YEARS HAVE NOT FOILED FENCER'S OLYMPIC DREAM : SWORDSWOMAN IS GRANDE DAME OF U.S. TEAM.

Byline: Carl Hilliard Associated Press 

Last year at age 49, Elaine Cheris started her return to the Olympics in a sport combining the stealth and strategy of chess and the violence of a street fight.

This year, at age 50, she has done it, winning a spot on the U.S. women's epee team. She is the oldest American competing in the Olympic Games in Atlanta next month.

After 27 tournaments in 16 European countries, she returned in amazing physical condition and with a winning attitude.

``I run in the morning, come back, take a lesson, do footwork, rest, do more footwork, and then bout,'' she said.

There are blisters and strains and aches and pains, but that is expected for an athlete of any age.

She became interested in fencing while coaching swimming at Yale when she met Uriah Jones, a fencing instructor who was competing in national fencing events at 50.

Cheris was on the 1980 Olympic team, but never got to compete because of the U.S. boycott of the Olympics in the Soviet Union. She missed the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles because of injury, and in 1988, she was a member of the team that finished sixth in Seoul, highest ever for women foilists. In 1992, injuries kept her from competing in Barcelona.

There are still aches and pains, but now it's a new game with a new weapon sanctioned for women.

In foil, touches are scored only on the torso, and a bout director has wide latitude in calling foil touches. In epee competition, touches are scored everywhere on the body. Serious injuries are rare. Painful minor injuries occur often: gouged upper arms, bruised legs and feet from lower body attacks, strained elbow ligaments, torn hamstrings.

On the U.S. women's epee team, Cheris joins two veterans, Leslie Marx of Pittsford, N.Y., and Nhi Lan Le of Atlanta.

Cheris runs five miles a day and trains under Janusz Peciak, 47, a former international modern pentathlon champion. Peciak won a gold medal at Montreal as a member of the Polish team and won the world championship in 1977 and 1979.

Peciak recognized Cheris' competitive attitude and excellent speed, even after her year's layoff in 1994. He took over her training, and she performed amazingly well at her first competition, a national circuit event in Colorado Springs. She lost by just one touch in a 15-14 bout, but finished in the top five.

Surprise, quickness and new techniques - and the drive and encouragement from a new coach - got her back into the world arena and the Olympics.

``Janusz went to every tournament. He's very delighted. He was there when I beat Gina Burke of Switzerland in a meet in Germany, and she's always been a fantastic fencer,'' Cheris said.

``Janusz said: `Concentrate what you are doing, and watch what they are doing. You can beat these girls. They are great, but you can beat them.' ''

Burke's light and bouncy footwork and subtle blade movements had put her third in the world at tournament time, but Cheris used a focused, no-frills, straight-in power attack to defeat Burke, 15-10.

``Entering the bout I didn't feel comfortable, but I responded to what she was doing, sort of tuned into it. I had watched tapes of her competitions, and I knew she didn't like getting behind. So I got ahead and stayed ahead, and she was forced to attack more and do things she was uncomfortable with.''

Cheris had less luck against Timea Nagy of Hungary and Saneita Tripathi of France, and missed the finals by one touch.

``Janusz literally dragged me through the tournaments. He said from the beginning a thousand things could happen.''

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Photo

Photo: Fencer Elaine Cheris has the distinction of being th e oldest athlete to make the 1996 U.S. Olympic team.

Associated Press