Olympic Fencing

[Griff]

Originally Posted by BigV

So, wrt right of way, in sabre and foil, a touch that is not an attack is not scored as a point?

That's generally right, although it is possible to lock out your opponent by hitting when it isn't your attack if the other's action is really slow. The touch should be the opponents by rule but the machine doesn't register a touch after .25(?) seconds.

Originally Posted by BigV

Also, in sabre, I noticed that the head is a valid target. How does the clear face shield briefly displayed in the poor NYT video communicate a touch?

There is a transition happening from the old grill style helmets. The new clear shield isn't conductive, giving an advantage to fencers with deeper pockets. There are a number of problems with modern sabre. It was a much different cleaner (action wise) game before electronic timing.