En Garde, World

Walk past the front desk of the MAC. Take a left through the doors, walk down an office-filled hallway, and go through the imposingly heavy metal entrance. Hike up two flights of steep stairs.

Surrounded by a floor full of large weight lifters and girls addicted to exercise bikes is a long rectangular room steeped in history. Black and white pictures of fencers hang below crimson-colored flags. Alongside them are old helmets and rusting swords in a scene straight out of Camelot, crossed in artistic display.

But electronic strips lying on the floor underscore the fact that fencing isn’t King Arthur’s pastime anymore. Now a highly technical sport, fencing has become increasingly popular, particularly after a stunning U.S. showing at the Summer 2008 Olympics. In Beijing, the American women’s teams performed unexpectedly well, sweeping the individual saber events.

American fencing in Beijing also saw a silver medal in the women’s team foil event—a win that came as a complete surprise to most who follow fencing. Then again, even Harvard students unfamiliar with the sport might have been unsurprised at the win once learning that it belonged to Emily R. Cross ’08-’10, a member of the Harvard fencing team who has long proven her ability to perform under stressful conditions.