British fencing's flashing blade

A verbal ding dong, hiding the TV remote, slamming doors, muted apologies, and a kiss and cuddle. The usual process for a couple trying to settle an argument perhaps.

Not if you're Jo Hutchison, one of Britain's top fencers, currently preparing for her next assault on Olympic qualification.

"This sport is perfect if you're competitive where you get to take out your aggression on people you don't know and even people you know," she told BBC Sport.

"If you're like me and your boyfriend fences, you can take out your domestic tiffs during a duel or a fight." (Something the 21-year-old said she does "very regularly")

"It challenges your fitness, your mind, tactical awareness and it's not like football - it makes you think!"

This kind of spirit has thrust her, along with 15 others, onto British Fencing's World Class Programme.

It is a UK Sport-funded initiative launched in January aiming to secure an Olympic fencing medal for the first time since 1964 at London 2012.

Hutchison quickly repaid their faith in the summer when she was crowned national sabre champion.

Fencing is one of only four sports featured in every Olympics since 1896, and with French being its global language ('en garde' and 'allez' are common referee phrases), its tradition and protocol is something many could scoff at.

Not Hutchison, who accepts it all, although she was quick to point out there was none of that "noncy saluting they used to do in the olden days".

Her steady rise is not a straightforward story. It began with a family obsessed with fencing and the inevitable happened aged eight when she had a sword in her hand at the local club in Bath.

Brother Neil (another GB fencer), mum Jane, and sister Jenny are all still involved. Her father's obsession with marathon running and trombones prevents the full set.

"It started out as a hobby," Hutchison added, "but after seven years of working up through all the competitions I had to stop because I was bored.

"It was taking up all my spare time and I wanted to see my friends, so I quit for a year."

After taking up athletics to keep "entertained", Hutchison's love for fencing was soon reignited, thanks largely to a new weapon. She qualified for the U-17 World Championships in her comeback year in 2002.

"I missed the sport so much and after taking up the sabre my early success really spurred me on," she said. "It was intense. I was travelling around the world for competitions every weekend.

"I've learned that how ever bad or well you do, fencing will always be a passion. I'm actually worried how I'm going to give it up."

Sabre (�p�e and foil are the other Olympic disciplines) is all about slicing, scoring points by hitting your opponent above the waist. It is lightning quick. Blink and the bout could be over.

"An entire fight is an adrenaline rush," she said. "Executing a move correctly is a massive rush, but there is no time to think.

"You are trained to react - it's called habitual training. You learn the moves, and once you've mastered speeding up those moves, you can do anything."

Now based in London, Hutchison represents Scimitar Fencing Club and trains every day at British Fencing's Elite Training Centre, combined with a part-time secretarial job to pay the bills and "keep her sane".

With the new season starting in January, she believes her current status of being UK's second best sabre fighter will not last "for long".

"Being a fencer is a hard life. It's physically draining sometimes but it is what I am paid to do," she said.

"The perks are getting the right results. It's just like any job. You've got to do the bad stuff to do the good stuff. I do still have fun but this is all part of the big dream.

"I've only been doing this full-time for a year so Beijing maybe unrealistic, but I should be peaking for London.

"As a funded fencer we are given certain targets which does make me nervous. But it's an Olympic year so I've got nothing to lose. I'm just going to go for it."

Source: BBC Sport