Fencing is going to be at the Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 from August 9 to 17.

So I’ve been hearing terms like piste and FIE. What do these terms mean?

Well, piste is the term for the area where the fencing takes place. This playing area is 14 meters long and between 1.2 and 2 meters wide. Fencing champion Emily Cross was asked in an interview what she thought of getting rid of the narrow piste and having a more square area of play. She thought that might be interesting and really change the strategy.

And what is FIE? That stands for Federation Internationale d’Escrime (International Federation of Fencing).

Here is a list of the 2008 Olympic fencing events. I think it will be really fun to watch, don’t you?