Tune in to the fencing events at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and you’ll notice a cable attached to the uniform of each fencer. It almost looks like a leash, as though someone’s about to yank them backward if they advance too far. Of course, advancing toward their opponent is the whole point — and fencers aren’t in danger of falling from a great height — so what’s the deal? The cable is attached to what’s known as a body cord, and it’s there to keep the score. With its needle-like blades and swift strikes, fencing is too difficult for officials to score just by watching, so electric currents conducted through strategically placed cords register each touch instead. Fencers typically run their body cord up through their jacket and down through the sleeve of their sword arm to clip it to their weapon. Electric scoring in some form or another has been a part of fencing for nearly a century. An electric épée debuted in the sport in the 1930s, an electric foil followed in the 1950s, and finally the sabre went electric in the late 1980s.
