Fencing

Fencing, also called Olympic fencing, is a sport in which two competitors fight using 'Rapier-style' swords, winning points by making contact with their opponent.

Based on the traditional skills of swordsmanship, the modern sport arose at the end of the 19th century, with the Italian school having modified the historical European martial art of classical fencing, and the French school having later refined the Italian system.

There are three forms of modern fencing, each using a different style of weapon and different rules, and as such the sport is divided into three competitive scenes: Foil, Épée and Sabre. Most competitive fencers choose to specialise in only one weapon.

Competitive fencing is one of five activities which have been featured in every one of the modern Olympic Games, the other four being athletics, cycling, swimming, and gymnastics.

Fencing traces its roots to the development of swordsmanship for duels and self defense. The ancestor of modern fencing originated in Spain, where several books on fencing were written.

Treatise on Arms was written by Diego de Valera between 1458 and 1471 and is one of the oldest surviving manuals on western fencing shortly before dueling came under official ban by the Catholic Monarchs. In conquest, the Spanish forces carried fencing around the world, particularly southern Italy, one of the major areas of strife between both nations. Fencing was mentioned in the play The Merry Wives of Windsor written sometime prior to 1602.

The mechanics of modern fencing originated in the 18th century in an Italian school of fencing of the Renaissance, and, under their influence, was improved by the French school of fencing.[8][9] The Spanish school of fencing stagnated and was replaced by the Italian and French schools.