Nothing succeeds like success

Another congratulations is due to Richard Kruse who came second in a Grand Prix in St. Petersburg today. It is another fantastic result and takes British Fencing up to 7 Senior World Cup and Grand Prix medals this World Cup season, topping last year’s 5 – not that we’re counting or anything!

What’s more, the medals have come from four different fencers across all three weapons: foil, epee and sabre. All of these great results inspire healthy competition and desire amongst the team. It is motivating and creates incentive for betterment across the weapons. Well done Ricardo.

Wenlock & Mandeville - 2012 Mascots

The London Olympic 2012 mascots have been revealed as Wenlock and Mandeville. These strange little one-eyed creatures will be all over Britain for the next two years and I’m not entirely sure what to make of them. Check out this cartoon clip which tells you the story of how they came about: http://www.london2012.com/mascots.

According to the mail Online, Wenlock is named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock where, in the mid-19th century, the Wenlock Games became one of the inspirations of the modern Olympic movement. Mandeville’s name is derived from Stoke Mandeville, home to Stoke Mandeville hospital. Their metallic appearance is said to be due to the fact that they came from the last drops of steel left over from the Olympic stadium when it was made in Bolton.

Although at first I found them a little unnerving with their Cyclopes like features, I’ve actually come to find them quite endearing. Just like it took me a while to adjust to the official 2012 Olympic logo when it first came out, I’m sure these little cretins will grow on me.

Apparently the orange light bearing the W and M on top of their foreheads are said to represent taxi/cab lights and the rings that they carry around their wrists represent friendship bracelets. I like the fact that the lights have been incorporated into the mascots as black cabs are a huge part of London identity.

Love them or hate them, they are different and original. The 2012 Olympic logo also dared to be different and that is a good thing. I think the new mascots will help engage young people and encourage more kids to participate in sport.

The Winning Mindset

Congratulations to Laurence Halsted and Chrystall Nicoll on their respective bronze medals in Tokyo and Koblenz – it’s great to see team mates doing so well and it also raises the bar for the rest of us to follow suit. I definitely feel inspired by their performances and want a taste of their glory! They received coverage of their results on the BBC website which is nice to see, and rightly so. Fencing is gaining in respect and exposure in the national press and it will only improve in the build up to 2012. Here is the link for it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/fencing/8687701.stm

This is the best international season British Fencing have had so far and as Chrystall says in the BBC sports section, she now ‘expects’ the best from herself. Before, we were members of an underdog team, and too many times we were edged into defeat because we didn’t ‘expect’ to win. Now that British Fencing has developed a winning mindset & has grown in confidence and in strength, I cannot see us losing momentum. I am sure that this shift in mindset will deliver results.

Asian travels

Last week I came back from a 10 day trip to Shanghai and Seoul after fencing in respective World Cup and Grand Prix competitions. It was a positive trip in many ways, and I was really happy with our team performance. As a team, we’re not often in the same place at one time, and we learned a lot from being together and fencing over a longer period of time than we usually get in Europe. It allowed us the chance to develop and grow stronger as a team.

I really enjoyed being in Asia. We arrived in China as it was welcoming the world to the Shanghai Expo. Beautiful lights adorned the main streets and needless to say, the view from my hotel room on the 13th floor was quite special! The Expo began the day we arrived and will run on over the next six months. I must admit, I enjoyed Shanghai a great deal more this time around. When I first visited with the team in 2007, I found the place abrasive and difficult to make sense of. This year, however, with the preparations for the Expo in full swing and a collective effort to make tourists and foreigners feel welcome, I sensed a definite change. Everybody was warm and hospitable and restaurants and shops were much more accessible. We had some wonderful meals in China and I particularly enjoyed the Korean BBQ’s in Seoul... although here’s hoping we weren’t eating dog meat!

BBC 1 News

Hello everybody! I’m finally back and updating my blog... I wanted to post a blog about the news piece I did for BBC 1 on 26th April. It was a piece that tied in well with my Evening Standard article about funding cuts and their consequent danger to the development of grass roots sports. Click on the link below and check out Adrian Warner's blog which features a video of the news clip:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adrianwarner/2010/04/why_do_2012_hopefuls_need_to_e.html
I was delighted to hear that it had been televised on BBC 1 numerous times throughout the day. I had no idea it would get so much coverage and I am grateful for that. It helps create awareness and encourage people to debate and acknowledge the issue. I know there are many athletes in the same position as me who are having to go down the private sponsorship road and so, it is uplifting to see my story out there for people to discuss.

I had great fun working alongside Adrian Warner (BBC London’s Olympics Correspondent) for the day. He was extremely supportive of fencing and is fed up of seeing mainstream sports such as football steal all the limelight. He seemed genuinely interested in reporting on fencing and backed up my non-elitist convictions regarding the sport... now there’s cause for another news piece! Pushing my luck? Yeah. Probably!

All in all, it was a positive day and experience. I feel heartened by the amount of support and generosity people have shown me over the last year or so, and I am once again particularly grateful to all of my sponsors. I will try hard to justify your faith in me over the next couple of years.

Also, thanks to Graham Watts (British Fencing’s performance director) who gave an excellent interview at short notice. I think it was important to have him there, and he made a positive difference to the feature. I know my dad’s cameo appearance was also appreciated by many!