# Darth Vader at the Olympics! Fencing with light sabers is now a sport **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2019, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/darth-vader-at-the-olympics-fencing-with-light-sabers-is-now-a-sport/830937 "2019-03-11T09:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/darth-vader-at-the-olympics-fencing-with-light-sabers-is-now-a-sport/830937/1 "2019-03-11T09:12:04Z")
Yes, kids, it’s true! You weren’t just playing around with annoying plastic flashlights… you were training for a serious competitive sport. It’s official: " the French Fencing Federation elevated lightsabers to the same status as foils, epees, and sabers." [http://time.com/5531786/lightsaber-dueling-sport-france/](http://time.com/5531786/lightsaber-dueling-sport-france/) Next up, I assume: making it an Olympic sport, with athletes wearing Darth Vader costumes. What national anthem will they play? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/darth-vader-at-the-olympics-fencing-with-light-sabers-is-now-a-sport/830937/2 "2019-03-11T09:32:46Z")
Isn’t kendo already pretty much the real-world version of lightsaber combat? Hell, the competitors already look like Sith lords in their costumes. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/darth-vader-at-the-olympics-fencing-with-light-sabers-is-now-a-sport/830937/3 "2019-03-11T17:06:58Z")
Well, I’ve watched young people who don’t get out much playing Quidditch, so why not? There has to be a “What next?” thread here… j ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/darth-vader-at-the-olympics-fencing-with-light-sabers-is-now-a-sport/830937/4 "2019-03-11T23:01:57Z")
If contestants are required to build their own lightsabers, then their skills are complete and indeed they are powerful. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/darth-vader-at-the-olympics-fencing-with-light-sabers-is-now-a-sport/830937/5 "2019-03-12T00:34:19Z")
Oh. Disappointed. I thought it might be laser tag. which you could actually do, and would be a technically difficult sport. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/darth-vader-at-the-olympics-fencing-with-light-sabers-is-now-a-sport/830937/6 "2019-03-12T22:38:44Z")
Okay, I see two major problems with this. One, ‘real’ lightsabers are a bit ‘sticky’ - you can’t slide one lightsaber down the blade of another, even if they hit at an angle. I am doubtful that combat with plastic replicas can replicate that attribute of _proper_ lightsaber combat. And secondly and most importantly - _it’s not sudden death!_ You can thwack your opponent in the side of the head twice and still lose! That’s absurd! There’s not a single instance in the theatrical canon of a person taking a strike to any part of their body and winning the combat. Surviving, yes. Winning, no. If you’re going to do this, do it right, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/darth-vader-at-the-olympics-fencing-with-light-sabers-is-now-a-sport/830937/7 "2019-03-16T00:19:39Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Isn’t kendo already pretty much the real-world version of lightsaber combat? > > Hell, the competitors already look like Sith lords in their costumes. That was my thought, as well. When _Episode V_ came out, the local paper had an article about the guy who taught and choreographed the fencing. Basically, he was an expert in several sword styles and was leaning heavily on Kendo for the Star Wars stuff. It seems to me that, if the French made their ‘new’ sport into an exhibition piece at their olympics (like Australia making trampoline-jumping their summer exhibition piece) they’d end up getting rather overshadowed by veteran Dan-level Kendo-ka adapting their bouts to fit the French time and point systems. –G! - I think maybe the same guy was later featured – perhaps just an updated article – when Conan came out a couple years later.