Kruse foiled by new electronic scoring rule from old guard

IMAGINE you spend most of your life practising a sport and you become so good at it that you reach the last eight in your discipline in the Olympic Games. Then somebody decides to change the rules, and all of a sudden you are back where you started.

That nightmare has just happened to Britain’s top fencer, Richard Kruse, who recently declared that he would fight for Scotland in the new international set-up in the sport.

Kruse’s weapon of choice is the foil, and like most experts with the lightest of the three swords in fencing - the others are the sabre and epe - his lifelong approach, as well as his coaching, had been geared to fast and agile moves with emphasis on the so-called "flick" in which a fencer moves like lightning to land the tip of the foil on an opponent’s target area such as his or her back and register a "hit".

Modern electronic equipment can sense the merest glance by a weapon, even if the sword makes contact for one thousandth of a second. But the governing body of fencing, the Swiss-based Federation International D’Escrime (FIE), has now changed the rules and the result has been catastrophic for Kruse and other foil champions.

The FIE has ordered that the electronic sensors be adjusted to register slightly stronger and more durable hits. The changes in timing a hit are almost laughably infinitesimal but are utterly crucial to the way the foil is used.

Competitors will now have to keep the foil’s tip on their opponent’s target area for a whole 15 milliseconds instead of two milliseconds. They will also have to exert more power at impact, with 750 grams of force instead of 500 grams - in imperial measures that’s just under 2lbs of force instead of just under 1lb.

But the result has been to all but end the flick technique beloved of foil fencers for many years. Effectively a fencer will be forced to "stab" his opponent full on, and greater emphasis will be placed on parrying.

The change has left Kruse at a crossroads in a career in which he had been acclaimed as the finest British fencing prospect for decades. His appearance in the last eight in the men’s foil in Athens was the best Olympic performance by a British male fencer since 1964.

Kruse should be in clover right now - though Great Britain will still compete at World and Olympic level, British fencing has just reorganised on a "Four Home Nations" basis, and thanks to a Scottish grandmother, Kruse has opted to represent Scotland with strong support from the Scottish fencing organisation.

Last week it was announced that UK Sport would invest more than 700,000 in funding British fencers in advance of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. As our top fencer, Kruse, whose income was a sole 10,000 grant from UK Sport, can anticipate considerably more support for his ambition, but thanks to the FIE’s rule change he does not know if he will last another year in the sport, never mind make the Olympics.

"I am a little depressed with the current situation having spent ten years of my life learning skills which are now completely useless," said Kruse.

"The FIE called for the change because it is run by a bunch of people who were fencing in the 50s and 60s when it was more ‘swash and buckle’-like and they all wanted to emulate this in the modern game.

"Initially British fencing supported a trial run as it was suspected that it would improve fencing and make it a little neater. However, now all the top British fencers and the British Fencing Board have seen how appalling it is.

"It clearly hasn’t worked and it has ruined the game and slowed it right down. It is a completely different game now and I am not really that good at it.

"I have decided to give this season a go and if I really can’t win I will have to call it a day with regards to my fencing career."

The FIE say they will review the new rules in November, but many in the sport fear it will be too late to revert to the old system.

One of only four sports to be included in every modern Olympic Games, fencing has a small but committed following in Scotland.

The reigning Scottish champion with the foil is Keith Cook, 24, a gym manager from Edinburgh. He has mixed feelings about the new rules but admits the alteration is massive for the sport.

"It’s a bit like FIFA turning round one day and saying they had removed offside from football," said Cook, who acknowledges the FIE have history on their side.

"In the old days fencing wasn’t for sport, it was about kill or be killed, really. Fencing was for war, and every soldier had to have the basic skills.

"Back then, the only way you could kill your opponent was to stab them with the point or slash them with the cutting edge of the sword. In order to do that, you had to lure your opponent into your range in order to hit them, which gave us the classic thrust and parry moves. Obviously we don’t kill people these days, but the style remained much the same until the ‘flick’ technique was developed.

"The FIE wants to go back to those original roots of fencing. In olden times you would never be able to run in and hit someone on the back to score a point - your opponent would have run you through. So now they want us to hit with the point and parry and thrust as of old. It also about making the sport more spectator friendly. It was actually too fast for some spectators.

"The rule change has been shattering for some people. They are having to completely re-think the strategy. Sheer speed doesn’t count any more and that is very frustrating for top-class fencers who have practised techniques for so long and are now having to adapt them."

Cook feels Kruse should not be too despondent as he is sure the top Briton will be able to adapt in time. Cook and all in Scottish fencers are also delighted that Kruse will compete for Scotland. The top international event for Scotland is the Commonwealth championships, which take place separately from the Commonwealth Games but enjoy the same status.

"We won the team silver in the last championships in Australia in 2002," said Cook. "The next championships are in Belfast next year and with Richard on the team we can win gold."

Cook and many others in British fencing have faith in Kruse’s ability to adapt to the new rules and reach the heights in the sport. There is surely no better encouragement for him than the prospect of winning a gold medal for his adopted country in 2006.