Recently in Olympic fencing Category

Keeth Smart was the hero and Brentwood's Jason Rogers was absent from the gold medal saber match. But the United States won its first Olympic medal in saber competition since 1948.
James Williams fenced in place of Rogers in the gold medal match against France, which won 45-37. Apparently the fencing coaches wanted Williams to win an Olympic medal and changed its lineup against France. Rogers was the No. 3 fencer for the U.S. fencing team in its first two matches against Hungary and Russia.
Smart had to rally the United States in both its matches against Hungary and Russia. The U.S. was trailing both matches entering the final rounds. Smart fenced the United States to one-point victories in each.
"That was the exact opposite of the bronze-medal match at Athens (2004 Olympic Games)," said Tim Morehouse, another member of the United States saber team. "At that match we were up, Keeth versus (Russian Stanislav) Pozdnyakov and Pozdnyakov came back and won. This time we were down 35-40 and Keeth came back and won. Keeth hit the equivalent of two grand slams in the bottom of the ninth today. He's been holding down U.S. Fencing for so long. I'm so happy for Keeth."
Rogers was on the 2004 saber team in Athens that finished fourth and out of the medals. He didn't want to see a repeat of those Games.
"I think we were just bracing ourselves," said Rogers. "I have to give it to Keeth. He was a hero today."

Upset No. 2 for the United States saber team. Brentwood's Jason Rogers, Keeth Smart and Tim Morehouse defeated the second-seeded Russian team, 45-44, to advance to the gold medal match in team saber fencing.

Brentwood's Jason Rogers helped the United States saber team advance to the semifinals of the Olympic fencing tournament with an upset win over No. 2 seeded Hungary, 45-44, on Sunday.
Keeth Smart and Tim Morehouse will join Rogers against No.3 seeded Russia in the semifinals.

Brentwood's Jason Rogers lost to U.S. teammate Keeth Smart in the round of 32 in the saber competition. Smart had a first-round bye, then defeated Rogers 15-3.
"It's rough to come to the Olympics and have to fence your teammate," said Rogers. "We train together, so we know each other well. He's quicker than me, so he just jumped on me (in that bout)."
Smart lost in the quarterfinals to France's Julien Pillet, 15-13, and was eliminated from the tournament.
"I've got to keep it in perspective," said Smart. "I'm really fortunate to have come this far in the competition at the Olympics. I would have liked to win a medal obviously but I'm pleased I could have gotten this far. I wanted to put the pressure on him but I made a strategic error after the break. I should have finished the match when I was up 9-5, but I'll learn from this."

After becoming the first American in a century to capture an Olympic fencing gold medal when she won the women's sabre competition in 2004 in Athens, Mariel Zagunis of Beaverton, Ore., became the first U.S. athlete to secure a gold medal in Beijing, defending her title with a 15-8 victory over fellow American Sada Jacobson (Dunwoody, Ga.).

Another Beaverton resident, Becca Ward, took the bronze, giving the U.S. the sweep and an Olympic-leading three medals following the first day of competition.

The second-seeded Ward rebounded from a 15-11 semifinal setback to Zagunis -- her fencing club teammate in Oregon -- and a 6-1 deficit against Russia's Sofiya Velikaya to rally for a thrilling 15-14 victory in the third-place match.

Jacobson, the tournament's top seed, defeated No. 6 Velikaya 15-11 in the semifinals to assure herself a medal for the second consecutive Olympics, following a bronze in 2004. But the 23-year-old Zagunis, the No. 5 seed, built an 8-4 lead after one period en route to her most lopsided victory of the tournament.

Zagunis defeated former world champion Tan Xue of China 15-9 in the 2004 final.

Only three other female fencers have ever repeated as Olympic champions, but Zagunis is the first in the sabre competition, since it was introduced for the first time in 2004 in Athens.

Hungary's Ilona Elek-Schacherer accomplished the feat in the foil discipline in 1936 and 1948, an achievement matched by Italy's Valentina Vezzali in 2000 and 2004.

In the women's individual epee, only Hungary's Timea Nagy (2000 and '04) has repeated as Olympic champion.

Four men have repeated as individual sabre gold medalist, the most recent being France's Jean-Francois Lamour in 1984 and '88.