It looked promising from pregistration, a decently weak B1 where I figured I'd have a chance at top 8, and could renew my D. Then some better fencers registered, and I figured I was sunk. As it turned out, enough folks didn't show it was a 12 fencer E1 with 1B, 2 Cs and 2 Ds, I think. Anyway, I did a lot better than expected. I did not have the best round of pools, 3-2 +6, when if I'd beaten a U like I should have it would be 4-1, and I lost to the B 5-4, in a bout that was winnable.
Reffing in pools was self-directed, which worked out pretty well. Reffing in the DEs was terrible. I beat my first opponent 15-6, easy walkover. Next bout was against one of the Cs, and I figured I was toast, but thanks to some good coached I handled him really well and won. That put me to the round of 4, where I was soundly trounced by the B something like 15-8. I don't know if better reffing could have changed the outcome - enough of the touches were me being dumb and I got a few on cheers from my supporters, so I don't think it would have done more than make it closer. That said, bad reffing sucks.
Final result, 3rd place out of 12, another cheap medal and the confidence that I can still do this game a little bit.
