Fencing rules
There are two en-garde lines (where the fencers stand at the beginning of the bout) two metres (6.6 ft) either side of the midpoint.
There are also two warning lines two metres from either end of the strip, to provide retreating fencers knowledge of their position on the piste.
If necessary, they plug their body wires into the spools connected to the electronic scoring apparatus and test their weapons against each other, to make sure everything is functioning.
The most likely source of the modern fencing salute is the "Present arms" command from military drill, which originated in the 16th century.
(In some circles, beginning the bout with the order "fence" is deemed incorrect, but in others the use of "play" is discouraged due to the phonetic similarity with the French "prêts".
This is the start of a phrase i.e. an any unbroken chain of recognizable offensive and defensive actions, such as lunging or parrying performed by the two fencers.
in English), a bout may be interrupted for several reasons: a touch has been made, the rules have been breached, the situation is unsafe, or the action has become so disorganized that the referee can no longer follow it.
If a point has been awarded, then the competitors return to their en-garde lines; if not, they remain approximately where they were when the bout was interrupted.
A common way of establishing the correct distance is to ask both fencers to straighten their arms and to step back to the point where their blades no longer overlap in the referee's view.
[10][11] Foil and sabre are governed by priority rules, according to which fencer first initiated a correctly executed attack, as described in the following paragraphs.
There is also a specific penalty for putting one or both feet off the side edge of the piste: halt is called, and the opponent may then advance one meter towards the penalized fencer.
Non-electronic scoring methods were plagued by uncertain rulings, due to the small points of the weapons, the speed at which the sport was played, and obscuring movements from the fencers.
[12] In addition there were frequent problems with bias and collusion, leading to the wry expression that a dry jury consisted of "4 blind men and a thief".
Even in the best of circumstances, it was very difficult to accurately score hits, and it systematically under-reported valid touches to hard-to-see areas, such as the back or flank under the arm.
In foil and sabre, because of the need to distinguish on-target hits from off-target ones, special conductive clothing and wires must be worn.
This includes a lamé, (a jacket of conducting cloth) for both weapons, a body cord to connect the weapon to the system, a reel of retractable cable that connects to the scoring box and in the case of sabre, a conducting mask and cuff (manchette) as the head and arms are valid target areas.
The development of reel-less scoring apparatus in épée and foil has been much slower due to technical complications.
[13] In the case of foil and épée, hits are registered by depressing a small push-button on the end of the blade.
At high level foil and épée competitions, grounded conductive pistes are normally laid down to ensure that bouts are not disrupted by accidental hits on the floor.
In sabre, an on-target hit is registered whenever a fencer's blade comes into contact with the opponent's lamé jacket, cuff or mask.
In foil and sabre, despite the presence of all the gadgetry, it is still the referee's job to analyze the phrase and, in the case of simultaneous hits, to determine which fencer had the right of way.
Traditionally, a valid, "palpable" hit could only be scored, if the point were fixed on the target in such a manner, as would be likely to pierce the skin, had the weapon been sharp.
However, the electric foil point (the push-button on the end of the blade) lacks directionality, so hits which arrive at a very high angle of incidence can still register.
In the 1980s, this led to a growing popularity of hits delivered with a whip-like action (commonly known as "the flick"), bending the blade around the opponent's parry.
[14] In sabre, the inadequacy of existing sensors has made it necessary to dispense with the requirement that a cut must be delivered with either the leading or the reverse edge of the blade and that, once again, it must arrive with sufficient force to have caused an injury had the blade been sharp (but not so forcefully as to injure one's opponent with a blunt weapon.)
In foil and sabre, where priority rules apply, the cutout times are considerably longer (hundreds of milliseconds).
As it is easily defended against, fencers often use numerous feints to deceive their opponent into parrying and then disengage around the blade.
All this has to be done with minimum effort and maximum grace, which makes footwork arguably the most important aspect of a fencer's training regimen.
The most common way of delivering an attack in fencing is the lunge, where the fencer reaches out with their front foot and straightens their back leg.
If there is no way of separating the fencers beyond these three indicators, then they are considered equal and draw random lots for their place in the table.
