Obi-Wan Kenobi visits Paris 2024 Paralympics wheelchair fencing

Legendary fictional peacekeeper Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, of the Star Wars film series, visited the Grand Palais to see the wheelchair fencing at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

Of the three disciplines of fencing – sabre, foil, and epée – Friday 6 September was dedicated to the Epée category of sword fencing. The epée is not really Obi-Wan’s weapon of strength. He prefers the sabre.

In fact, Obi-Wan’s expertise is the lightsabre, a rigid metal base with a luminescent laser sword or “energy blade” about 91 centimetres long. The sabre at the Olympics and Paralympics is flexible and short at 105 cm long, and the epée is rigid and 110 cm long.

Real fencing swords do not have a laser. In the Star Wars universe, there are blue and green sabres, as well as other colours. The lightsabre can cut, burn, and melt through substances, which of course the real sabre cannot do. The most distinct aspect of the lightsabre is its hum. When it hits an opponent, it makes a clashing sound.

So, Obi-Wan Kenobi greeted the crowd at the start of the epée event – with his lightsabre – then disappeared into the light.

In the Paralympics Epée event, each competitor is seated in a wheelchair, wearing the typical white fencing costume and lamé jacket. The lamé is connected to the scoring system that registers when the epée strikes the opponent.

In addition, both men and women have a metallic material skirt, or apron, wrapped around their waist which drapes over the wheelchair. It signifies that the epée sword is not permitted to touch the opponent below the skirt – i.e., below the belt, including the legs.

The metallic material of the apron is recyclable, steel-based Inox developed over 100 years ago.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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Martina Nicolls is an Australian author and international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, and foreign aid audits and evaluations. She lives in Paris.

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