Becca Ward - in top 4 of Women's Saber Olympics

[Abraxas]

Becca Ward, an incoming Freshman for the Duke Women's Saber team advanced to the top 4 of the Women's Saber Individual Competition during the first day of the Olympics in Beijing.

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/FE/C75I/FEW003000.shtml

The 3 Women Saber fencers from the USA advanced to the top 4 of this Olympic event. The USA will earn at least 2 medals and possibly a sweep. The Semifinals will start in less than 2.5 hours.

Becca, who was ranked #2 in the World, will have to fence her teamate Mariel Zagunis in the second Semifinals. Mariel is also from Oregon and the have had the same coach for the past 7 years. Mariel won the Gold Medal in the individual event in Athens 2004 and is ranked #5 coming into the Olympics. However, lately, Becca has had the upper hand beating twice Mariel in Direct Elimination in World Events (FIE) during this season. Mariel will be a Senior at Notre Dame in 2008-9. On the first semifinal, Sada Jacobson, #1 fencer in the world and who attended Yale ('06), is facing Xue Tan from China, the #3 fender in the rankings.

http://www.fie.ch/Competitions/FencerDetail.aspx?param=D097FF60B8B41ABA38A54595D8 80FCEC


This is an interview with her in June '08: http://www.fencing.net/news/us-fencing/rebecca-ward-interview.html

[Abraxas]

I made the mistake of not double-checking the non-USA bout. Sada is actually facing Sofiya Velikaya (RUS). Xue Tan lost in quarterfinals to Velikaya.

[Abraxas]

Mariel beat Becca 15-11, while Sada beat Velikaya by the same score.

Now, it is Becca vs Velikaya for Bronze, and Zagunis vs Jacobson for the Gold/Silver medals.

[budwom]

Ward won the bronze

[Lavabe]

Congrats on the bronze!!

Here's hoping she'll be around for the London games.

CHEERS,
Lavabe

[burnspbesq]

Congrats on the bronze!!

Here's hoping she'll be around for the London games.

CHEERS,
Lavabe

Assuming she plans to compete for Duke, one imagines that the Olympic medal makes her one of the favorites in the next few NCAA Championships.

[roywhite]

http://www.nbcolympics.com/fencing/news/newsid=185387.html#three+all+us+sweeps+sabre

Great job by Becca and her teammates. Sounds like Becca had her sights set on Gold.

She'll get another chance in a Team Sabre competition on 8/14. USA will be heavily favored.

[Edouble]

Congrats to our future Dukie on her bronze medal.

I just finished watching the gold medal match; it's nice to see the U.S. sweep all 3 medals. I never knew the U.S. was such a force with the sabre, although apparently it was sort of a suprise.

[Bluedog]

Congrats to our future Dukie on her bronze medal.

I just finished watching the gold medal match; it's nice to see the U.S. sweep all 3 medals. I never knew the U.S. was such a force with the sabre, although apparently it was sort of a suprise.

Well, the US hadn't won an Olympic gold in fencing in 100 years until Zagunis did it in 2004. I'm sure Ward is disappointed with the Bronze as she beat Zagunis not long ago at the world championships for Gold there. Still, quite an accomplishment! She had a close bout in the round of 16 (or was it quarterfinals?) where she won 15-14, I think - so she easily could have gotten nothing. Very impressive indeed! Who would have thought the state of Oregon would be such a fencing power?

Zagunis took the year off at Notre Dame last year to train for the olympics in Italy. Apparently, she also had a good time there, according to her friend at ND ;) My friend fenced against her at the junior olympics (probably about 6 years ago) and said she thought she was going to die...never been hit so hard in any bout plus Zagunis is incredibly intimidating as she shouts like mad in your face.

Abraxas would know more about this, but isn't the World Fencing Championships considered more prestigious than the olympics? Where would a fencer rather win gold? I had heard it's like World Cup vs. Olympics for soccer - as in, world fencing championships is seen as the ultimate prize, but obviously they still want to win the olympics as well.

[Abraxas]

Assuming she plans to compete for Duke, one imagines that the Olympic medal makes her one of the favorites in the next few NCAA Championships.

Indeed, but keep in mind that Mariel Zagunis, her club teamate in Oregon will be competing in her last year of eligibility for Notre Dame. She took several semesters out to train.

Nevertheless, the future of Duke Fencing is very bright! I know Becca and her parents well. She will train harder, but one of the reasons she choose Duke was the environment. She wants to enjoy college.

Regarding, Edouble's comment. In the World Championships in 2006, the USA (same group of fencers) swept the medals with Becca taking the Gold. Olympics are seen as the pinnacle, but World Championships (a yearly event except when the Olympic year) is seen just a notch behind it.

[TampaDuke]

Congratulations to all three ladies. After a slow start, Becca really turned it on in the second half of the bronze medal match. Great job.

[yancem]

Can some one explain to me how the US women sweep the gold, silver and bronze in the individual fencing but only get the bronze in the team event? That seems very odd to me.

[Abraxas]

Women's Team Sabre

The US Women's Team Sabre lost to Ukraine in semifinals, but defeats France for a Team Bronze medal. Becca Ward was the anchor against France, while Sada was the anchor against Ukraine, the eventual Team who earned the gold medal against China.

The day prior to the WS team competition, the USA individual Women's Epee fencer, Kelly Hurley from Notre Dame had the flu and lost her first DE bout. Becca had spent the day helping her out. Becca's mom told me that she seems to be having a flu and the other 2 team members are also feeling the effects. The lost to Ukraine was a close match, and there is a lot of history between these two teams.

The bottom line is that Becca Ward, an incoming Freshman for the Duke Fencing Team, spent her Summer competing and earning 2 Bronze Medals at the Beijing Olympics. This is quite an achievement for any fencer. Congratulations!!!!

[Bluedog]

Can some one explain to me how the US women sweep the gold, silver and bronze in the individual fencing but only get the bronze in the team event? That seems very odd to me.

The team competition format is different and the bouts are much shorter (up to 5 or 3 minutes). Individual bouts are up to 15. "Each bout will continue until the first athlete makes the five touches, or the time for the bout expires. If the ninth bout is completed before either team reaches 45 touches, the team with the most touches will be declared the winner." http://en.beijing2008.cn/sports/fencing/n214432493.shtml

So, perhaps they are slow starters and more endurance fencers? (endurance in sabre is almost an oxymoron) ;) Plus, anything can happen in a single bout. Just like a basketball game. It's possible for a team to beat a team three times during the regular season and then lose in the playoffs. Now shorten a basketball game from 40 minutes to 3 minutes and you'll see some upsets and mixed results....At least, that's the best explanation I can come up with. Additionally, matchups play a key role. Fencers have different styles and some match up better with others. Lefties are cheaters practically as they are really hard to adjust to when you've been fencing righties all the time (I've been told). :D

Here are the results in the loss to Ukraine in the semifinals:
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/FE/C73T/FEW403201.shtml#FEW403201

Member Wins Loses
Mariel Zagunis 0 3
Becca Ward 1 2
Sada Jacobson 2 1

Zagunis, the gold medal winner, lost all three of her bouts. Ward apparently was suffering from the flu, which was going around. "I was feeling really under the weather for the semifinals, and I just kind of went back to the village, took a nap, drank some Sprite and settled down," Ward said. "We refocused and fenced really hard." http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/fight/2008-08-14-wom-team-sabre_N.htm?csp=34


It seems to indicate that the TOTAL match time for all the bouts is 05:13, but that seems too short. I'm confused a bit with that number. I guess it's possible each bout is only 30 seconds...

Still, quite an accomplishment for Becca Ward. Two bronze medals for an incoming freshman. Congratulations!

[Abraxas]

Still, quite an accomplishment for Becca Ward. Two bronze medals for an incoming freshman. Congratulations!

Keep in mind that Becca was the 2006 individual World Champion (same type of event as Olympics but longer because it has pools not just direct elimination bouts). Bronze is 2 steps down than her 2006 Gold. Great achievement and she has many years in her future.

[burnspbesq]

Six days into the Olympics, Duke has as many medals as Spain -- and two more than Carolina. Not bad for a "country" smaller than Liechtenstein.

One more medal seems a virtual certainty (Boozer), and a fourth is a realistic possibility (Rowbury). That is not too shabby.

[DukeFencer]

How come none of these stories about Becca have been linked on the front page? the GoDuke women's fencing page is overflowing.