Equipment
The maximum overall length for foil and epee is 1,100 mm (43.407 inches), and maximum blade length is 900 mm. (35.433 inches). Maximum for the saber is 1,050 mm (41.338 inches) overall and 880 mm (34.646 inches) for the blade.
Maximum weights are 500 grams (17.637 ounces) for foil and saber, 770 grams (27.16 ounces) for the epee.
The fencer wears a white costume with a mask, gloves, and a protective undervest, the plastron. Women also wear breast protectors under their jackets.
The fencing strip, also called the piste, is an area 14 meters (40 feet) long and 1.5 to 2 meters (5 feet, 10 inches to 6 feet, 6 1/2 inches) wide. At each end is a 2-meter extension.
The shorter strip is used for foils. If a fencer retreats off the strip, it is scored as a touch. The extensions mark the end boundaries in epee and saber. If a fencer steps off the side of the strip, the penalty is a 1-meter (3 feet, 3 3/8 in) shortening of that competitor's end of the strip until the next touch.
Officials
The referee, also known as the director or president, is in overall charge of the contest. He or she awards hits, penalizes faults, and starts or stops the bout as called for by the rules.
Most bouts are now scored electronically, so the referee may be the only official. In major competition, however, two judges assist the referee.
If electronic scoring isn't used, there are four judges, two on each side of the piste, who watch for and signal hits.
Minor officials are the timekeepers, scorers, and electrical equipment supervisors.
Progress of Competition
The referee calls the fencers and orders "en garde." They stand, facing each other, at their on-guard lines, until the referee orders "allez" or "fence."
The bout stops only when the referee calls "halt." The command is given when:
- A hit has been signaled by a judge or the electronic equipment.
- A competitor is disarmed.
- A competitor leaves the piste.
- A foul is committed.
- Dangerous play occurs.
- If a valid hit (touch) has been scored, the bout is resumed with the fencers at their on-guard lines. If the hit is invalid, competition continues from the spot where the referee called the halt.
Duration of Bout
In preliminary rounds of a tournament pool, a bout ends when one fencer has scored 5 touches, or when 4 minutes have elapsed.
In direct elimination bouts, a fencer must score 15 touches. The maximum time period is 9 minutes, divided into three periods of 3 minutes each, with one minute's pause between periods.
In team matches, a bout lasts 4 minutes, regardless of how many touches are scored.
The timekeeper stops the clock when the referee orders "Fence" and stops it when the referee orders "Halt." When the bout is interrupted, a fencer may ask how much time remains.
Scoring
There's a different target area for each weapon. For the epee, it's the entire body. In saber, any part of the body from the waist up, including head and arms, is a valid target. In foil, a touch can be scored only on the trunk, from the top of the collar to the groin lines in front and to the line across the tops of the hip bones in back. (For women, the hip-bone line is also the lower limit in the front of the body.)
A touch must be scored with the point of the blade in epee and foil. In sabre, a touch can also be scored with the front edge or with the top third of the back edge.
If a hit is scored outside the valid target area, the referee stops the bout and the fencers resume from their on-guard lines. There's an exception in foil and sabre: If the hit lands off target because the defender has taken up an extreme position to avoid, it is counted as a touch.
If both fencers in epee score a hit within 1/25 second, it is a double hit and each is credited with a touch. There can be no double hit in foil or sabre. If hits are recorded at the same time, it's either simultaneous action and neither hit counts, or it's caused by one fencer who does not have the right of way. The referee then awards the hit to the fencer who did have the right of way. (See the next section.)
Right of Way
The rule of right of way was established to resolve the problem of simultaneous hits in foil and sabre fencing.
A fencer gains the right of way by threatening the other fencer with the blade, either by initiating attack or by establishing "point in line" before the opponent attacks.
Right of way ends when an attack misses, falls short, is broken off, or is deflected away from the target (parried) by the defender.
After parrying an attack, the defender can begin a riposte (counter attack) before the opponent recovers. This constitutes a new attack and established right of way for the former defender.
If the defender doesn't riposte, the situation is up in the air. Either fencer can then establish right of way by initiating a new attack.
Essentially, it is an attack when a fencer's weapon threatens a valid target and will score a hit if the defender does nothing to prevent it.
For a proper parry, which ends the attack and leads to the possibility of a riposte, the defender must demonstrate control over the attacker's blade. If the attack continues without the point of the blade being deflected from its course toward the target, it is not a parry and right of way doesn't change.
In foil, an attack must be deflected away from off-target areas of the body as well as on-target areas for the parry to be valid.
If both fencers launch simultaneous attacks, there is no right of way. A valid touch can be scored; but, if there are simultaneous hits, neither counts as a touch.
Fouls
Generally speaking, the first foul by a fencer draws a warning from the referee. On a second foul during the bout, the opponent is awarded a touch. If a touch is scored as the result of a foul, it is not scored as a touch.
It is a foul if a fencer:
- Leaves the piste to avoid being hit.
- Refuses to obey the orders of the referee.
- Uses the unarmed hand either for offense or defense. The weapon must be held in one hand only and that hand must never leave the hilt of the weapon.
Other fouls vary from weapon to weapon.
Physical contact is allowed in epee, as long as it's not excessive, but it is not allowed in foil and sabre.
In foil, the shoulder of the non-sword arm must not be put forward of the sword arm.