My name is Bill Murphy. I have worked as an armorer at countless national and international fencing events. I was the Sports Equipment Coordinator of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Fencing Event, a Weapon Control Coordinator at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Fencing Event and Team Armorer for the 2004 and 2008 US Paralympic Fencing Team.  I fenced for about 7 years back in the 1980’s and I used a Leon Paul bayonet body cord and socket the entire time. Since joining Leon Paul in 2005, I have sold thousands of our bayonet body cords and sockets and received maybe 2 or 3 questionable complaints about this product during this time. It is an excellent product. In June of 2015, without sufficient evidence, the FIE banned the bayonet connecting system at FIE sanctioned events. I just couldn't believe it. I thought long and hard about it. During my years as an armorer, I had to diagnose numerous problems on the fencing strip. Two pin body cord problems were very common and the 2 pin system certainly doesn't work perfectly in all situations, which was the reason that the FIE gave for banning the bayonet system. [caption id="attachment_322" align="aligncenter" width="840"] Broadcast from 2016 Rio Olympic Games where they were using brand new wires.[/caption]

I became determined to figure out why the FIE would ban a good product like the Leon Paul Bayonet connecting system. This video explains my findings:

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