Moscow

Я люблю Москву

Last weekend, we, the GB Men's Senior Sabre team were in Moscow.  Warned of temperatures as low as -15 degrees Centigrade we'd all packed pretty heavily.  As it was, keeping cool was more of an issue than keeping warm! We were lucky in that it was never really below -5 outside, despite the 6ft of snow piled up next to the road and the fact it snowed each day we were there, but everywhere you went inside the heating was on full blast, even our room which had no obvious radiator or alternative heat source. So while we were able to deal with the cold, the heat, Moscow's extortionate prices (Moscow is the second most expensive city in the world after Tokyo), even the basic accomodation provided in our hotel, one thing near impossible to circumnavigate was Moscow's traffic.  I do not know how the city functions! It appears as though Moscovites have no regard for road traffic laws, traffic lights and junctions.  It took us 2 hours to get from the airport to the hotel, around 45 minutes to get the venue each morning and around 1 hour 45 minutes to get back - we later discoverd it was a distance of four metro stops, or around 5km.  Even going to bed in our room on the 25th floor we were cerenaded by the dulcit tones of car horns and the occasional 'smash' as a couple of vehicles collided.  

The venue: more like a Bond villan's hide-out than arena

The hotel itself did the job and little else.  Most confusingly we were due to stay in the Hotel Aquarium, or so the Russian provided details told us, however the bus dropped us at the Hotel Astrus, and that is where we stayed, the only indication that this might be the same hotel being on a pen at the alternative desk we had to use to check in.  I have included a couple of pictures from the hotel below so that, in case you had thought otherwise, you can see the glamourous lives we international athletes live. 

The competition itself did not go quite to plan.  I did not fence particularly well during the individual event and contrived to win no hits in the middle 4m of the piste and also go behind in each fight.  Unfortunately my team mates did not do too much better than me and no-one made the business end of the competition, the last 64 on the second day.  The results haven't been what we would have wanted this season so far, but I am sure we can redress this in the second half of the season, when it counts towards Olympic Qualification.  We therefore had a day off on the Saturday before the team event and for once did a little sightseeing.  We took the Metro down to Red Square where we all posed in front of St Basel's Cathedral, saw the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum and also ventured into GUM - perhaps the most expensive and beautiful shopping centre I've ever been in.  We also featured in some sort of video saying the words Я люблю Москву (I love Moscow). 

Great Britain have not entered a Men's Sabre Team into an event for a year, despite it being an Olympic discipline, because of funding issues.  So with no ranking, but determined to do well Alex O'Connell, Neil Hutchison, James Honeybone and I took to the piste on the Sunday.  We fenced a tricky Japanese team in the last 32, overcame the differnce in seeding, hit them hard at the start, opened up a big lead and comfortably closed out the match.  In the last 16 we fenced a German side that included the World Number 1, and one which had come second at the last two World Cups, and despite another strong start the Germans were able to pull away at the end.  China, the 5th seeds, were our opponents in the first play off match, a team which included the 2008 Olympic Champion.  Again we started the match very strongly and were 30-30 before the Chinese's greater experience began to show and they pulled away to win 45-35.  After that match we had to pick ourselves up quickly to fence Iran.  This time there was a very different pressure on us, we felt we had to win and perhaps constricted by this got embroiled in a close match and survived a late Iranian comeback to win 45-44.  This led to a clash with perennial opponents Poland.  Unfortunately on the day Poland had a little too much for us and we lost 45-36 ending up 14th. A very respectable position considering we started the day as bottom seeds and certainly something we will be looking to build on in the future.  

I spent most of the team day as the reserve, subbing on from the bench, which means that I did not get to fence as much as I'd have liked to.  Subbing on is always difficult as generally you are trying to turn around a match, and I came on to fence Limbach (World Number 1), Hartung (former Cadet and Junior World Champion), Zhong (Olympic Champion) and Koniusz (European Olympic Qualifier winner and top 25 fencer) - certainly not easy opponents.  Now I need to get myself in the position where I'll be starting these matches.  

Breakfast!

Our room on the 25th Floor