Olympic fencing has moved and evolved considerably over the last one hundred and twenty seven years, and it’s been quite the journey. Understanding how fencing has changed as part of the Olympics can give us insight into what fencing is today and where it will take us tomorrow.
This is the second of three posts in which we delve into what Olympic fencing is all about. In Part 1, we talked about how the Olympics came about and how fencing fit into them from the beginning of the Modern Olympiad. Here in Part 2, we’ll look at the structure of our sport within the Olympics and how it’s changed over time. Read Part 3 to learn how Olympic fencers get to that level, including the path to qualification and the individual attributes that get fencers to the Olympics.
First off, let’s go into how fencing got started in the Olympics and what the road has been like to get here.