Fencing: History maker's sharp lesson

By EUGENE BINGHAM

The crushing of an Olympic dream is a cruel sight.

Jessica Beer, making history as New Zealand's first female Olympic fencer, learned last night how pressure can do strange things.

She woke up yesterday feeling refreshed, warmed up well, but not long after pulling on her mask in the individual epee elimination round her confidence vanished.

Struggling for words and wiping away tears, Beer tried to explain what happened after losing 8-15 in her first-round bout.

"I definitely have it in me. It's not that I'm not good enough, I just didn't ... 10 minutes ago ... out there."

She lost to Greek Dimitra Magkanoudaki, who trained with Beer in Paris just weeks ago.

It was a bout she knew she could win. Instead, her Olympic experience was over halfway through the second of the three three-minute rounds.

When they entered the playing area, Beer looked commanding, with almost 10cm of extra height over Magkanoudaki.

The silver fern on her left thigh drew cheers from the members of the New Zealand team who had come to support her.

She fought aggressively - perhaps too much so.

"I wasn't very smart in my aggression. I should have taken more time. I should have been using my length but I wasn't confident in my moves and so I wasn't using the greater length.

"Especially once they get a lead, you feel you have to do something. It's hard to say, 'No, I've got six minutes, I can do it in my time, not in her time'."

Such is the Olympics.

The pressure can overcome an athlete and force her to do things she knows she should not.

For Beer, a 24-year-old from Auckland who went to Europe to improve her fencing ability, last night was the end of a dream.