Good Fencers Make Good Neighbors

Yes, the President of the United States is playing with a light saber.

This was part of an event to promote Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics. Athletes and para-athletes demonstrated their sports for the president. First Lady Michelle Obama goes to Copenhagen on October 2nd to represent the US bid against Spain, Brazil, and Japan.

The fencer pictured is 2008 Olympic silver medalist Tim Morehouse. While the event is meant to highlight the US Olympic bid, Morehouse is using it as an opportunity to promote the sport, and hopefully to also help find funding for his Olympic training. Although fencing is one of only four sports to appear in all the modern Olympics, it is poorly supported here in the United States. Vanity Fair ran an article on Morehouse in August titled "Will Fence for Food" where they cover Morehouse's efforts to bring fencing out of the backwaters of US sports.

You can read Morehouse's giddy first-hand take on the event here in his blog.

It appears some prescient japanese toy makers got the jump on this event: Gamu Toys already has an Obama action figure complete with light saber, Samurai sword and various ballistic weapons. I recommend you take time to look through the whole gallery.

Sources:
Reuters Oddly Enough
Reuters
Comics Alliance
Whitehouse.gov (photo)
Tim Morehouse
CBS News
Fencing.net
Wikipedia
Vanity Fair
Gamu Toys
Boing Boing