two independent directors). The board's quorum rules specify that the elected members must always be in the majority. In addition to these voting directors, board meetings are attended by the BF president and home country and athlete representatives. Staff members attend some meetings, or parts of meetings, to brief/advise the Board.
Under its auspices the six Home Nations (Wales, England, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey and Scotland) have their own governing bodies. The country is further subdivided into 'regions'.
The British Fencing office is based at 1 Baron's Gate, 33-35 Rothschild Road, London W4 5HT. Its current Chief Executive is Georgina Usher.
Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. The three disciplines of modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre ; each discipline uses a different kind of blade, which shares the same name, and employs its own rules. Most competitive fencers specialise in one discipline. The modern sport gained prominence near the end of the 19th century and is based on the traditional skill set of swordsmanship. The Italian school altered the historical European martial art of classical fencing, and the French school later refined that system. Scoring points in a fencing competition is done by making contact with an opponent.
A foil is one of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. It is a flexible sword of total length 110 cm (43 in) or under, rectangular in cross section, weighing under 500 g (18 oz), with a blunt tip. As with the épée, points are only scored by making contact with the tip. The foil is the most commonly used weapon in fencing.
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.
Classical fencing is the style of fencing as it existed during the 19th and early 20th centuries. According to the 19th-century fencing master Louis Rondelle,
A classical fencer is supposed to be one who observes a fine position, whose attacks are fully developed, whose hits are marvelously accurate, his parries firm, and his ripostes executed with precision. One must not forget that this regularity is not possible unless the adversary is a party to it. It is a conventional bout, which consists of parries, attacks, and returns, all rhyming together.
Danuta Małgorzata Dmowska-Andrzejuk is a Polish politician, former fencer and World Épée Champion 2005. In the years 2019-2020, she served as the Minister of Sport in the Second Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki.
The Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA) was founded on April 22, 1891, in New York City by a group of fencers seeking independence from the Amateur Athletic Union. As early as 1940, the AFLA was recognized by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) and the United States Olympic Committee as the national governing body for fencing in the United States.
Fencing Ireland – formerly the Irish Fencing Federation – is the governing body for the sport of fencing in Ireland. It was formally established in 1933, although the sport of fencing has been practised in Ireland since the beginning of the 1900s. The Federation is recognised by Sport Ireland and the Olympic Council of Ireland, and it is also affiliated to the Federation Internationale d'Escrime and European Fencing Confederation.
The men's épée was a fencing event held as part of the Fencing at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which had been introduced in 1900. The competition was held from 11 to 13 July at the Östermalm Athletic Grounds. There were 93 competitors from 15 nations. Each nation could enter up to 12 fencers. The event was won by Paul Anspach of Belgium. His countryman Philippe le Hardy took bronze. Silver went to Denmark's Ivan Joseph Martin Osiier, the only medal won by the perennial Olympian who competed in seven Games over 40 years. The medals were the first in the men's épée for both nations.
Allan Louis Neville Jay MBE was a British five-time-Olympian foil and épée fencer, and world champion.
Fencing practice and techniques of modern competitive fencing are governed by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), though they developed from conventions developed in 18th- and 19th-century Europe to govern fencing as a martial art and a gentlemanly pursuit. The modern weapons for sport fencing are the foil, épée, and sabre.
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.
The FIE Fencing World Cup is an international fencing competition held by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime. In each weapon, three Grand Prix, five World Cup events and several satellite events are contested each season. The five top results as well as the Olympic Games or World Fencing Championships and zonal championships results are taken into account for each fencer's rankings. For teams, up to five World Cup events are held each year. The four top results as well as the Olympic Games or World Fencing Championships and zonal championships are taken into account for each country's rankings.
The British Academy of Fencing (BAF) is a membership organisation for those involved in coaching and coach education in the sport of fencing in the United Kingdom. The Academy claims to trace its roots to the reign of Henry VII and the Company of Masters of the Science of Defence, and was established in 1949.
Peter Jacobs is a British épée fencer who competed at the Olympics.
The Italian Fencing Federation is the national governing body for the fencing sport in Italy. The FIS is currently based in Rome. The FIS was founded in 1909 and was one of the nine founding nations of The Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) in 1913. The FIS has in total achieved 219 metals at Euro Championships, 319 medals at the World Championships and 123 Olympic medals. FIS is funded mainly by sponsors among which are Kinder.
The Russian Fencing Federation is the governing body for the sport of fencing in Russia. It was created in 1992. FFR was formerly a member of the European Fencing Confederation, but its membership was suspended in 2023. It is a member of the Russian Olympic Committee. No Russian fencers will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Dublin University Fencing Club (DUFC) is the fencing club of Trinity College Dublin, located in Dublin, Ireland. The club caters for foil, épée and sabre. Its members are students, alumni and staff from Trinity College with a small amount of visiting fencers from other clubs.
The Ukrainian Fencing Federation commonly known by the acronym NFFU, established in 1992, is the governing body of Ukrainian fencing. Through 2022, Ukrainian fencers won 230 medals combined in the Olympic Games, World championships, and European championships.
The fencing competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are scheduled to run from 27 July to 4 August at the Grand Palais strip. A total of 212 fencers, with an equal distribution between men and women, will compete across twelve medal events at the Games. For the second straight time, Paris 2024 will witness both men and women fence against each other in the individual and team events held in all three weapons.
This article details the qualifying phase for fencing at the 2024 Summer Olympics. The competition will comprise a total of 212 fencers, with an equal distribution between men and women, coming from the different NOCs, similar to the Tokyo 2020 roster size. Qualified NOCs can enter a maximum of eighteen fencers, with each consisting of a trio, whether men's or women's, across all weapon-based team events.
| Africa (CAE) |  | |
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| America (PAFC) | ||
| Asia (FCA) | ||
| Europe (EFC) | ||
| Oceania (OFC) | ||
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| International | |
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| National | |
