Ailsa Harvey
Fencing, one of the first sports to ever appear in the Olympic Games, has three forms in the modern game. These forms include foil, épée and sabre and each uses a different kind of weapon. Competitive fencers usually specialise in one of these weapons, but the foil is generally regarded as the best weapon to begin learning with.
Derived from duelling, fencing originally emerged from the development of sword fighting for self-defence. The sport is played on a strip (2m by 12m long) and the aim is to score ‘hits’ or ‘touches’ on your opponent using one of the three weapons. These touches are recorded electronically by the players body wires because of how fast-paced the action is.
