Empire State Women Win Fencing Silver
by Josh Gerstein
Sat, 16 Aug 2008 at 12:31 PM
Three Empire State natives brought home the Silver for America today in women's foil fencing by upsetting teams from Hungary and Poland, but the U.S. squad missed out on the gold by falling to Russia tonight in Beijing.
The medals for Emily Cross, 21, of Manhattan, Erinn Smart, 28, of Brooklyn, and Hanna Thompson, 24, of Rochester, are the first ever won by American women in Olympic foil fencing and the first for any American in an Olympic foil event since 1960.
"Everything just clicked today," Cross told reporters tonight.
"It's surreal," Smart said. "We worked very hard this year and we've been close to beating all these teams and we've always lost by one point or two points. And it finally came together today."
The day began with a squeaker in which the American women barely eked out a victory over No. 2-seeded Poland, 31-30, thanks in large part to a seven-point streak by Thompson. Then, in another close contest, the No. 7-seeded American team upset No.3-seeded Hungary, 35-33. That match moved decisively in the Americans' favor, with a score of 33-19 heading into the final bout, between Smart and Aida Mohamed of Hungary. In that encounter, Smart gave away some 14 touches to Mohamed, almost dropping the match to Hungary, before pulling it out in the final minutes.
Smart said she realized she would have been in the doghouse if she blew that kind of lead. "I would have had my teammates kill me," she said with a laugh. "It was nice to just get that final point at the end."
With the win over Hungary, the American women knew they were guaranteed the historic silver medal and they still had a chance to upset Russia for the gold. The Americans held up well against the Russians through the first three bouts, holding them to a 4-4 tie, but the Americans were virtually shut out for the next five bouts. Cross scored six touches in the final bout, but her opponent, Svetlana Boyko, managed eight, giving Russia a decisive win, 28-11. Cross, who will be a senior at Harvard this year, looked a bit teary-eyed as she left the piste and at the medal ceremony a few minutes later.
"The Russians are just a strong team and they're obviously exceptionally tall, so trying get touches off of them … is difficult. One they got a lead, it's really hard to catch up, obviously," Thompson said.
The American women's coach, Michael Pederson, had a similar take. "There's a momentum that builds up and you have to find some way to stop that momentum and Russia they really didn't give us a moment to find that," he said. "They controlled the distance, their actions and tactics. They did a really … good job with their side of the bout."
Pederson acknowledged "a little bit of a scare" in Smart's final bout with Hungary. He said he considered replacing her for the gold medal match but decided to stay with the starting lineup. "We talked to her during the break and during the warm up and she was looking pretty strong, pretty confident in her action," Pederson said.
In the final match, the Americans had to cope with some taunting from rowdy Russian fans in the stands. Some hoisting Russian flags chanted "U.S.A., U.S.A." in what seemed to be a sarcastic fashion whenever the Americans made an error or gave away a touch.
"Russia's such a strong team, they have so much experience, that they're tough to hit and we, you know, held it together and then, a little bit, kind of hesitated," Smart said. "You know you want to rush, get points, but they're a team that you really can't do that with…We lost to the world champion No. 1 team, so it's not bad."
Italy ended up with the Bronze in women's foil by dispatching Hungary, 32-23.
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