Super obscure reference about a sci-fi author here and surely no one is ever going to ask the question about the Russian Olympic gold medallist in a respectable quiz. I must keep an eye on the Hungarian fencer to see if he wins a fourth gold later this year.
Questions
Her performances at the Olympics including a team gold in 2008 but only an individual best of silver despite four World Championship golds, which Ukrainian fencer when extended a hand by her defeated Russian opponent Anna Smirnova instead extended her sabre? After a protest, they were disqualified from the 2023 tournament they were competing in.
OLGA KHARLAN
A word that doesn’t sound particularly appropriate, what term is used in fencing for a ‘friendly’ bout between opponents where scores may or may not be kept?
ASSAULT
Leading a German clean sweep of the medals when she took gold at the Olympics in Seoul was which fencer, this being in the foil when that was still the only discipline open to women? Unsurprisingly she also won a team gold.
ANJA FICHTEL
Having a sister with the forename Véronique who won a team bronze in the same sport in 1976, which French female fencer got a double gold in 1980 when she won both the individual and team foil?
PASCALE TRINQUET
The only Soviet female to take home an individual gold in fencing was who in 1968, with her also adding three consecutive team golds through to 1976 to make her the first female fencer to win four golds? She later had an asteroid named after her.
ELENA BELOVA
In the series of “Ballando con le Stelle” where Brazilian-Italian transgender model Lea T. finished fourth, which fencer went on to win the competition? She won individual and team foil at the 2012 Olympics, with compatriots Arianna Errigo and Valentina Vezzali completing a clean sweep of the medals.
ELISA DI FRANCISCA
In a classic case of ‘sitting on the fence’, what term is used in fencing for when a judge decides not to make a call on whether a hit has occurred?
ABSTAIN
One of the rare competitors to have won three consecutive Olympic golds in the same event, which fencer from Hungary became the first to achieve that feat in the men’s sabre when he defeated Luigi Samele in the Tokyo 2020 final? The other sabreurs he pushed into silver were Diego Occhiuzzi and Daryl Homer.
ÁRON SZILÁGYI
Future fencing great Áron Szilágyi only reached the round of 16 at his first Olympics in Beijing. The men’s sabre title went instead to which Chinese fencer who defeated number one seed Luigi Tarantino on the way to achieving victory on home soil?
ZHONG (MAN)
Effectively a yellow card, which French word is used to indicate a ‘warning’ in fencing when one of the combatants has committed a minor infraction? Multiple violations may result in a red card and a point penalty.
AVERTISSEMENT
Once again on the podium when he secured bronze at the 2008 Olympics, which Romanian fencer won gold in the men’s sabre at the 2000 Olympics, this being his country’s first medal in that event?
MIHAI COVALIU
Stephen Fry provides the voice of Leonardo da Vinci in the 2023 stop-motion animation “The Inventor”, a film that features Marion Cotillard singing a track titled after what ‘ready-steady-go’ of fencing?
EN GARDE, PRÊTS, ALLEZ!
Five times an Olympic medallist thanks to his country’s strength in the team event, who became the first Italian since the great Nedo Nadi to win the individual gold in the men’s sabre when he prevented Zsolt Nemscik adding to Hungary’s long list of winners in the event at the Athens games?
ALDO MONTANO
Sharing its name with a 2017 sci-fi work by Caitlin Demaris McKenna, what three-word term is used in fencing when the swords are not touching?
ABSENCE OF BLADE
Double Olympic gold went to which Russian in the 1996 men’s sabre? He defeated compatriot Sergey Sharikov in the individual final, with both of those fencers contributing to their country’s team success.
STANISLAV POZDNYAKOV
Though it could be confused with something to eat, what French word is used in fencing for a stamp of the foot that is used to upset an opponent’s rhythm?
APPEL
Whittipedia 