Fencing has been quite neglected on television (and DVD), something that leaves many fencers puzzled. We're talking about an Olympic sport that combines amazing athleticism with intense tactical maneuvering, testing the fencer mentally and emotionally as well as physically. It's a sport that has deep historical roots, yet has adopted state-of-the-art electronic scoring systems to record hits with complete accuracy. And fundamentally, I mean, we're talking about people with swords! Fortunately, we're starting to see at least a little headway in getting fencing onto DVDs and out to the viewing public. Thanks to Fencing Pictures, we have a nice set of DVDs covering the 2005 World Championships in Leipzig, Germany. Each event is produced and sold on DVD separately; this review covers the Women's Sabre event.

Overview (feel free to skip down to the next section if you're a fencer)

The sport of fencing is divided into three categories by the type of weapon: foil, epee, or sabre. While all three weapons have the basic elements in common, there are different rules for each weapon, resulting in a distinct style and set of tactics for each one. An electronic scoring system detects any hits that land on valid target area, setting off a colored light for the fencer (or fencers) who hit. Because it's possible for both lights to go off, the referee is responsible for deciding which fencer is awarded the touch, based on the rules of "right of way": the attacker has the advantage, unless the defender successfully blocks the attack (parries) and returns the attack (ripostes).

In sabre, fencers use a sabre (a light-weight sport-style one, not a heavy cavalry one) and can score touches with either the edge or the point. The target is the waist and higher, including the arms and head. The individual events are fenced to 15 touches (points), with a one-minute break for coaching when one fencer reaches 8; the team event is fenced to 45 touches. The action is extremely fast-paced and athletic, so if you're a new viewer, don't be surprised if it seems hard to follow at first! As you watch more and listen to the commentary, you'll start to see the actions more clearly.

For many years, sabre was the last frontier for women in fencing: long a men's-only event, it started opening up to women in the early- to mid-1990s, and has taken off like a rocket since then. At the local and regional level, tournaments are often fenced "mixed," with women and men competing against each other, but at the national and international level, there are separate men's and women's events. It's at this high level that you do see the differences between men's and women's sabre: in women's sabre, the timing is slightly different (though it's breathtakingly fast in both cases), and the phrases (the sequence of action as the fencers try to score) tend to be more complex. As a sabre fencer myself, I'd also say that women's sabre tends to be cleaner and more elegant than men's sabre, but that of course could be bias on the reviewer's part! In any case, women's sabre is the event that the US is strongest in, internationally, with an Olympic gold medal and a stunning series of World Cup victories going to US fencers, who are strong both individually and as a team.

The event coverage

The DVD coverage here picks up in the semifinals of the Women's Sabre World Championship individual event, giving us the two semifinal bouts and then the gold medal bout. For the team event, we get the gold medal bout.

About eight minutes of introductory material is shown before we get to the actual bouts. It's not bad, giving us a glimpse of the venue and the atmosphere of the event. We also get to see the four semi-finalists getting introduced... in German and French. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles, but at least it's a fairly minor detail.

Once the bouts get going, we get ongoing live commentary by Alex Ripa and Tim Morehouse, an Olympic competitor in men's sabre. (The commentary doesn't kick in until midway through the first bout, oddly enough, so don't be alarmed.) The two do a nice job of providing analysis of what's going on, dissecting the referee's calls, pointing out key actions and interesting elements in the bout, and giving insights into the tactics of each fencer. There's some good analysis in the one-minute break and the post-bout period as well. I'm very pleased with the commentary here, as it definitely enhances the experience of watching the fencing. I'm speaking here as an educated viewer, as I'm a competitive fencer myself, but I'd certainly say that the commentary will also make the action more accessible for the new viewer.

Slow-motion replays are used frequently and to good effect. These really help make it clear what's going on (especially since the commentators are discussing it as we see it). The bouts are so fast-paced that sometimes the slow-motion starts to overlap with the start of the next touch, but fortunately we never miss any of the real action.

The first semi-final bout is between Lucchino (Italy) and Velikaya (Russia), and might very well be my favorite bout on the DVD. Velikaya puts up a tough fight, getting way down but coming back strong. The second semi-final bout is between Touya (France) and Bianco (Italy). Touya comes out strong with an aggressive style that Bianco has a tough time dealing with. Altogether, the two semi-final bouts run 28 minutes. I did notice that the post-bout commentary is rather abruptly cut off; I wish that it had been edited a bit more cleanly.

The DVD menu makes it clear that the final bout is between Touya and Velikaya (unfortunately), so that's not a spoiler on my part, but I won't tell you who wins! In any case, the action in the 18-minute coverage of the gold medal bout is very exciting, and the slow-motion replays really help convey the beauty of the fencing here.

Next we get the Women's Sabre Team gold medal bout, between the USA and Russia, so viewers get a chance to see our phenomenal US women's team in action. On the US team, we have Jacobson, Zagunis (Olympic gold medalist in Athens), Ward, and Thompson. On the Russian team, we have Kormilitsyna, Velikaya, Netchaeva, and Fedorkina.

The team event runs a solid 49 minutes, since we have a composite of nine bouts running the score up to 45. The fencers rotate out and back in again in a set sequence, so that by the time the match is over, each of the three fencers has fenced each of the opposing team's three fencers. (The lineup has four fencers apiece because each team has an alternate.) The rotation happens at increments of 5 touches: 5, 10, 15... until the winning score of 45 is reached. What makes the team format interesting is that the rotation happens when one of the fencers reaches the next highest increment of 5... so if one team is down 0-10 at the beginning of the third bout, their fencer can keep scoring until either fencer gets to 15. This allows for incredible comebacks and a lot of intense action. I can tell you from experience that it's extremely challenging to be the "anchor" fencer - the one who fences last in the match - in a tough match! I don't want to give away any of the action here, but I'll just say that it's definitely a lot of fun to watch.

The DVD

The Women's Sabre World Championship DVD is packaged in an ultra-slim plastic keepcase; at least in my copy, there's no cover insert.

The menus are nicely done, with an animation that's eye-catching without being intrusive. Oddly, the default highlighted selection is the final, not the first semi-final, but other than that everything is straightforward and easy to use. (I do wish that the names of the fencers hadn't been listed in the gold medal bout, as this would have increased the excitement). You can choose to "play all" or select the bouts individually, which is a nice feature: after watching the whole thing, I know I'll want to go back and look at specific bouts again.

Video

The footage is presented in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and looks quite good. The image is clean and crisp, so we can see the details of the fencing action clearly. The camera angles are well done, giving us the closest view possible that's consistent with seeing all of the action. There's liberal use of the slow-motion replays, which definitely adds to the quality of the experience. I noticed some digital picture breakup at the end of the DVD, but it didn't interfere with the program overall, and might have been a problem just with my copy.

Audio

The audio track is satisfactory for the most part, giving us a clear commentary track that's balanced well with the musical theme of the World Championships. At one point there's a brief audio drop-out but the sound quickly comes back OK. I did notice that there's no commentary for the first half of the Lucchino-Velikaya bout; it's not until the fencers reach the 8-touch mark that Ripa and Morehouse suddenly jump in. I'm not sure whether this is an issue with the transfer, or whether the commentators just arrived at the commentary box a couple minutes late...

Extras

There's a lot of great material hidden away in the "bonus" section. First of all, we get the quarter-final bout between Velikaya and her Russian teammate Kormilitsyna (depending on how each fencer does in the early rounds of the tournament, it's very possible for teammates to encounter each other earlier than they'd like in the direct-elimination sequence). The full bout is covered (7 minutes). We also get a men's sabre bout, the Pozdniakov (Russia) - Montano (Italy) quarterfinals bout (16 minutes). Lastly, we get a 7-minute segment from the men's sabre team event, featuring Italy vs. Russia.

Last (and least), there's a two-minute clip of FIE president Rene Roche welcoming us to the World Championships. It's in French with overdubbed English translation.

Final thoughts

If you're interested in watching high-level fencing, the World Championship puts it on display. The Women's Sabre event covered in this DVD is an exciting example of the best of women's sabre... and we even get to root for the USA in the gold medal bout of the team event! While this DVD is targeted mainly toward fencers, I'd say that it could be a very intriguing taste of the sport for interested non-fencing viewers as well. As a competitive women's sabre fencer myself, I plan on re-watching this DVD to analyze the fencers' technique and tactics with an eye toward improving my own game, but even apart from that, any fencer will find this exciting to watch just for its entertainment value. With a total of 95 minutes of women's sabre fencing in the main program (plus bonus features) it's also a very respectably loaded DVD. Recommended for all viewers, and highly recommended for viewers who enjoy sabre fencing.