France Officially Recognizes Lightsaber Dueling As A Competitive Sport. Wait, What?

AP- It’s now easier than ever in France to act out “Star Wars” fantasies, because its fencing federation has borrowed from a galaxy far, far away and officially recognized lightsaber dueling as a competitive sport, granting the iconic weapon from George Lucas’ saga the same status as the foil, epee and sabre, the traditional blades used at the Olympics.

Of course, the LED-lit, rigid polycarbonate lightsaber replicas can’t slice a Sith lord in half. But they look and, with the more expensive sabers equipped with a chip in their hilt that emits a throaty electric rumble, even sound remarkably like the silver screen blades that Yoda and other characters wield in the blockbuster movies.

Plenty realistic, at least, for duelists to work up an impressive sweat slashing, feinting and stabbing in organized, 3-minute bouts. The physicality of lightsaber combat is part of why the French Fencing Federation threw its support behind the sport and is now equipping fencing clubs with lightsabers and training would-be lightsaber instructors. Like virtuous Jedi knights, the French federation sees itself as combatting a Dark Side: The sedentary habits of 21st-century life that are sickening ever-growing numbers of adults and kids .

Well I think this was the finishing blow. Nerds have officially taken over the planet. Comic book movies are the biggest events in the entertainment universe, bloggers are now important voices in their respective fields instead of being punchlines stuck in their mom’s basements, and lightsaber fights have made their way into jock territory by becoming an official competitive sport.

I know France being the country that signed off on this with their fancy accent takes a little bit of luster off the news. If a country with some more balls behind its name like Russia or Germany made this declaration, being a lightsaber dueler would come with a lot more street cred instead of essentially being a fencer with a light up sword. But beggars can’t be choosers and I am chalking this up as a massive win for the nerds as well as the bloggers (which are two in the same tbh) because more content like this will become possible once every Pierre and Francois try for their shot at athletic glory and lead to more videos like this that will be covered by Barstool’s combat sport AND Star Wars guru Robbie Fox.

Stay hot, Bob Fox. Stay fucking hot.

Obligatory nod to the originator, none greater