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The Olympics are back. You've spent the last four years waiting for the mega event, where you get to blindly root for your country in sports you otherwise pay no attention to.
About those sports ... what's going on with them and what do you need to know before you turn them on?
We can help you with that.
The Olympics is the best time to hop into a new sport and fall in love with something you knew nothing about prior to the Opening Ceremonies. It's the beauty of The Games, but it does help to have some clue going into it just so you're not confused. Let us introduce you to some of these sports:
When can I watch?
Italy's Andrea Baldini (L) fights against Race Imboden (R) of the U.S. during the final round of the men's team foil competition at the 2013 World Fencing Championships in Budapest.
Aug. 6-14
Why should I watch?
Swordfighting is awesome. There's a reason everyone wanted to be a pirate as a kid (you know, before the rum became another huge selling point). The only downside to playing with swords is death, but fencing eliminates that. No one gets hurt, and it's scored pretty easily so there's no problem following along with things. Just imagine being 8 years old again, put your bandana on, grab a plastic sword and tune in to people who would definitely take Jack Sparrow out.
Do you have a video? A video might help:
Can you explain the rules in a minute?
There are three kinds of fencing: sabre, foil and epee. The Olympics has men's and women's individual competitions for all three and team competitions (so country vs. country) for two of them. Which team competition is left out rotates each Olympics, and in 2016 there will be no men's team sabre or women's team foil.
The sabre is a light sword that you can cut and thrust with, and you can score a point for hitting the opponent pretty much anywhere above the waist. It's by far the best competition and is for real pirate swordfighting. The foil is a light sword you can only thrust with, and the only points come for hitting the torso. The epee is a heavy sword for thrusting only, and the whole body is a fair target.
Individual matches are played to 15 points in three periods that go three minutes each. If time expires and no one has 15 points, the person with the most points wins. In team competition, there are nine periods, and the first to 45 points or the highest point total after all the periods wins. Each team uses three fencers, and they rotate throughout. Basically, they try to cut each other to 15 (individual), 45 (team) or until time runs out.
Are the Americans any good at this?
Traditionally, the U.S. hasn't been that good at fencing. The men haven't had an individual medalist since 1984, but they did take the silver in the team sabre eight years ago and have the second-ranked teams in the sabre and foil. That's becayse of Alexander Massialas and Gerek Meinhardt, the first- and fourth-ranked fencers in the world at foil, while Daryl Homer and Eli Dershwitz are in the top 12 in sabre.
French Julien Mertine (L) competes against Team USA's Race Imboden in the men's team foil fencing semifinal event in Paris on Jan. 19, 2014.
On the women's side, the Americans have been a lot better. Mariel Zagunis won the gold in sabre in 2004 and 2008, the first two Games that had women's sabre, and the U.S. swept the medal stand in 2008. The U.S. took bronze in the team competition that year, as well as silver in the foil, and bronze in the epee four years ago. The American women are third in foil heading into the Olympics, fourth in sabre and seventh in epee with Lee Kiefer leading the way for the U.S. team in foil and two-time gold medalist Zagunis ranked third in the sabre.
In all, the U.S. is sending 10 fencers to Rio who have medaled in World Championships. We're on the come up.
Who are the favorites?
The Italians are usually very good and should be strong again this year. The Ukranians and Hungarians are good on the men's side, too, but Russia has the top fencers around. It has three of the top ranked teams in the world and is a threat in every event. But the Americans are right there and have their own stars in Massialas and Zagunis.
