| At a Glance DVD Version... |
| Fencing quality: |
***** |
| Production quality: |
***** |
| View of strip: |
***** |
| Overall quality: |
***** |
| Duration: |
1 hr 10 m |
Watch the only Foil fencer in the World to win three straight World Championships -- and hear his comments NOW ON DVD!!!!!.
- 3 World Championship Finals 1997, 1998, 1999
- Bout Comments by Sergei
- Entertaining and insightful
Sergei Goulubitsky was born in 1969 in Kiev, Ukraine.
He began fencing at the age of 10, and is today considered the best foilist ever.
He has won three consecutive World Championships and is a five times World Cup
Winner. He has a record nineteen World Cup Victories, including countless
second and third place finishes.
Review
Some fencers couldn't make a tape like this, and it doesn't matter how galactically successful they are as fencers. Whether they're National or Olympic level, these "world-class commoners" are just aren't worth studying. Watching, fer sure, but not studying.
Their tactics are expedient, their improvisations successful — but there's nothing you wouldn't have done in their place. And, if you were fresh, you probably could have done it better. You've dealt their parries, you've formulated their attacks. So what? These fencers do things harder and faster than ordinary fencers, and so there's really nothing to see except the bout. They don't have it.
(You know these tapes. Your long-suffering Significant Other passes through the room and says, "You practice 6 days a week to do that!?")
Golubitsky has it.
If you're looking for a contemporary "screen-dump of a champion fencer's mind", Sergei Golubitsky Golden Bouts is as close as it comes. The tape begins with a collection of video snippets of Golubitsky fencing, against a hard-rock guitar song. Then Golubitsky, with easy, conversational English, gives a short introduction: Thank you for buying this tape... I'd like to share with you my emotions and my visions, and I hope we have fun together. ...I hope some of [my comments] will be quite funny... Grab a bag of chips.
He then discusses each of his 3 gold medal World Championship bouts as they play onscreen. The video quality couldn't be better — professional sports quality, great lighting, different angles, slow-motion replays. These bouts also feature sports commentators from the original broadcasts, announcers who give an educated running commentary as the actions unfold.
Golubitsky is at the top of his game, fit, fast, smart... quite good... (as you watch and watch)... very good. Golubitsky is possibly even a generational rarity, like Romankov or Nadi. He is a clean fencer, pleasant to watch, and he's fantastically well trained. Like other, more common fencers, his tactical decisions are invariably your decisions, but not always because he does what you'd do. His actions become yours because they recommend themselves to you.
This is the secondary value of the tape. Plop it into your VCR, settle back, watch the fencing. When you stand up again, you will have new ideas. You'll be pleased with yourself for your intelligent choice in sports: Golubitsky (and his opponents) reaffirm the peculiar beauty of competitive fencing, and the demands of their controlled athleticism makes other sports look as exciting as frisbee golf. (Just watch the last few touches with Young Ho Kim.) With this tape, you'll tell your Significant Other, "I practice 6 days a week to do this!"
Bout 1 versus Young Ho Kim (Korea), 1997. Cape Town, South Africa
Golubitsky's first World gold, he was tired from a long day. Kim is a Korean fencer with a strong marching attack, iron hand, and cat-like reflexes. He fences with his arm in invitation, bouncing far away and then launching attacks with (always identical) gallops. Golubitsky quickly confesses that Kim was probably in better shape. Still, Golubitsky pulls ahead 11-3. Then Golubitsky says: And now ladies and gentlemen, the worst nightmare is going to begin, so I step out for a little bit and lets watch this terrible thing, this come-back of Kim.
Kim rallies and clocks up an amazing run of touches, pulling even by 11-11 and staying even to 14-14. Kim has found his voice, and Golubitsky has a scare put into him (and starts complaining to the director, if only to break Kim's focus). The last touches are a stunning series of actions that are possibly the finest fencing ever caught on film.
Bout 2 versus Elvis Gregory (Cuba), 1998. Switzerland
The audio for this bout is a little frustrating. The audio is clear, but there are 2 commentator tracks going at the same time, sometimes both in English, sometimes one in English and the other in random, vaguely threatening foreign tongue. When Golubitsky comments, the other audio is muted.
Unlike Kim, Gregory doesn't have to "overcome himself" to turn on. At the time, Gregory was number 1 in the world point standings, and was averaging 50/50 against Golubitsky. Where Kim's actions are clipped and decisive, Gregory's are slower, more strolling, rolling and unfolding, after the lanky Cuban style. Golubitsky's game changes to one of bobbing, weaving and timing.
Golubitsky: You see me having to deal with attacks of Elvis, because he's approaching quite slowly it's difficult to make attacks on preparation or parry riposte. I solved this problem by making ducks. ... If a fencer is provoking, it's good to sometimes make tempo, sometimes make parry, sometimes make ducks, so the fencer doesn't know what's coming, and has to shorten his attack.
Golubitsky is often defending, and one of his parries is a backwards squat-prime where he appears to lose all rigidity in his bone structure. Indeed, at one point he tears the meniscus of his knee. The severity of his injury increases as he fences, and you can see him try to manage his shrinking tactical options. Gregory is never anything but dangerous, even with his slow attacks. Golubitsky: For those last 4 touches I tried to fence defensively and it didn't work. I had to make some attacks. At 13-13 the bout is still in doubt.
Bout 3 versus Matteo Zennaro (Italy), 1999: Seoul, South Korea
Golubitsky made a record by winning his third consecutive World Championship. In his introduction, he mentions he had fenced Zennaro a few times, and had never lost. He adds that, during the bout: At some point I was quite strong mentally. I didn't think that I had to win, or how hard it would be to win. I just took care of business.
Zennaro is a huge man compared to Golubitsky, taller and wider and possibly 50 pounds heavier. This doesn't slow him down at all, he is constantly moving, bouncing in the guard, and delivering muscley, leggy hesitation attacks with a late-arriving tip.Golubitsky says: I thought I could fence defensively, but I was mistaken. Zennaro produced quite many attacks, and a lot of them were successful.
On his favorite touch: Coupé, coupé, flick. Another favorite touch is a slow lunge inserted just as Zennaro is starting an attack: I love next coming touch, it just shows that to make a successful attack you don't have to be too fast, or very fast, just right in time. Check this out. Pearl of wisdom: If you don't have your trainer with you [during a break], use your own brains sometimes. The awards ceremony at the end plays the theme from Jurassic Park.
Video end
At the end of the video, Golubitsky says good-bye, and points out some of his students at the Golubitsky Fencing Center. They're champions of the Netherlands.
Reviewed by Walter Flaschka
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