[Qesomud]

Had an awesome first day seeing the Olympic Fencing so I thought for people who haven't had a chance to watch the games I'd just write out in one go my thoughts over the day:


Had no trouble finding the event, used a route which seemed very unpopular and despite trains being clear on arrival (I only had tickets to the afternoon finals) it proved much better allowing me to miss the crowds when leaving. Most people seemed to take the train towards Bank, I instead got the train to Tower Gate and then there's a 5 minute walk to Aldgate (along Minories) which has a central line service to King's Cross and beyond. Seemed a lot of people were trying to get there and the train I went on from Aldgate was almost empty. Might be an idea for some people on the other days.

Got through security quickly as already stated, was impressed by the Soldiers on the front who were polite, helpful and friendly chatting to people as they went through the detectors. Can't help but think a G4S short-term contract guard would not have been nearly as nice.

Was interested in the displays in the Spectator area but the shops had little really to offer, toilets seemed to be amply provided however at all breaks.


The arena was absolutely fantastic, the lighting looks great and despite the fact that my tickets were relatively off to the side (Block 114, Row 23) of the arena we were able to see all the action absolutely perfect to the point that I could see the point moving to target. The combination of good lighting and seating height was perfect. Definite props to Leon Paul and everyone else involved on a job well done.

The viewing Live was so much better than the TV coverage its bad. The arena had very visible monitors all around and after every single action there was an instant replay (which the ref nearly almost paused for) yet this is sporadically played for on the TV feed.
Between bouts we were obviously not watching an empty piste (a problem already called out enough) but the stadium presenter who came out and talked to the crowd was good making an effort to get action going and keep people updated.

However what I will say is that he was struggling in his interviews. After introducing our experts he expected answers from them in DE breaks. Nearly invariably when asked who they favoured at a DE break the answer would be that they could pick neither (apart from one time when a 3 point lead was mentioned but stated as not insurmoutable).
While I understand that no calls want to be made they should probably take a look at football commentators and try making a statement of what needs doing (e.g. "Choi is being repeatedly punished for his backward falling away from the hit and he needs to learn that the referees will not allow this....Aboulkasem has been effective all day with his stop hits and his opponent will have to think very hard about how best to tackle this without being very obvious in an over-committed attack..." I mean I'm no expert so surely we can make some better comments, this also applies to the TV commentators).

There were also videos during the break which explained various aspects of the sport, I wish they were repeated since I think repititions of the rules explanation and move nomenclature videos would have been appreciated by non-fencers. Their presence at all however was good WHY ARE THEY NOT ON THE TV BROADCASTS!

A general statement in fact, Why are we not seeing these videos during the long breaks on the TV feed? and why aren't matches on the other pistes being replayed?

Finally on this I'll say there are screens at either end of the room which constantly show slower motion replays when video reviews are called. Seriously awesome viewing experience at the arena.


On the fencing itself it could only be described as fantastic. The matches were tense and exciting and the refereeing good. Steve Glaister had to make some critical calls on Choi (and Lei Sheng?) and did so fine, I'm not sure whether it was him on Lei Sheng's side during the final (from my view both assistants were on the other side of cameras) but if so he also had to deal with a pushy Chinese coach who got a yellow for his efforts (though it was hilarious watching him try to sneak up to Lei Sheng with the towel on his head only to be chased off). A medical break was taken in the final which seemed pretty bad but after a few points Aboulkassem seemed to recover and the matches watching was not ruined.

On the decisions made there could have been a better effort to explain the reasons for the cards in the minute breaks. It was clear they were being given for the avoiding fall but I wasn't sure which rule was being used.



In the bronze medal bout Baldini was repeatedly testing the lame of Choi which started to draw laughter from the crowd who thought him overly testy. He was proven to be correct when Choi's lame failed later and it was changed, no protests or anything and it was changed. You have to wonder however, how many points would Baldini have scored before the fault was correctly found? It may have been more than the one he needed.


In the medical break in the final Lei Sheng put a towel on his head (which was entertaining) to obviously avoid the feeling of being looked at or to be able to be undistracted. Either way I felt that the cameraman who was progressively creeping below him to try and get his camera underneath where he eventually did get a shot of his mouth. I thought personally it was unnecessarily pushy like the continued broadcast of Shen yesterday already mentioned. Not a major point but worth thinking about the etiquette of the camera man.

The Italians were out in force and at least where I was sitting their force of support was felt (Shout out to the guy who followed up a chant of "Andrea Andrea, Baldin Baldin, Italia Italia Italia!" with "We love you Choi!", fantastic). This support helped in the bronze medal match where it brought Baldini back into the fight a few times and, critically, as his head started to drop near the end his coach spotted this and with enthusiastic hand waving encouraged a roar from the crowd that allowed him to pull it back to 14-14.
The crowd really got behind Abouelkassem and he got a louder cheer on the podium than Lei did.
At the podium Choi was absolutely beaming and ensured the medallists took a bow for the other side of the stadium, definitely an exemplary medallist. Lei was happy of course and Abouelkassem while no doubt happy with a medal seemed disappointed.


Leaving was relatively quick however many people went left (the wrong direction in the one way) and only a few volunteers were present to direct elsewhere.
I left by the route above and on the train heard some discussion by volunteers about the day. One of them said that when the last G4S shift ended at 7.00 the next shift simply didn't arrive. Second hand info but even so it matched what I saw.
I've wrote this pretty much in one go just as a stream of my thoughts on the day, hope its coherent. I'd just say that the experience was fantastic and I was blown away by the smoothness of the organisation and the professionality (and friendliness) of the fencers, volunteers and everyone else involved. Improvements can be made, but the person I came with said it was the best piece of watching they'd seen in the olympics as did my family who I convinced to follow at home. The criticisms above were minor and most only obvious to a fencer, great job by everyone involved and I can't wait for the next session of fencing.