JB Life January 2017

SPORTS
By Anjee DiSanto
During and after the Rio Olympics, a video
circulated of Park Sang-young, a 20-yearold
Korean fencer who competed in the
Games. With 10 points to his opponent’s 14 in the
final match, Park could be seen visibly mouthing a
string of words (in Korean) again and again. “I can
do it. I can do it.” This scene in and of itself was
touching, but was made even more so by the fact that
Park could and did do it. Shortly after this self-pep
talk he came from behind in a burst. The end result?
A win, 15-14, and Korea’s first ever gold medal in
men’s individual épée.
While this was Korea’s first gold in that particular
event, the country is no stranger to Olympic or
international fencing wins. And yet… this is hardly
the sport that outsiders would naturally associate
with Korea if asked. In the minds of many, the sport
tends to be stereotypically linked to svelt Europeans
with long legs or arms. France. Italy. Hungary. Indeed,
these countries boast the most overall medals
throughout time in Olympic fencing and primarily
dominated the sport in the competitions of old. Over
time, though, the field of victors has spread.
At the Amazing Iksan Fencing Club, instructor
Lee Yeol admits between bouts that fencing wasn’t
always so popular amongst Koreans. In the past, he
says, people were mostly only recruited to competitive
fencing clubs in middle and high school, on the
condition that they had long legs or arms and had
already shown to be good at sports. This is no
longer the case. For one thing, as an analysis by
the Australian group Sydney Sabre noted, Koreans
do not generally excel at fencing through long
limbs. Rather, they thrive on their natural speed
and skilled footwork with elegant lunges. Coaches
further emphasize this through vigorous leg exercises
and techniques.
And then there’s the fact that this is no longer
just a competitive sport in Korea. Sponsors of the
Korean Fencing Federation have promoted the activity
as a way to get healthy in recent years, so
nowadays, it’s no surprise to find fencing practices
full of all ages, genders, and shapes.
Such is the case at Amazing Iksan Fencing. Here
we see clusters of young students (primarily female)
and a spattering of differently aged adults,
including Tamryn Zeeman, a South African public
school teacher who has lived in Iksan for four years.
Zeeman joined in April of 2015 on somewhat of a
whim and ended up sticking with it. Though she
admits that she and most others there have joined
the sport far too late to be professionally competitive,
she and others have still had the chance to
develop a love for the sport and its benefits and a
competitive spirit under their coaches, Kim Heewon,
Lee Yeol, and main coach Ju Dal-nim.
“Taking up fencing has benefited me mainly in
health, keeping my mind sharp, and becoming
more involved in the Korean community,” Zeeman
says. “It has also made me aware of the high
level that sports are carried out at in Korea,”
The section of the club in which Zeeman participates
does do some competitions around the peninsula,
but these are not in the same league as those
of Olympians and high-level competitors, some of
whom have trained and do train locally (mostly via
Iksan City Hall). For the hobbyists, they take the
training more mildly, though their progress is nodoubt
serious. Practices take place several times
per week, and while somewhat short and businesslike,
are still in good fun, with handshakes, chats,
and laughs. Zeeman notes that these practices do
get much longer and more intense prior to competitions,
though.
In terms of high-level competitions, the coaches
here explain that the types of fencing vary by
gender. Fencing typically splits into three areas:
foil, which uses the lightest weapon and has the
strictest rules; épée, which uses a sturdier blade
and moves the “slowest”; and sabre, the most offensive
and fastest (with blades sometimes moving
as fast as bullets!). In Korea, they explain, women
tend toward sabre on a competitive level, while
men prefer épée.
The coaches teaching here for the hobbyists and
lower-level competitors focus on épée. This, they
explain, may be a bit more approachable to the beginner.
Around 16 people train in this particular
club, while 30 train in the gym overall (including
the elite competitors). In this group, the ratio is
also 90 percent women.
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LEFT: Fencers Go Kyeong-hyeon and Tamryn
Zeeman. [All photos by ANJEE DISANTO]
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