The 2012 Games was not Fencing’s finest moment. Just ask Shin A Lam (KOR).
The incident highlighted a gap in the rules and equipment related to timing of the match.
The FIE will vote in this year’s Congress on the following rules change:
Motivation: After the incident in London, there is a proposal to change the rules so that also milliseconds are
shown on the chronometer and that the referee controls the time-keeping in the last minute. There is an initial
proposal from Swiss Timing to have the command ”Allez” being given by the machine.
Proposals of the Commission:
- Chronometers showing 100th of seconds should be introduced,
- The referee should be able to manually set the time to the previous time with precision of 100th of a
second, - The referee should operate the time-keeping during the last minute,
- The remote control for the referee should be simplified to make it easier to handle and should operate
with radio and not IR-signal, - Any oral commands should be given by the referee and not by the machine
- Introduction of this system should be made step by step, beginning with the World Championships
and the Olympic Games.
Opinion of the Refereeing, Promotion Commissions and Coaches Council: In favour. These proposals
should be submitted to the SEMI Commission for approval and preparation of the corresponding texts
into the Rules.
Opinion of the Refereeing Commission: in favor