Olympics: Japan's fencing success in Paris forged over decades

Once a country exclusively focused on succeeding in foil fencing, a decade-long shift to nurturing talent across all weapons catapulted Japan to a record tally of five medals at the Paris Olympics, including two gold.Japan's first Olympic fencer, Shinichi Maki, fought in foil at the 1952 Helsinki Games before a fourth-place team finish at the 1964 Tokyo Games motivated domestic youth development to focus on foil for the nearly half-century that followed.With the torso being the only valid target in foil fencing, the event has been seen as a discipline to which the meticulous approach of Jap…READ FULL ARTICLE