4 things to know about fencing, according to Olympic fencer Kat Holmes

Here's 4 things to know about fencing, according to Olympic fencer Kat Holmes.

Olympic fencer Kat Holmes wants more for herself when the 2024 Paris Olympics arrive. She’s retiring soon, and there’s only one thing on her mind before this chapter of her life closes: a gold medal.

Since she was nine years old, Kat has been enamored with fencing. Holmes says the sport is what she was made to do, and she’s dedicated a huge portion of her life — 22 years of training and 15 years of competing on the international stage — to what she describes as her “love song.” (For those wondering, the tune could be Good Riddance [Time of Your Life] by Green Day, Daylight by Maroon 5 or Here’s to the Night by Eve 6 on any given day.)

But Kat understands that despite feeling like she’s operating within her resonant frequency when she’s competing (think striking a wine glass and it vibrates until it explodes), retirement is the best option for her. A post-Olympian career of giving back to the fencing community that has supported her sounds just right — except doing it with a gold medal in tow would make it that much sweeter.

As she prepares for her third Olympics, Holmes isn’t based near the USA fencing team training center. So, she’s been training with a coach from the fitness coaching app Future, which has been key to maintaining her physical edge while in medical school for a future in fencing sports medicine.

“It’s been such an essential part of my training,” Holmes recently told For The Win. “It’s really been the scaffolding upon which I’ve built all my training through. I started using it in early 2020 …”

Ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games, Holmes spoke with For The Win about the basics of fencing, what it will be like to compete in Paris and the one unusual thing fencers use that most people wouldn’t think about. Here are four things we learned about fencing in our conversation with Kat.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

There are actually 3 different types of fencing

Jul 27, 2021; Chiba, Japan; Katharine Holmes (USA) fights Ewa Trzebinska (POL) in the fifth place match of the women’s fencing epee team competition during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Makuhari Messe Hall B. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

FTW: How would you describe fencing to someone who has never seen it before? 

There’s foil, epee and sabre. (I fence epee. So, you should only watch epee. No, I’m kidding.) Epee is actually the easiest to watch and the easiest to understand. Basically, the whole body’s target, and you hit with the tip. It’s kind of like a clicky-top pen. So, when you compress the tip, a light goes off. So, if I hit and compress that tip, a light goes off. If we both hit at the same time, we’ll both get a point.

In foil, you can only hit on the chest. There’s this silver thing called a lamé you have to hit on the chest. You also hit with a point. In sabre, you hit from the waist and up, and instead of hitting with the point, you cut and slash.

Foil and sabre have these complicated rules called right of way, where you have to have control of the action to score – meaning you either have to score in attack or in defense, you have to parry the blade. So, you knock the blade out of the way. You have control of the blade before you hit.

The sport has deep Olympic ties

Jul 13, 2024; Paris, France; A detail view of the Olympic rings hung on the Eiffel Tower ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Mandatory Credit: Jon Durr-USA TODAY Sports

FTW: What are important things new fans should know about Olympic fencing? How is the Olympic stage different from other stages?

It’s one of the original sports to be held in the modern Olympic games. So, the premise is epee … it comes from actual combat. You’re trying to draw blood. Foil is the court form, like what you practiced in the courts. You could only hit on the torso. The foil is much lighter.

And then sabre comes from the cavalry. So, you’re on a horse. You’re slashing, and you’re cutting your sabre, and you want to kill the man but save the horse, who’s a spoil of war.

Team USA is actually really good

PARIS, FRANCE – JULY 21: Anne Cebula, Jacqueline Debruvich, Maia Weintraub, Lauren Scruggs, Katherine Holmes, Margherita Guzzi Vincenti and Hadley Husisian try on clothes during Team USA Welcome Experience ahead of Paris 2024 Summer Olympics at Polo Ralph Lauren on July 20, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for USOPC)

FTW: Tell us about Team USA and your thoughts on competing in Paris.

The U.S. is actually really good at fencing … We have many teams, many individuals that are ranked No. 1 in the world. We’re very competitive. We have a really good chance of medaling in almost every event that we’ve qualified for.

Next to dressage, we have the most [expletive] venue at the Olympics. We’re gonna be at the Grand Palais, which is this insane old building that they’ve been tricking out. It’s gonna be an amazing venue to have a competition at.

Only one week left before we officially return to the iconic Grand Palais for @Paris2024, 14 years after the 2010 World Championships.

We can’t wait to see you all there!

Serge Timacheff#fencing #RoadToParis #OlympicGames #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/GpEGTr1SV1

— FIE (@FIE_fencing) July 20, 2024

Fencers actually wear an extension cord while competing

Jul 27, 2021; Chiba, Japan; Katharine Holmes (USA) fights Aleksandra Jarecka(POL) in the fifth place match of the women’s fencing epee team competition during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Makuhari Messe Hall B. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

FTW: What kind of special equipment do you compete in? Is there a secret or weird thing you use that most people wouldn’t suspect?

So, fencing is electronic. I feel like most people are shocked by that fact.

It’s called a body cord. There’s essentially an extension chord that we plug into the weapon. It goes up our arm and out our backs and plugs into another extension cord that then plugs into a box — so that when we click down that clicky top pen, a light goes off. So, we literally have an extension cord on our bodies while we compete.