The second Youth Olympic Games got underway on August 16th in Nanjing, China with the Opening Ceremonies. As announced previously, Canadian fencer Dylan French (Richmond, BC) had the honour of leading the delegation of 75 of Canada’s best under-18 athletes and 32 staff and coaches into the stadium as flag bearer. The Canadian flag was handed off to French by double Olympic gold medallist and Sochi Closing Ceremony flag bearer Heather Moyse.

The Youth Olympic Games are a good opportunity for young athletes to gain an Olympic-like experience. In addition to competing, the athletes also take part in what is called ‘Compete, Learn, Share’ which is a series of exhibits, events and excursions designed to expose athletes to culture and education.

The fencing competition got underway on August 17th with women’s foil athlete Jenny Zhao (Ottawa, ON) in action. It was a tough day for Zhao, going 1-5 in pool play and then lost 15-6 in the round of 16 to Italy’s Claudia Borella, to finish the competition in 12th place overall.

Dylan French competed today in Men’s Individual Epee. After struggling in pool play with a 1-4 record, French had an exciting comeback match in the round of 16, defeating Sheldon Ogilvie from New Zealand by a score of 15-14 after being down 14-12. French’s run unfortunately came to an end in his quarter-final bout against Russian Ivan Limarev, who defeated him 15-5. Limarev went on to win the bronze medal. Dylan finished the competition ranked 8th overall.

Next up is the Continental mixed team competition on Wednesday, August 20th with team and competitors still to be announced. The full schedule and results can be found at http://www.nanjing2014.org/en/.

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Thanks to Foil Weapon Leader Paul ApSimon for updates and photos.