 Fencing
Review of Team GB Action on Saturday 17th January
Team GB won 27 medals today (11 gold, 5 silver, 11 bronze) to bring the total at the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival up to 46 medals (18 gold, 9 silver, 19 bronze)
Team GB capped off their successful participation in the fencing competition by winning both gold medals in the team events today, in addition to their gold medals in the individual events yesterday.
“This was way more than what I’d expected from the team,” Team GB fencing Team Leader Graham Watts said. “I expected us to medal because we are such a strong team but to win all the gold medals is just absolutely fantastic.”
The women’s team (Elisa Albini - Italy, Caitlin Chang - Harrogate, Corinna Lawrence and Hannah Lawrence – both Manchester) event gold medal match between Great Britain and Australia was a one-sided affair.
Great Britain led from the second bout onwards, stretching their lead with every bout fought and in the end, Corinna Lawrence sealed the team’s win in the last bout with the final score at 45-20.
“We’re really proud to win the gold medal because we pulled together really well today to fence as a team,” Corinna Lawrence said. “We couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
“Everyone on the team worked really well and took the pressure off each other.”
“In the first few rounds we made a couple of silly mistakes occasionally but in the last two matches we were faultless,” Hannah Lawrence said.
“I’m really pleased to be part of this team – I’m so proud of our achievements today.” Chang added.
Despite the men’s gold medal match being a closer affair than the women’s one, the team of Lukas Kuhlmey (Amersham), Benjamin White (Andover), Jonathan May (London) and Jason Retter (Torquay) proved to be too strong for their Australian opponents and they won 45-37.
“After losing to Malaysia in the pool rounds we had to fence them again in the direct elimination round so we went in with a much more coherent game plan,” Retter said.
“We were fairly confident against the Australians and we felt that we had them scared so we took control early.”
“We have all known each other for a long time and we travel a lot together as a team and really get on, so that makes us tough opposition. It really showed today in our team performance.” May added.
The teams results were even more impressive when you consider that the whole squad is completely un-funded. C Lawrence has been self-funding her fencing training since September, on her student loan, and commented:
“I’m eager to see what the decision will be at the end of the month regarding fencing’s future funding. I can’t keep paying for all my training and preparations and if we don’t get funding or I can’t get a personal sponsor I’ll have to give up the sport which is such a shame considering the results we have attained here. I really hope that the potential within this squad is recognised.”
http://www.olympics.com.au/">Australian Youth Olympic festival
|
