Journal cyranoVR's Journal: The French Foilist Blues 2
Everyone hates the new timings in foil. They simply don't work.
l'Humanité | Le blues des fleurettistes français (translation)
L'étape parisienne de la Coupe du monde testait un nouveau règlement, contre l'avis de la majorité des tireurs. Avec cette réforme, il n'y a plus de créativité , expliquent-ils.
Le circuit de Coupe du monde a fait halte ce week-end à Paris. L'occasion, comme chaque année, pour les fleurettistes français d'offrir leur talent aux yeux des leurs et du public du stade Pierre-de-Coubertin. Mais, dès vendredi, lors des tours de poule, les mines étaient plus sévères qu'enthousiastes. Après Copenhague, Paris est en effet la deuxième compétition qui applique le nouveau règlement que veut tester cette saison la Fédération internationale d'escrime (FIE). Un règlement qui a l'ambition d'en finir avec les erreurs d'arbitrage et de revenir à la pratique d'un fleuret dans les règles de l'art, c'est-à-dire pratiqué la pointe devant. Pour y parvenir, l'appareillage a subi deux modifications. Il faut désormais toucher plus longtemps et plus fort son adversaire pour que la lampe s'allume, et le temps de blocage des lampes est diminué, ce qui réduit considérablement les possibilités de parade-ripostes mais encourage au contraire les esquives.
Full article...
There was a longer (different?) version of this article that ran in L'Equipe, the French sports paper. I couldn't find it online, but here is a scan.
Someone at fencing.net provided a partial translation:
...The FIE decided to try two new timing changes to try to eliminate flicks. All of this could have been done by changing the rules of refereeing, but there is a big problem with referees in the international fencing: there are not enough competent referees.
Instead of tackling this problem, the FIE tried to solve it with technology. Now, there are no more flicks, but there is no more foil either...
The parry-ripostes have disappeared in favor of counter-attacks, the matches seem to last an eternity, the fencers do not move, don't take any risks, and have no more exchanges; the show has become very bad and looks like a bad Epee match. [Ed. Note: Whoa. That's fucken HARSH]
"A match like the semi-final of the Olympics, where Guyard came back from a 12-7 deficit, is no longer possible" Marcellin says.
"They killed pleasure and the soul of foil" says Olympic Champion Brice Guyard.
"It is sad, it will change the foil for the worse" says Salavatore Sanzo, 2nd at the Olympics.
"Foil has become boring, and not at all spectacular like it was before" says Andrea Cassara, bronze medalist at the Olympics and 2nd last week in Copenhagen under the new timings.
"There is no more movement," says the Russian Ganeev, 4th at the Olympics.
"They criticize because they don't want to adapt" said Réné Roch, President of the FIE. [Ed. Note: What a fucken douchebag]
The problem is that the ***fencers *** do the fencing. *** They *** are the main attraction for spectators. And yet they don't recognize their arm anymore and don't have pleasure anymore. [Ed. Note: Huh?]
"These new timings are experimental" says René Roch in conclusion. "If we see that they don't work, we will not adopt them."
"We want to believe him."
In addition to the problems cited above, many foilists people are reporting that sometimes clean, "square" hits to of the lame aren't registering with the machine. The fencers aren't doing anything wrong, but at least once during every match, the machine doesn't register a valid touch. How do you train for that?
Meanwhile, flicks are still possible - they just have to be executed differently.
Prediction: The new timings will be abandoned after this season as a "failed experiment."
i can't read and talk (Score:1)
i heard something about a different tip they were considering several years back. its design required the tip move straight into the barrel, as opposed to the current design where lateral pressure can also cause a connection. i guess it didn't work out or something. that seems like a better solution. i think it would also bring foil closer to its roots, as a puncture wound would have to be direct rather than a glancing blow in order for it to do da
They could... (Score:1)
(or not.)