Miles Chamlley Watson signature move
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The Chamley-Watson
The Olympic fencer Miles Chamley-Watson demonstrates his signature move.
By BEDEL SAGET and LESLYE DAVIS on Publish Date August 6, 2016. Photo by Alex Wroblewski/The New York Times.
A fencing bout, even at the Olympics, is generally fairly straightforward. The two combatants face each other, a tone sounds, they lunge, and a few seconds later someone has scored a point.
A match seldom looks much like the wildly theatrical sword duels you might see in “Robin Hood” or a pirate movie.
It is all the more remarkable, then, when the American Olympian Miles Chamley-Watson whips his sword around the back of his head to score a point on his befuddled opponent.
That eye-opening move, now known as the Chamley-Watson, is a touch of flamboyance in a formal, sometimes staid sport.
“It’s so nice when I do it because you get that ‘ooooooh,’” Chamley-Watson said. “In fencing, you don’t get that very often. It’s really nice to bring that different type of feeling, a new phase to a sport that’s one of the oldest.”
Chamley-Watson, 26, the 2013 world champion in the foil, is known for his entertaining, creative style of fencing and outsize personality. “He has sort of a crazy persona,” said the American foil coach, Greg Massialas.
He performed his signature move for the first time at the 2009 world championships in Turkey. The move was spontaneous, not planned.
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“I have no idea why or how I did it,” Chamley-Watson said. “I have no idea. The referee stopped the bout and made my opponent and I both go to the video machine and watch it” to see if it was legal.
Once it was determined to be a legitimate move, the general reaction was, Chamley-Watson said: “Wow, he hit you in your chest by wrapping his own arm around his own head.”
Besides being showstopping, the move can be startlingly effective.
“It’s really hard to defend,” Chamley-Watson said. “I can hit you in the upper part of your torso, the lower part of your torso — even on your back, if you duck. So it’s a very effective move, and it’s nice that I’m the only one who can do it.”
That’s one reason that other top fencers have not quickly adopted the move: They just can’t do it. Chamley-Watson is helped by standing 6 feet 4. “I’m very flexible, and I have very long arms,” he said. “I don’t think you could do it if your arms are short.”
Massialas said: “Nobody is as tall or lanky or as quick as he is.”
Few fencers are happy to be the victim of the splashy move. Some take drastic steps to avoid being shown up by it.
“They get super-embarrassed,” Chamley-Watson said. “That’s the best part. Everyone gets super-mad.
“They always try to block it. They’ll take a yellow card, they’ll try to bump into me. They’d rather get a yellow card than get embarrassed on live television.
“I don’t blame them.”
Chamley-Watson was born in London, came to the United States at age 9 and eventually fenced at Penn State. At the 2012 Olympics, he was a medal contender but was surprised by Alaaeldin Abouelkassem of Egypt in the second round.
But Chamley-Watson bounced back with a startling run through the 2013 world championships field in Budapest, winning three of his matches by the closest possible margin, 15-14.
Highlighting the variance inherent in fencing tournaments, he was eliminated in the round of 32 at the 2014 championships and in the round of 64 in 2015.
“In some ways it’s a low-percentage shot against high-level fencers,” Massialas said. “It’s also a move that can break an opponent’s rhythm and gets Miles very excited. You break their confidence, the opponent gets frustrated a little bit.”
Chamley-Watson, who trains at Fencers Club in Manhattan, will be bidding for medals in both the individual and team competition in Rio. The American team looks particularly strong this year. Chamley-Watson is joined by No. 1-ranked Alexander Massialas, who is the coach’s son; Gerek Meinhardt; and Race Imboden. They are the same four who competed in London, where they finished fourth. Since then, Imboden has won the World Cup, and the other three have won individual world championship medals.
“It’s sort of a golden era in men’s foil,” Massialas said.
Chamley-Watson said he loved doing his signature move.
“I try to do it at least once a bout,” he said. “If I’m winning by a lot, I’ll just try it like every time, even if I get hit, because it’s my move and I always want to keep doing it.”
Massialas cautioned: “When he feels it, it’s O.K. When he tries for it, that gets him in trouble. When he fences in a classical kind of way and he mixes in a creative move, that becomes most effective. He’s evolved over the last several years understanding not to always go for broke.”
So will Chamley-Watson break out the move on the biggest stage of all, the Olympic Games?
Chamley-Watson smiled. “Hell, yes.”
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