You'll rarely,

if ever, see it on television, but the Olympic sport of fencing has made

it to the Southside and a Fayette County resident has made it to world-class

status with her sword.

Amelia Gaillard

of Fayetteville, a 19-year-old graduate of the Counterpane School, competes

in the women's sabre division and is currently ranked sixth in the United

States and 27th in the world. Among those under the age of 20, those ranking

move to third nationally and 10th internationally.

She trains

at Nellya Fencers in Forest Park. She and two of her teammates there make

up three-fourths of the U.S. women's sabre team that won the gold medal

in the World Cup in New York in June. The team also won a gold medal in

France in March. The coach at Nellya Fencers, Arkady Burdan, was named

U.S. Fencing's Elite Coach of the Year in 2002.

For now, Gaillard

is training six days a week with an eye toward possibly going to the Senior

World Championships in Havana this fall as an alternate. She has already

competed in Cuba this summer, and her athletic prowess has taken her in

recent years throughout Europe and North America, beginning with her first

interntational meet in Montreal at the age of 13, where she finished in

the top eight.

A Fayette County

resident since she was three years old, she began fencing for the first

time at 6, but she didn't really like it. At 11, she was encouraged by

her teacher, whose daughter was participating, to try again, and this

time she stayed with it.

Fencing consists

of three major types epee, foil and sabre. After starting with foil, Gaillard

switched to sabre at 13, the same time she began competing internationally.

"Sabre

is a little faster," she said, adding that more slash-and-cut moves

are done with this type, whereas the point of the weapon is used more

with epee and foil.

According to

www.fencing.org, the sabre is the modern version of the slashing cavalry

sword, and is similar in length and weight to the foil. The major difference

is that the sabre is a thrusting weapon as well as a cutting weapon (use

of the blade). The target area is from the bend of the hips (both front

and back), to the top of the head, simulating the cavalry rider on a horse.

The sabre fencer's

uniform includes a metallic jacket (lamé), which covers the target

area to register a valid touch on the scoring machine. The mask is different

from foil and épée, with a metallic covering since the head

is valid target area.

Just as in

foil, there are two scoring lights on the machine. One shows a green light

when a fencer is hit, and one shows a red light when the opponent has

hit. Off-target hits do not register on the machine.

Gaillard placed

seventh in the Summer National Championships earlier this month in Austin,

Tex., according to the Web site.

Women's sabre

will be an Olympic sport for the first time next year, but there will

be no team competition, Gaillard said. Only the top two Americans in the

sport will participate. She hopes that will change for the 2008 Games.

In the meantime,

there is college to consider, and most sports fans in the southern United

States are unaware of the existence of some outstanding college fencing

programs in this country. Gaillard plans to enter Ohio State University

in the fall of 2004, after taking a year off from studying, and she also

considered Penn State and St. John's before making that decision.

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