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Women's Sabre Team USA in Beijing
 

Team USA Sweeps medals at Beijing Olympics!

all photos by Serge Timacheff, fencingphotos.com

Zagunis battles team-mate Sada Jacobson for the gold. Zagunis wins 15-8.

    
A single tear rolls down Mariel's cheek.    Silver, gold and bronze for team USA.

 
Ward wins bronze in a closely contest match 15-14.

Articles & Video clips:

See video highlights of gold, silver, bronze matches from NBC, click here
See the gold medal match video from NBC, click here
See the bronze medal classification match Jacobson USA Vs Velikaya RUS, Ward USA Vs Zagunis USA , Ward USA Vs Velikaya RUS from NBC, also nice highlight from gold medal match, best video so far showing Mariel right after match with coach Ed Korfanty and hugging her mom and brothers, click here
Video clip of Rebecca Ward explaining what happened to win her bronze and how she pulled it together for the US Sweep, click here

Zagunis Wins Gold, US Women Sweep Medals: Mariel Zagunis reclaimed the gold medal in a repeat of her 2004 performance. Zagunis defeated teammate Sada Jacobson 15-8 to claim the gold medal. The US women completed an historic sweep of the medals as teammate Rebecca Ward earlier won the bronze medal match. Zagunis controlled her bout from the outset using a variety of stutter-step attacks and quick ripostes that took Jacobson out of her comfort zone. Several times in the bout, Sada worked to close the gap, but we never able to get closer than 2 points from her teammate. click here to read complete article by Craig Harkins.

Zagunis wins Gold, leads U.S. Sweep in Fencing Event: article and photos from USA Today, click here

Zagunis Leads US Sweep in Fencing event: Great article and photos.  read article from AP Sportswriter Noah Trister on Yahoo Sports,

Chicago Tribune article: Mariel Zagunis Wins First US Gold, leading sweep in Fencing, click here

NY Daily News article: Mariel Zagunis Wins First Gold For U.S. Leading Sweep in Women's sabre, click here

NY Times article: First U.S. Gold of '08 Comes in Fencing, click here

Oregon Fencer Has Golden Touch: The Oregonian article from the front page (Mariel and Becca's hometown paper), click here

Sports Illustrated Kids article: First US Gold goes to fencing Team's Zagunis, click here

Sports Business Daily article: Nike Scores Big With Fencing, click here

Quotes from Olympic winners Zagunis, Jacobson and Ward from the USFA Press Release website, click here

U.S. Fencing Assoc. press release: USA Sweeps Medals in Indiviual Women's Sabre, click here

Washington Post Article with 3 cool  photos: In Fencing, U.S. Women Pull Off Historic Sweep, Former President Bush . . ., click here

VIDEO CLIP - Interview with the winners from Yahoo Sport called  Meet the Golden Girls. click here then click on video link.

NBCOlympics.com gallery of photos of medal ceremony for Women's Individual sabre, click here

NBCOlympics.com gallery of photos of Mariel Zagunis's winning the gold medal, click here

Sabre Women get United States on Medal Board:  article from MSNBC. click here to read article and see the photo
 

Ward Completes Sweep for U.S. Women: Rebecca Ward won a closely contested bronze medal bout to complete the sweep of the women's sabre medals by the United States.  Early in the match, Velikaya had stayed ahead.  Ward admitted that she was a bit hung up on her semifinal loss to Mariel Zagunis but pulled through in the end with a 15-14 victory over Velikaya. click here to read complete article by Craig Harkins

Medals Guaranteed :  The United States will bring home at least 2 medals tonight and are positioned for a possible sweep as the event concludes tonight at the Fencing Hall in Beijing. All 3 US fencers advanced in their quarterfinal matches to reach the semifinals.  Becca Ward (Portland, Ore.) edged Azza Besbes of Tunisia by a 15-14 score and now will face teammate and reigning Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), who defeated Bao Yingying of China 15-9. Sada Jacobson (Dunwoody, Ga.) scored a 15-11 victory over Olena Khomrova of the Ukraine to move to the semifinals, where she will face Sofiya Velikaya of Russia. click here to read complete article by Craig Harkins of Fencing.net

Jacobson Rallies as Americans Advance: Sada Jacobson was down early to Ukraine's Olga Kharlan but rallied to win the bout 15-13 in the round of 32 at the Olympic Women's Sabre event.Kharlan took 5 straight points to lead early in the match 5-1.  Unable to put together a rally of her own, Jacobson entered the 2nd period down by three points at 8-5. Jacobson adjusted her distance and used a wide range of actions to take 7 straight points and a 13-9 lead. click here to read complete article by Craig Harkins of fencing.net

US Women's Sabre Squad Advance to Quarterfinal: Read article and see a couple of great photos from Beijing Birdnest

Americans Advance to Top 16: All three Americans advance to the round of 16 in the women's sabre event.  Jacobson and Zagunis advance outright and Ward advances on an injury withdrawal when her opponent pulled a muscle in her arm. Sada Jacobson started her first bout off close at 3-2 before running off a couple of points to 5-2.  Gonzalez draws Sada down the strip and turns the corner with an attack to close to 3-5.  Sada responds for 6-3. click here to read complete article by Craig Harkins of fencing.net

Round of 64 - Women's Sabre: The Olympic Fencing events are underway!  Early action is complete as all of the round of 64 matches are blowouts, with the winners earning the right to face off against the tournament's top seeds. In the first round of 64 match to get moving, Wieckowska of Poland storms out to a 4-0 lead vs. Byrne of Ireland.  Byrne gets on the scoreboard with a slow attack and then followes it up with an attempt at another one, but is caught with her arm back. click here to read complete article by Craig Harkins of fencing.net

Best Scream Heard Round Beijing: great photo and blurb about Mariel's victory scream. LA Times article & photo

The lead up to Beijing:
 

Jacobson Positioned For Rematch, Gold

Getting Mentally Ready for Olympic Fencing