As we watch Olympic fencing, we get very confused. It seems pretty simple, really: two adversaries face off, then attack, then... Something happens. Yeah, that part is pretty confusing.

Both fighters claim that they struck! But the referee says, nah, someone got there first. Point goes to that fencer (or the other fencer)! And then they go at it again. Huh? Point? We missed the point!

Fencing in the old days was so obvious: two adversaries face off, then attack, the one gets stabbed. There is blood and gushing and sometimes you lose an ear. At least, that's what "The Three Musketeers" taught us.

Now? It all happens so fast that you need slow motion replay to explain who hit first.

This brings us to the US Olympic team in Paris, which has no fewer than six Jewish fencers. One of them is Nick Itkin, the son of a Jewish Ukrainian father. He is one of the highest-ranked fencers in the world who is competing for the US in the second straight Olympics. Previously, Itkin won a team bronze in Tokyo. On the day this profile ran, he added an individual bronze in Paris.

No ears were lost in the process!