Gauthier Grumier Shares his Insight on Fencing French Grip - Gauthier Grumier Interview!

A long-awaited Grumier interview is here. A big thank you to him. We cut it off, we go a little fast towards the end because of some time mismanagement. Turns out it's very hard to get a dinner reservation in Vancouver late at night so we had to speed it up a bit for them. But other than that, enjoy the interview. I hope you guys have a good Christmas. And join the Discord if you want to spend some time with more fencing nerds over Christmas. I know some clubs do close. Are you guys doing a fencing camp? I'm training through all of it because I'm doing the January NAC. So just let's get out there. Don't eat too much turkey. But in the meantime, thank you Gautier. And enjoy this brief interview. Check out the channel over the next little while. I'll be uploading shorts that I did with a bunch of fencers at the competition. Thank you guys. So, we're here with Gautier Grumier. Right here. Thank you for doing it. We're going to review the match with Sukov in Montreux in 2015. Do you remember, did this match have anything to do with... Did this matter for the Olympics yet? I think yes. It was the first... It was the first Zonal Championships who count in the Olympic... This was a big one. A lot of points. It was very important for us in the team event. But the individual event is always important, but not as much as the team event. I guess for France, it's also, like even the team event, you want more points to be selected on the team. Yes, because those are points you can't catch up. So, it was very important for us to be good at the first World Cup, the Zonal Championships, and even the World Championships in order to be qualified very early in the qualification, Olympic qualification. And at that time, we were OK. We won the first one at Paris and we won the team event of the Zonal Championships. Good. And then here you're fencing Sukhov, so Russian style. Yes. Before you entered the match, what was your general thought? It's a while ago, so... It's a while ago, but I remember the ending of this match. I remember that I wanted to make a good match, a technical match, because I know that Russian guys generally love the technique. So, I wanted to be in that way. You have to know also that Sukhov beat me a lot of times before this match and the previous match we had together. He beat me in the semi-final at Aydenheim World Cup. He beat me in the quarter-final in the European Championships. 2010, I think. And he beat me in the 64th European Championships the year before. And I beat him in the quarter-final of the World Championships in 2014 in Kazan. So, he has the leadership. I can be back in the game with him in a number of tournaments. Yes, it doesn't matter. But I was behind him. OK, so let's start. So, I'm very open in the match, because you can see my footwork is a little bit long. The tip of my blade is moving a lot, but I'm not there when I'm going in the pressing. When I push him in the box, I'm more precise. But I try the foot, and I know that I'm a teacher. And I see one student doing this, I kill him. So, when you say you kill him, here, you didn't really have a good reason to go for the foot. No preparation, and straight to the foot. And his tip is up. So, if I move down, he has nothing to do. It's a given touch. And 30 seconds for a poor touch like that, strategically, it's poor. Yeah, it's a waste. It's not a good use of time. This is more like me. Sanction. Yes, you. So, this is something I noticed you do, and your old friend Eric Boas was showing me. For me, I feel like you show six a lot, but what you really want is for them to look six with you? No. No, for me, I try to fix a line. I fix the sixth line to my opponent, and then I left my hand going down. So, I'm here like that, or I stay up. I want to fix the line. If you are in front of me, I want to fix here. Outside, this line. If you want to come, puff. Ah, I see what you're saying. My hand goes down, like if I was screwing a screwdriver. I do screwdriver, and with my hand, my tip is there. Yeah, and then with your blade, it's being bent. Yes, a little bit. I'm not circling. Yeah, just fingers. No, no, but in the preparation, I'm not circling. Yes, I go in the line. I go in the line, I go down with my hand, and my tip is still going forward. That's the idea. I go up, I go under with my tip, and then I can go back. Because if I don't touch there, I have still my sixth. Yeah, so for one, for you, it's safe. This costs you nothing, and then if something happens, you're still ready anyway. Yes, but it's in the movement. Yeah. I don't plan. It just happens. Yes, it happens. If I miss and it starts, I'm here, but this is what I want to do. Yeah. This is what I want to do. So, and if I touch here, OK, no problem. Cool. It's called efficace. Yes. Efficient. Ah, sorry. That's OK. No problem, no problem. OK, we'll speed run. And then, yeah, so this head, you just kind of... Yes, I try, but I stay a long time. I give my hand too long time. And here I know that I have to take a decision, so I take it, but not very good. Yeah. So then, like, so a lot of people here, like, you're down 3-1. A lot of people start panicking. So for you, did you have, like, a way to tell yourself, like, don't panic or...? No, at the beginning of the match, there is still... A lot of time. There is six and seven minutes and a half, so I can go back in the match. For me, this is not a big problem, because I know that I made mistakes and I have to be more precise. I have to be more OK. I don't have to... I have to attack really, not in a half measure, my pressing. And I have solutions in the offensive, so I have solutions. After, I can be touched in my try. Yeah, and a lot of this, I guess it's not... It's your mistake to fix. Yes, yes. But I'm 3-1 and I did bad things to be behind. And in 30 seconds, I'm in the match, 3-3. Just like that. Again, I try something. Maybe I'm too close to him. And he has the tip under. I tried my coupé and he touched me under. Sometimes people are going wrong because they are touched in their best point. But you have to accept it. No problem. Good double. Double for nothing, but double. It makes the score go. I push him, so I know that I can push him in the box. And then I know, I understand that I have to be more careful when I put the pressure over there. Yeah, because from the beginning, your footwork is already like... Yes, this is more tight, small, and there's more dynamic. And then so the... Hugues was coaching you back then too. But I can't remember what he told me. And I'm not sure that... We spoke together, but maybe he was saying that maybe I said I have to be more careful, more serious in my preparations. That's an interesting thing. So you're very high level, obviously, and so is Hugues. When you're both at that level, is it like more he's going to tell you something or it's more of a conversation? It's a conversation. It was a conversation. And then I guess a question like that. So now you're coaching Romain Canan. Yes. And he's already like world champion, Olympic champion. Like how do you approach that? It's difficult for me because I have my own way of fencing and I have to give him things that can make him win the match. But he doesn't have the same way of thinking of me and of thinking of other French people because he learned fencing in the US and it's a completely different culture from us. Because he takes a lot of risks or he does a lot of games. Yes, he takes a lot of risks. So for me, it's a difficult way sometimes to accept that he took those risks. I guess a learning experience for you too. Exactly. But we work together. We manage to be more... Yeah, clearly it's working. Sometimes, yes. Today, no. But in the quarter-final. So this is a pass and I'm not here. But I have the same later in the match. I think your idea was okay. I go in the preparation, but I pass, he passes too. But then Remy's attack is quicker than me. And I go back. I know that I should go forward and not go back. I launch, I have to glue him, to go to him in order to try to hit him. And he doesn't touch me when I glue him. Search of corps à corps, but without touching him. And I'm four touches behind because I missed. So then in your mind here, are you thinking like, I missed, let's just keep going? Yeah, keep going, because okay, I missed, but it's not so far. And it's a game, so you don't know. Okay, he has four points ahead, so he has still seven touches to score, and I have 11. I'm a little bit too close to him to do that very perfectly, because you might see my hand is, you see, when I touch the foot, I had to, when I was doing it, I had to short my arm because my legs were too far. So it's a nice touch, but it's not perfect. But it's one touch. And he let me use this, so he didn't pressure me, and I can try something. Again, I tried the flesh, so he asked, but... Yeah, we went slow-mo, we watched it earlier, it's good because hit, foot still in, life is good. Still alive. 69. Still asking for the... As I said earlier, I try under, he goes up, and... Boom, yeah, that's exactly what we... It's my preparation, okay, I do that because maybe if he comes, I have my parallel pass, if in my preparation I'm good here, I can touch him as well. Like that. Good timing. Again, to compare with the moment I'm behind, this timing I got up in my rhythm. Yeah, you're looking really, really comfortable. Yes, but I'm far in distance, and I went up in the rhythm. Maybe in the beginning it was... And at that time, I'm more in movement, more with rhythm, so... He can't read it. Yes, and when it's like that, he tries to be far, and so I have opportunities because he's still behind, he's still searching for mistakes from me, and I can do something, because he let me do. So, again, if I'm coach, I kill my own... I kill your student. Because you make all the effort to come back in the match, 9-11, and then a bad decision. Middle of the piste, try the foot, too bad. When you watch your old videos like this, do you miss the competition? Sometimes, but not really, because I remember all the efforts I have to do. Yes, actually, I asked Eric the same thing, and he said, I don't want to train that hard again. No, no, no. This was a good technique preparation. Really nice. I've tried to fix up there, to go in my septum. Oh, yes, so you give the attention here? Yes. Boom. Disengage. Beautiful. You have a lot of... You can read it a different way, but... Fixation, in order to give him his hand back there, and then, if he searches, OK, I'm disengaging. But even if he doesn't search, you can set him. That's the Cicard, taught me that. This is... Earlier, we said I missed. This, I missed, too. But then, here, I'm on my feet. I have good feeling of the... Good balance and good feeling on the floor. Like a tank. Yes. My feet are well on the floor, so I can beat four and make the riposte in the ribs. Because you can win a match two ways. You beat or you make him stop the match. So, now I'm confident, and this is overconfident. Maybe too confident. Too confident, too much player. I tried something, and it didn't go OK. And... So, I get touched, no problem. Focus again. Yeah. And I think nothing more this round. I think nothing more. Yeah, you guys just dance. Then 11-11, crunch time. Yes. Crunch time means money time. Money time, yeah, yeah, money time. And still, my rhythm. It's OK to be close to him, because I know that he will search the blade before the target, or... So, you don't think it's going to go straight. If he searches the target, my tip is right here, like that. My pressure and my counterattack. And this goes interesting, because 32, and I get it in four seconds. I get it in four seconds, so OK, I get touched. I have to do it all over again. Ten seconds, I give attention up there, so I can change direction to the foot. You kind of put him to sleep, like a bee. So, you check the time, 29. Four seconds. OK, so at that moment of the match, I said to myself, OK, two times. He touched you two times, and in a really short time. The touch was really short. So, he's ready to attack you. He will do it. So, you have to take a decision. And I tried to take a decision. Very slow motion flash for him. And then here, you made your choice already. So, here you made your choice. I know that I have to take the initiative. I have to do something. I have to be in the... I have to, OK, this is my turn, I have to do it. And I do it. Preparation, go. And after the match, he was like, OK, why have you done that? Because you did it to me. Revenge. Yeah, I would feel not letting you do it again. Yes. OK, I know you have to get to dinner. So, I'm very sorry. I thought it was maybe faster, had more time, but... Don't worry, that's life. Yes. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. No problem.