Wednesday, July 23, 2003
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Wednesday, July 23, 2003 |
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Local fencer leaving her mark around the world
By MONROE
ROARK
You'll rarely, if ever, see it on television, but the Olympic sport of fencing has made it to the Southside and a Fayette County resident has made it to world-class status with her sword. Amelia Gaillard of Fayetteville, a 19-year-old graduate of the Counterpane School, competes in the women's sabre division and is currently ranked sixth in the United States and 27th in the world. Among those under the age of 20, those ranking move to third nationally and 10th internationally. She trains at Nellya Fencers in Forest Park. She and two of her teammates there make up three-fourths of the U.S. women's sabre team that won the gold medal in the World Cup in New York in June. The team also won a gold medal in France in March. The coach at Nellya Fencers, Arkady Burdan, was named U.S. Fencing's Elite Coach of the Year in 2002. For now, Gaillard is training six days a week with an eye toward possibly going to the Senior World Championships in Havana this fall as an alternate. She has already competed in Cuba this summer, and her athletic prowess has taken her in recent years throughout Europe and North America, beginning with her first interntational meet in Montreal at the age of 13, where she finished in the top eight. A Fayette County resident since she was three years old, she began fencing for the first time at 6, but she didn't really like it. At 11, she was encouraged by her teacher, whose daughter was participating, to try again, and this time she stayed with it. Fencing consists of three major types epee, foil and sabre. After starting with foil, Gaillard switched to sabre at 13, the same time she began competing internationally. "Sabre is a little faster," she said, adding that more slash-and-cut moves are done with this type, whereas the point of the weapon is used more with epee and foil. According to www.fencing.org, the sabre is the modern version of the slashing cavalry sword, and is similar in length and weight to the foil. The major difference is that the sabre is a thrusting weapon as well as a cutting weapon (use of the blade). The target area is from the bend of the hips (both front and back), to the top of the head, simulating the cavalry rider on a horse. The sabre fencer's uniform includes a metallic jacket (lamé), which covers the target area to register a valid touch on the scoring machine. The mask is different from foil and épée, with a metallic covering since the head is valid target area. Just as in foil, there are two scoring lights on the machine. One shows a green light when a fencer is hit, and one shows a red light when the opponent has hit. Off-target hits do not register on the machine. Gaillard placed seventh in the Summer National Championships earlier this month in Austin, Tex., according to the Web site. Women's sabre will be an Olympic sport for the first time next year, but there will be no team competition, Gaillard said. Only the top two Americans in the sport will participate. She hopes that will change for the 2008 Games. In the meantime, there is college to consider, and most sports fans in the southern United States are unaware of the existence of some outstanding college fencing programs in this country. Gaillard plans to enter Ohio State University in the fall of 2004, after taking a year off from studying, and she also considered Penn State and St. John's before making that decision.
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