BENJAMIN KLEIBRINK’S SURPRISE GOLD IN FOIL AT THE BEIJING 2008 GAMES – SportHistoria

Article by John Manenti

Up to the edition of Barcelona 1992, the Olympic Fencing Tournaments take place with an extremely cumbersome and complex formulawith the registered athletes having to undergo grueling challenges over several days which, if on the one hand allowed them to be able to remedy any defeats, on the other they ensured that physical resistance was ultimately more important than technical ability …

With already a first reduction of the assaults at the reported Catalan Games, where from the first Group stage goes directly to direct eliminationfrom the subsequent Atlanta 1996 – also thanks to the expansion of the program to include the sword specialty in the women’s program, followed by the saber only after the Beijing 2008 edition to standardize the two tournaments – we move on to direct elimination with a table for tennis use established on the basis of the World Ranking which therefore takes into account the results obtained by individual fencers at the World and European Championships, as well as the World Cup events …

In this way, however, it is not allowed to fail, since in case of defeat you are eliminatedwith each bout taking place over the distance of 15 hits and, with the match taking place in a single day, you will understand how important it is to be ready and in the best possible conditions at the right time, also considering how the possibility of reaching the “Olympic glory” is presented only every four years with respect to the annual cadence of the International and Continental Reviews …

Having said this, a necessary premise, we only add that, precisely because of the expansion of the women’s program, it is assumed a very questionable decisionwhich leads, in rotation, to cancel a team competition, so that ai Beijing 2008 Games Foil is not contested for both men and womenas well as four years later in London the Sword and in Rio de Janeiro 2016 it was the turn of the Saber.

This also implies that, in the edition of the Games in which the team test of a specific weapon is missing, even the individual competition sees the number of members reduced from three to two for each individual countryso as to make the margin of error even more limited, as the best in the Ranking cannot count on an easy first round with an opponent of a very different caliber …

All this serves to frame what it is the Men’s Foil Tournament taking place at the Beijing Olympics on August 13, 2008 on the platforms of theOlympic Green Convention Centre” of the Chinese capital and they have in German Peter Joppich the clear favorite, as the same is back from having secured the world title in the last two editions of the World Championships held in Turin in 2006 and in St. Petersburg the following year.

Moreover, in view of the Olympic appointment, his fiercest opponent, namely the blue Andrea Baldini, defeated by the German in the Final in both cases mentioned and in any case leader of the World Ranking, is absent due to a controversial case of positive doping control performed during the European Championships in Kiev, having been detected traces of a diuretic, with the blue to profess his innocence, being subsequently acquitted by the FIS in April 2009, but in the meantime the opportunity to participate in the Games had faded, so That representing Italy are Salvatore Sanxo and Andrea Cassaràrespectively silver and bronze four years earlier in Athens 2004, as well as Gold in the team competition together with the other foil player Simone Vanni …

Moreover, the Beijing Olympic Tournament is destined to go down in history for the numerous twists and turns that distinguish it, with the top 6 seeds in the Ranking being exempted from the first round – in order Cassarà, Joppich, the Frenchman Erwann Le Pechoux, the Chinese Lei Sheng, the other German Benjamin Kleibrink and Sanzo – but the clamorous is already recorded in the eighths elimination of the Olympic champion in charge, namely the Frenchman Brice Guyart, defeated 15-10 by his compatriot Le Pechouxwhile Joppich reveals a non-optimal condition, barely overcoming the British Richard Kruse (10-9).

With only 8 fencers left in contention – 7 of the 8 best in the Ranking, the only one excluding the South Korean Choi Byung-Chul, eliminated 15-14 by the 22-year-old Japanese Yuki Ota, also seeded n.10 – here is the latter takes charge of eliminating Joppich 15-12 to go and meet the blue Sanzo in the semifinalwho is right with no small difficulty (10-9) of the “Lawbringer” by Guyart, who had prevented him from playing the rematch of the Final in Athens …

In the upper part of the board, vice versa, the two Chinese Lei Sheng e Zhu Jun, with the latter imposing himself in the last hit (15-14) on our Cassaràwhile in She yields clearly (15-7) compared to Kleibrink who is now called to keep up the prestige of Teutonic fencing, given the unexpected departure of his favorite compatriot.

Born on 30 July 1985 in Dusseldorf, Kleibrink has so far only prestigious placements in his Palmarès, especially as a component in the team event – bronze and silver at the 2005 and 2006 World Championships, while in 2007, his best season, he was European team champion and individual silver in Gent and bronze at the St. Petersburg World Championshipdefeated 15-4 in the semifinals by Joppich himself – and he is realizing he has at his disposal “the opportunity of life”, resulting in the best seeding among the four semifinalists …

Kleibrink, who beat the other Japanese Kenta Chida 15-10 in the round of 16, is the first to take to the platform to face the favorite of the house Zhu, but the assault has no history given the clear superiority of the 23-year-old German, who asserts himself with a more than eloquent 15-4 such as not to admit replies, in the meantime Sanzo, who has the chance of a second consecutive Olympic Final at his disposal, is surprised in the last hit (15-14) by Otawhich four years earlier in Athens was released in the round of 16 by the hand of the Russian Renal Ganeyev.

A blue so disappointed that he meditates on give up the challenge for the bronze, only to have second thoughts – also encouraged on the phone by his wife Frida Scarpa, also a foil player and who invites him not to give up – so as to give himself his fourth medal (one individual silver and one bronze, one gold and one team bronze …) in three editions of the Games, beating Zhu 15-14, meanwhile the fight for the Gold Medal doesn’t provide too much excitement, since Kleibrink complete his “Day of Days” with a convincing statement for 15-9…

Definitely, for the German Federation”this or even that are…”, but surely Joppich must not have been of the same opinion, forced to deal with a “Olympic curse” destined to haunt him for his entire career …