What type of modern Olympian would be best suited for time travel to the middle ages?

>Homogeneous society

Nigger there almost sixty different ethnic groups spread all throughout China. Theo only homogenized areas are there giant hive cities where the government stiffs all of their millions of Han Chinese day laborers.

True but its still more homogeneous than say medieval France.

The Chinese are (or at least were) homogeneous in the same way the US is homogeneous, by which I mean its a big place with a lot of different groups who are only united by their core values and the fact that they all call themselves the same thing and who are constantly at each other's throats if there's no outside threat.

True but isnt that all you need to ward off foreign diseases and keep your language from changing too much, which are the main hurdles of being a time traveler, that and being burned as a witch.

They were definitely smaller on average, but I'm not so sure “tiny” is the appropriate word.

Take the fairly common modern Arabian for example.

They're usually around 1.4m, which is within the size range of the average horse of the middle ages (1.2m – 1.4m, warhorses apparently being around 1.4m – 1.6m).

Who is this?

Archery would be good to know, you can become hunter, maybe hunter's apprentice as you still need to learn your wilderness survival and navigaton skill and there is a good chance they will accept you as you already can shoot. It's a good trade to earn your living. Horse riding is a good choice too. Marathon runners could be messangers in areas where horses can't be used for some reason. Wight lifters and similar sports with heavy builds probably can apply to blacksmith's apprentice and such. Wrestlers and such can wrestle for money as a show or for bets, wrestling was popular among Mongolians, not sure whcih other nations had that tradition in medival times. For women it's more complicating than that as there would be more bias against them in terms of job offers and they pretty much can't apply to military, unless it's a band of bandits or something.

None, they eat too much.

>they eat too much

What about the gymnasts?
Bring one of those with you. She might become a plaything of the king if you play your cards right.

>Olympian
Zeus and Poseidon were dicks. Hades is a pretty cool guy.
I, however, was always particular to Gaia and the Titans myself. You know Prometheus, Kronos, Oranos, that sort of shit.
Hephaestus and Dionysius were complete bros, but they weren't that important, sadly.

Fencer.

Even one of those tiny loli gymnast will have a surprisingly voracious appetite due to the extreme amounts of exercise she gets.

Whereas a male one will eat like a regiment.

lel no. Sport fencing is pretty garbo when you can move left and right.

Sport fencing has nothing to do with "real" fencing.
It is all about throwing yourself into the enemy trying to score a cheap hit and shouting to the referee that the sword tip does not work.
Damn it, we spent more time learning how to do the bowing and the optimal post-combat hand shake than actually training.

One of the less fatass shotputters

would be a top warrior

if nothing else he can toss rocks like a giant

One that has good background knowledge of the Bessemer process, can describe the fundamentals behind a steam engine, and can tell people about railroads. Also, they need to be male since nobody gave a fuck about females back then.

Physical achievements would be trivial as fuck if you can bring even the most basic of industrial technological discoveries with you. Information is the real source of power.

Modern archery in that regard is pretty useless for hunting.
Standing still aiming at a still target with a bow that's of way better make from anything back then.
They probably wouldn't even know where to shoot.

Huh, Olympians can wear makeup now? I guess makeup has come a long way in not sweating off.

A male Olympic time jumper obviously, they are the best at moving through time and if you are in the middle ages you want to be a dude. Also preferably of the right ethnicity for the area....

No dumb ass, you cant just spring modern technology on people,
Medieval economies do not work like modern ones, having a valuable skill or piece of knowledge doesn't entitle you to a reward, if you have something the king wants, he'll have you killed and take it from you, if that thing happens to be a piece of information you'll be tortured then executed, just look at what happened whenever an alchemist claimed to have the ability to conjure gold.

That's if they'd even listen to you to begin with, you'd probably end up like Dr Lister.

>just look at what happened whenever an alchemist claimed to have the ability to conjure gold
Weren't they kept on retainer until the king lost patience? Just being able to produce should keep you on retainer a bit. You won't have freedom but you should get a roof and food.

It works fine. As long as you can find a patron.

Nobody's going to shit on the goose that lays the golden eggs. Although a rival might try and turn or kill you.

Some managed to produce a steady stream of fools gold, they did not fare much better, unless you count living in a dungeon till you go blind as an acceptable standard of living.

Really, the argument should have ended here; the decathlon requires the most balanced athletic skills. Assuming equal intellectual capacity of all candidates, a decathlete is the best choice. Equestrians or archers also aren't bad choices, those are useful or valuable skillsets.

I guess this is a when and were type of thing. I mean this is a large area for a thousand years. Have any sources on alchemists being left in dungeons until they go blind? I don't have any figures pointing that it wasn't the case, everyone I know about was the beginning of the Renaissance.

Possibly just an average person living in Rio, they would know their way around machetes and shovels.

This.
Fencing is meh compared to HEMA or other competitive MA groups

Moving left and right is largely useless in a one-on-one duel, because lateral movement is easily accounted for with small turns. The person can circle all the way around you, and you've basically just twisted on your heel a little.

This is what people who don't know anything about fencing believe.

I'll agree that sport fencing doesn't visually resemble "real" combat, but that's because the advancement in the sport has been so dramatic that it is literally too fast for most spectators. All the principle components of fencing still remain, but they've been refined into a sport that makes historical fencing more like play-acting than a physical competition.

It sounds like you did fencing for a year or two in something like a high school gym.

HEMA is like mall karate.

Depends on the country. In England, it would be an archer, because archery was the only legal sport for peasants and tournaments with cash prizes were common.
It doesn't matter how strong you are, if you aren't born in a village the peasants will ostracise you and blame you for (possibly imaginary) crimes, sending you off to the chopping block, so you can't farm.
And if a guild isn't backing you, you can't practice a trade.
You could try begging, but the guards would probably be suspicious of how well-fed you are and kill you as a spy.
You could try and make money at sport - but very few sports had cash prizes (archery being an exception) and most of them, e.g. jousting, melee fights, aren't practised today and are highly dangerous.
You could join the army, but knowing how to run or how to fence won't make you any less likely to get infected and die. And you aren't trained or equipped.
You don't even speak the old-fashioned dialect, and believe me, that will make it difficult to communicate. It's more than just 'thee' and 'thou'.
Your only chance is archery tournaments (if you're male, females can't compete because misogyny, so they'd have to whore themselves out.)

8/10 bait, it almost sounds like you believe this horseshit

>Even one of those tiny loli gymnast will have a surprisingly voracious appetite
out of context this can send someone to jail

>dat power and skill
I'd stat her

Prepare for tens of angry (you)s from neckbeards who think they're martial artists.

Its LARP trying to mimic MMA culture.

I'd let her stat me any day

I'm sorry, but the "sport fencing is nothing like REAL fencing" always just sounds like it comes from people trying to protect their ego after realizing they're just not any good at fencing.

They lack the physical attributes of speed and strength, they lack the mental attributes including the ability to anticipate their opponents as well as to make literally split-second complex decisions, and they lack the basic fortitude to actually develop a skill when faced with difficulties.

So, they try and excuse their weakness, and rationalize why they shouldn't even bother with trying to be good at fencing. They come up with the conclusion that it must be so far removed from any of the abilities that a "real" fencer would need, that training in an olympic sport is just a waste of time.

So, they go to a McDojo, and learn how to feel comfortable with their abilities, and feel content that even if they're not really that great at modern recreational fencing, at least they're "closer" to the real thing than sport fencers, without really appreciating how their basic introduction to fencing is barely scraping the bottom of the enormous fencing world.

Any

Anyone really, anyone (including you who is reading, even if you weight like a ton) has it made if he gets teleported to some fantasy world, plot device and deus ex machina will save you.

So no need to worry, my man. Just have fun.

I'm sorry, but the "sport fencing is WAY more athletic than HEMA" always just sounds like it comes from people trying to protect their ego after realizing that a sport they took up because they thought sword fighting is cool has little to do with sword fighting.

Ever realize that in HEMA vs fencing discussions fencingfags go on and on about how much more athletic and attractive they are and how much more popular and successful their sport is?

And HEMAfags just want to lrn2swordfight?

>inb4 butthurt

I train neither I'm an MMAfag who does some traditional martial arts on the side.

Yeah but the core principles of movement, timing, footwork and anticipation make a sport fencer a good base to build actual combat capability off of and I'd bet on them every time against a person of similar fitness if both were given swords and told to gut each other.

>le grimdark 'you'd just be murdered' Medieval meme

Do you people just think humans were totally different creatures a hundred years ago?

>Ever realize that in HEMA vs fencing discussions fencingfags go on and on about how much more athletic and attractive they are and how much more popular and successful their sport is?

...is there really anything to be disputed here? I mean, we can argue about the attractiveness thing, but ultimately I have to agree that the general trend is that fencers are good looking.
And tall.
And rich, because fencing isn't really a cheap sport.

But that, and the whole thing about fencers being more cultured and more articulate and smarter, is besides the point.

>I train neither I'm an MMAfag who does some traditional martial arts on the side.

...so, you're one of those guys jealous of boxers AND fencers?

They were. Definitely.

Faced against a real sword, the majority of fencers would shit their pants.

You also neve learn how to fight against a different weapon, against someone who snatch your weapon, against someone who punch or kick you, well, someone who doesn't fight respecting the rules of fencing.

And, you have to shift your vision, because you have to hit certains targets, and not others. And a rapier is very different than a foil or epee. Even a saber won't be held the same way.

You're not good at sword fighting or even fighting. You're good at fencing.

It's exactly like karate black belt who thinks they can fight easy with a guy who fight on the street regularly.

Not to take sides in this argument, but I do have a pretty cool story to tell about my fencing class/club back in high school.

I took up fencing because my father made me do a sport in high school, and I'd be damned if I was going to join a team sport. So I enrolled in a fencing class at the local community college, and man was it a blast. My master was this old navy guy who was absolutely ancient, but he could still fence like a pro. He was that classic "no strength, all technique" elderly archetype, even to the point of only seldom partaking in a duel—and completely trouncing the young upstarts when he did.

There were two top fighters in our class that semester: one guy who was way in to fencing and just took the class every semester for fun and practice, and a woman who just moved from germany, and who'd been fencing her whole life (since before she could walk, we would joke).

The guy was a great fencer. Kind of scruffy and stern, and with this loose ponytail, I always very easily imagined him as a roguish renaissance duelist, frilly shirt and all. I only held my own against him because I'm thin, tall, and left-handed, meaning I had the advantage of a small target area, reach, and an unusual angle of attack. He'd still win, though. He got really competitive because he felt like he should be better than any of the students who were taking the class for the first time, but was still the absolute best sport about it.

The woman was this tall, broad-shouldered warrior with red hair. She might not have been much of a babe in reality, but man she hit a lot of bullet points for me back in high school. She was really polite and had good posture, so I kind of assigned her the Army Officer archetype. While the rest of us made do with just the jacket, mask, and one glove, she had a legit fencing outfit, and with it wore a molded plastic chestplate—like, straight-up white plastic boobplate I swear to god.

>1916
>Gassing people with shit that burns your lungs is kosher
>Genocide on unprecedensed scale in Africa is shrugged and treated as white men burden
>Women don't have any rights whatsoever and legislation of most European countries treats them like shit
>Average person is impoverished factory worker with barely any education
A LOT has changed in past 100 years, armarite

The cruel joke of it all is that things were still better then.

This is exactly how I like muscle girls

Yeah, WWI was a BLAST

>Still better
>No antibiotics
>Barely any access to health care
>No access to education further than most basic one
>Mass communication doesn't exists
>Rudimentry hygiene
>Nobody even thinks about polution
>Mass transport is pretty much rail-exclusive
>Voting rights are in most cases still based on income
>Raging nationalism and imperialism
>Most of basic technologies that make life easier won't exist for another decade, most of them won't get cheap enough to buy for another fifty (washing machines, fridges and similar)
Please kill yourself with your delusions of "better"

I'm sure the two dueled plenty of times during the semester, but I think I only witnessed one between them towards the end. It was like a whole different ballgame than what I'd been doing. It was like they'd taken the strategy of fencing—parrying, reposting, feinting, etc.—and carried it through several layers of iteration such that sometimes you'd have to replay moments back in your mind to find out who'd tricked whom.

Halfway through, the guy paused, walked outside, puked, and walked back in and resumed. They were neck-and-neck the whole time, but I think the woman eventually won the winning touch. They were like two swirling, sweaty, flashing cats. Friggin' badass is what it was.

Carlos, please, your pun is like the 30s - it's depressing and makes no cents.

>thin, tall, and left-handed
Tis a deadly and bullshit combination.

>tfw when switching hands three months in because you discover you can totally get away with it and you'll only get better

>Faced against a real sword, the majority of fencers would shit their pants.

Why? Because you move at a speed that's basically slow motion to anyone who's even half decent at fencing?

>someone who doesn't fight respecting the rules of fencing

Those rules are put in place precisely to force the fencers to develop the various skills of swordsmanship. Things outsiders don't understand like right-of-way or the target zones are not there to make the sport easier, but to make it harder.
Removing those rules gives advantage to the fencer. It's like dropping them into easy mode.

As far as your whole "you don't even hold a rapier the same way", you've got a very weird understanding of the sport of fencing. It's sort of like olympic rowing, where most people assume that the rowers principally need strong arms, when the overwhelming majority of power actually comes from their legs.

For a fencer, footwork is the majority of the sport, at least from the physical side. The movement of the blade is a secondary concern, and worrying about something like the grip of a sword is a little silly, especially when there's variants for different personal tastes.

Most of your post is trying to come up with armchair historian ideas about why a fencer SHOULD lose, when raw athleticism and speed puts most fencers in a league that make all your concerns exceedingly bizarre, like you think a person who can track and predict a blade moving at speeds faster than anything short of a bullet or whip would have difficulty spotting someone trying a sweep at their feet.

I'm also actually amused at the idea of someone trying to punch and kick in a sword fight. Not that it's not something someone could try, but it's kind of cute that you think it would play a part, or that the fencer couldn't deliver quite a punch of their own.

I know you want to pretend that fencers are bad at sword fighting because it makes you feel better about yourself, but please. Let's not get silly.

So, what you are saying is, you are not left-handed?

Pretty much, I'm a bit of a meme guy I'm forever GM and my fist and middle initials are G.M. my life's just funny.

Oh to have such curious and amusing tales!

>my fist and middle initials are G.M.
?

Nothing truly awe-inspiring just a Series of Amusing events.

Best thing so for probably happened last week when a broke up with a girl, made her cry on public transport in the act, finished the date that was planed having her say "Sorry" and "Thank you" by the end of the day. It was her fucking birthday.

You piece of shit

>Why? Because you move at a speed that's basically slow motion to anyone who's even half decent at fencing?

Because you can be GUTTED, you dumbass. You didn't learn how to deal with a sword coming to your arm to chop it off. You never fought with a dude who want to actually fucking kill or maim you.

>The rest of your post

Delusional fencers who think he's good at sword fighting because he's good at fencing.
You don't even know how to handle a fucking sword, do you even know that if you don't align the blade well you can't even cut?

You assume that sword fighting is exactly like fencing, with nothing to back it up. How do you fight against a spear? How do you fight against an axe? Hell, how do you even fight against a longsword?

You don't become a good fighter because of raw atleticism, or any olympian athlets would be a good fighter. Same with track and predict a blade.

>I'm also actually amused at the idea of someone trying to punch and kick in a sword fight
You never, ever, went into a street fight. You're a karateka who thinks he can disarm a guy with a knife because he can do it at the dojo.

As in names Winston Leonard Churchill would have the initials WLC.

I know but it was that, the day she flew home or on the day of the most important exam of her life and those two felt less considerate.

So you named your fist Winston? That's pretty patrician.

You better not have negatively affected her testing preparedness!

Is English not your first language or are we playing silly buggers right now?

dictionary.com/browse/initials

user, I'm running out of ways to continue hamFISTing this word into things. Please, please notice your mistake soon.

Not thinking about me any less than she would be if we were together and it's not till the 8th of September.

I'm feeling much less bad about it in the last few days after continually looking at it logically little bit obsessed as it turned out. Got her into fencing bfore she left which is funny because statistically I think it's far more popular in her homeland than in the UK.

Whatever comes next is kind of blur, but you can remind him that fist can be a verb.

Fuck I am so sorry. Holy shit I am dense.

Have a Vader a reparations.

Thank you.

2 cm and she would get a medal... damn shame

really? shit. They all worked so hard. They should all get medals.

You sound like my mom, if she could she would give gold medals to everybody.

You'd make awesome kindergarden teach and probably a good parent. But you're terrible jury.

>"couple cm more and she would finish first"
Talking from the experience?

Not him, but in such situation 2 cm is a joke.

But nothing compares with shooting competions, where half of milimeter is a difference between gold medal and finishing as 17th

my hs had a kendo and fencing club. they hated eachother. I was a senior in kendo, had placed in state near the end of the year. The head of the fencing did as well. He and I got into it not two days later. As our clubs shared the same space, we headed over and sparred. first to 5 hits on the other, each of us could use our appropriate skills. After he scored the first hit on me, he ended up getting btfo 5 to 1.

Fucking #rekt mate.

Not first. Third.
Gold was 67.11 m
Bronze was 64.80 m
And she was 4th with 64.78 m

But sure, be an asshole, Mr Amrchair Specialist And Supreme Judge

That's a fun story but you know it doesn't prove or really indicate anything right?

>You never fought with a dude who want to actually fucking kill or maim you.

Have you?

I've fenced against fencing novices from HEMA backgrounds who did seem like they were trying to cut people's arms off, but the funny thing about that is that those kind of chops are really, really, really, really slow. The kind of thing that makes avoiding them feel almost like you're embarrassing your opponent by how easy it is.

>You don't even know how to handle a fucking sword, do you even know that if you don't align the blade well you can't even cut?

Oh, thanks for the hot tip. Here I was, using the flat of the blade this whole time.

>You assume that sword fighting is exactly like fencing, with nothing to back it up
No, I'm assuming there's considerable similarities. Keep in mind, I'm not just a fencer, but did my WMA tour a few years back.

>How do you fight against a spear?
Parry, Riposte?
>How do you fight against an axe?
Parry, Riposte?
> longsword?
Parry, Riposte?

Like, what? You want a full explanation of how a fencer is to fight against each of those weapons?

>You don't become a good fighter because of raw atleticism, or any olympian athlets would be a good fighter.

Do you have any evidence they're not?
And yes, people don't become good fighters just through raw athleticism, which is not just what fencers have. I almost feel sorry for you, because it sounds like you've never actually fought a decent fencer.

>You never, ever, went into a street fight.

Am I talking to a misplaced medieval knight or something? Are you trying to tell me you go out into the street after dark with a sword and fight the only other guy in the world stupid enough to be looking for sword street fights?

>Have you?
Yes. That's why I know you're ridiculous.
Same with karate and all combat sports, in a real fight you shit your pants because it's not a game. Even trained soldier shit their pants.
Guess what? Fencers are not better.

>I've fenced against fencing novices from HEMA
Wow, against novice! That sure means you're an expert swordsman!

>Oh, thanks for the hot tip. Here I was, using the flat of the blade this whole time.
You misunderstand alignement of the blade and hitting barely with the edge. That's why swords haven't round handle.

>No, I'm assuming there's considerable similarities. Keep in mind, I'm not just a fencer, but did my WMA tour a few years back.
And there is considerable differences. But you don't want to see them.

>Like, what? You want a full explanation of how a fencer is to fight against each of those weapons?
How do you fight well against a weapon you never fought against? Even on this thread people said that left handed fencers were harder to fight with. If you have an harder time with someone who doesn't use the same hand, try to imagine what it will happens if you fight against someone with a different weapon.

>I almost feel sorry for you, because it sounds like you've never actually fought a decent fencer.
Oh yeah, I get that you thinks fencing is awesome and so good and so great and I must understand nothing about it, you could totally 1v1 a trained soldier who killed people with his sword when you never ever went into a fight.

>Am I talking to a misplaced medieval knight or something?
No, to someone who had a rough time, and got into fight with brass knucles, knives and clubs. I'm not saying I'm a good fighter and could totally wreck your ass with one hand, I'm saying you don't understand what it is to fight when you're in real danger.

People always lose their shits, they make mistakes they don't do in training, they can't think straight, and when they get hurt they freak out.

>Real fight is so radically confused and different that there literally no point preparing in a structured way

Shit you're right, fire up the ovens boys looks like we have some books to burn.

Strawman: The post

You don't prepare to a fight when you learn fencing, you learn fencing.

Soldiers prepare to fight and have training on stress, unexpected situations, injuries, and so on. You don't.

You're a fencer. And that's great. Fencing is a nice sport, I never said otherwise. But that does not make you a fighter. You're not the equal of a soldier with your blade. Sorry to burst your bubble.

You know what's the difference between fencing and fighting?
In fight, you are going for a kill, not point. So the guy won't try to be finess about it, but will try to kill you. And epee/foil is absolutely dogshit awful when it comes to stopping someone dedicated to kill you with some other weapon.

None of them. Their life style and level of fitness would be totally unsustainable by a middle ages standard of living. Their metabolism would hit them whiplash them so hard it might well send them back to the future.

>No, to someone who had a rough time, and got into fight with brass knucles, knives and clubs

Wowee, way to impress me. You had an amateur fight with fellow amateurs, and apparently you're a weapons master now, ready to dispense your wisdom about how a sword fight is like a brawl between punks.

You sound an awful lot like my idiot older brother, who had his fun as a drug drealer and getting into stupid brawls with other idiots while wielding a baseball bat. But, that's all they were, and I've never lost a fight against him, which may very well have been with him trying to maim me.

I also don't think you realize that fencing isn't quite as soft a sport as you imagine it to be. People are out for blood. Even with the layers upon layers of added safety measures each year, people get seriously hurt and occasionally even die in the sport. Just because someone is wielding a blunt weapon doesn't mean they're attacking you half-assed. If anything, knowing they're less likely to hurt you encourages them just to hit you harder.

I'm not saying it's the equivalent to a life or death duel, but the key is that you're not playing patty cake but fighting against someone who, with a weapon rather than a piece of sporting equipment in hand, is hitting in a manner that would kill and maim you.

I'd say that compares more favorably to how a trained soldier would fight, as opposed to some kids playing as thugs on the street.

>Oh yeah, I get that you thinks fencing is awesome and so good and so great and I must understand nothing about it, you could totally 1v1 a trained soldier who killed people with his sword when you never ever went into a fight.

Like I said, you really sound like someone who just doesn't know anything about fencing. I'm glad you managed to walk away from your "MY LIFE WAS IN DANGER" fights with an ego out of it, but that's not a license for you to act like a person trained in fencing is about as good in a fight as a trained librarian.

>epee/foil is absolutely dogshit awful when it comes to stopping someone dedicated to kill you with some other weapon.

The sport weapons with blunt tips don't stop people well? I for one am shocked. I tell you what though, you let the fencer use a smallsword, you come in with any of those brass knucles [sic], knives, or clubs you've practiced with as much as an Olympian has practiced. Hell, bring them all.

a male with the right last name in the right area

>You sound like my idiot brother, and I never lost a fight against him!
>Fencing is dangerous I swear!

Oh yeah totally, fencing is more dangerous and stress inducing than a guy trying to stab you with a knife. Truth be told, It would make me way more afraid to be attacked by a foil than with a bowie knife.

You are ridiculous. You ARE playing patty cake. You are not fighting to protect your integrity, you are fighting for sport.
Your experience of dangerous fighting is some druggie punk and your fucking brother.

Would you be impressed if I told you I was a better fencer than "my idiot brothers and his druggie friends who can barely hold a sword"
No, but still, you think it's a good experience.

You sound like karate black belt who think they can disarm someone with a knife in the street.