6 countries are on track to enter the maximum of 2 fencers per country in the 2012 Olympic Men’s Epee event.
With the conclusion of the African Zonal championships for Men’s Individual Epee, the picture for Olympic Qualification becomes a bit clearer. The zonal events that were held this month offer Grand Prix points (1.5 x normal points) that count towards the Adjusted Olympic Rankings (AOR) for entry into the 2012 Olympic Games.
The qualification process for the 2012 Olympics is detailed in our overview article.
The top-12 in the Olympic Rankings (AOR) are dominated by European fencers, who command 9 of the 12 spots. On the outs is Alfredo Rota (ITA) who would be the 12th fencer with an automatic bid, but as the 3rd ranked Italian he’s shut out. Paolo Pizzo (ITA) and Matteo Tagliariol (ITA) are ranked 7th and 8th in the AOR. Since each country can send a maximum of 2 fencers, Rota would need a good showing at the World Championships to get back on track to a 4th Olympics.
Leading the qualification standings is Max Heinzer (SUI) who is currently ranked 8th in the rolling FIE standings. Heinzer had a strong result at the Euros plus won the Berne Grand Prix to take the top spot over current FIE #1 Gauthier Grumier (FRA). Grumier’s 22nd place finish at the Euros dropped him down to the 2nd spot in qualifying.
Pan American Champion Soren Thompson (USA) is the top non-European in the qualification standings, coming in at 3rd. Also ranking in the top-12 is Ruben Limardo (VEN). Limardo’s current 11th place slot in the AOR allows his teammate Silvio Fernandez (VEN) to hold one of the two American Zonal spots for qualification. The other goes to 2008 Olympian Seth Kelsey (USA).
The Asian Zone has one fencer in the top-12 as 2011 Asian Champion Jin Sun Jung (KOR) slots in at 10th. Joining Jung right now would be Guojie Li (CHN) and Elmir Alimzhanov (KAZ) who also performed well in the Asian zonal event.
Alexandre Bouzaid (SEN) uses his 1st place finish at the African Zonal event to garner one of Africa’s two zonal spots. The other goes to Egypt’s Ayman Alaa El Din Fayz.
Of special note is that the current FIE #3, Nikolai Novosjolov (EST) would have to fight in the European Zonal Qualifying event. The 2010 World Champion finished as disappointing 24th at the European Championships, hurting his cause.
Attached here is a spreadsheet of the current Olympic Qualification Standings, compiled from the points earned at events that count towards qualification for 2012. In the Overview tab is the key to the color highlights. The meat of this is in the Qualification tab, which has the fencers ranked by their current point totals and includes a column with their FIE World Rank as of 7/22/11. There are tabs for each individual tournament as well.
The next event is the 2011 World Championships, which is worth double points compared to a normal world cup. For the European fencers, a strong result here can really shake up the rankings.
2012 Olympic Qualification Spreadsheet: Men’s Individual Epee
