The accent is Russian, the language, French, the sport, universal.

"Prêts?! Allez!" ("Ready?! Go!"), barks Arkady Burdan, the command that signals the start of duels. Blade meets blade in a contest that is often referred to as physical chess.

This is Nellya Fencers in Forest Park, founded by Burdan in 1991. It is the home of fencing champions and of one Olympian, with more in the pipeline for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Sada Jacobson, 20, is ranked first nationally and second internationally in saber fencing, giving her a good chance to represent the United States in the event in the Olympics next year, the first time that women will compete in the sport. Up to three women can qualify for the team.

"I want [to] have three," Burdan said during a short break in the evening training. He's counting on Emily Jacobson, 17, and Amelia Gaillard, 19, to also corral the coveted spots.

"I want [a] medal," he said.

Needing to break free

Burdan, 59, left what had been the Soviet Union in 1989 as a refugee. He was a fencer and later a coach on the national team, training "many, many national champions," Burdan said.

But because he is Jewish, neither he nor his Jewish athletes were permitted to compete outside of the Soviet Union, he said.

It was the reason he left, moving to Italy for seven months before arriving in Atlanta in 1990 with the help of Jewish Family Services.

Among his first coaching jobs were gigs at the Jewish Community Center and the Counterpane School in Fayetteville, where many of his present students come from.

He founded Nellya Fencers in 1991 in College Park and moved to Forest Park nearly four years ago.

Within a few years of starting Nellya Fencers, his students were competing in world championships and winning medals.

Last year, he was named "elite coach of the year" by the U.S. Fencing Association, which noted his work as coach on the U.S. women's saber team in the 2000 World Championships. It was the first time the team had won a gold medal, said Cindy Bent, a spokeswoman for the association.

Burdan and his athletes leave for New York City today for a World Cup competition. It is the only Olympic qualifying event held in the United States, Bent said.

Importance of strategy

Weighing less than a pound, the saber is a modern version of a cavalry sword. It is a thrusting and cutting weapon. In saber fencing, points are scored by striking the target with either the side or the point of the blade. The target area is from the bend of the hips to the top of the head.

Other forms of fencing are foil, in which only the torso is the target area; and epee, in which the entire body is the target. In both foil and epee, points are scored with the tip of the sword.

Although the saber is light, training is grueling.

Sada Jacobson spends at least four hours a day in training. But it is a sport where strategy and experience are as important as physical prowess.

"Strategy is so important to this game," said Jacobson, a Dunwoody resident and a history major at Yale University who is taking a year and half off to prepare for the Olympics.

"When I was swimming, the training is so intense, but a lot of times it's not very interesting," she said.

But with saber, "you are trying to find your opponents' weaknesses and capitalize on those, and your opponent is trying to do the same thing to you. You are basically trying to manipulate your opponent into doing what you want them to do."

'Most people don't last'

Nhi Lan Le, who was on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team in women's epee, the first time women competed using that weapon, has been training with Burdan for 13 years.

"I just love the sport," said Le, a computer broker who lives in Marietta.

"Most people don't last," she said, as perspiration poured down her face after a workout with Burdan. "Ninety percent of the people who come through fencing, they leave. Some take a week. Some [do] one-time fencing. Some take three months. Some take six months, a year. They leave. I love it. It's a challenge."

The people who tough it out find rewards and lasting friendships.

"It's great company, great people," said Oleg Krivosheev of Suwannee, who started in the sport in September to lose weight after watching his son fence.

Gaillard first gave the sport a try when she was 6 years old. Her most vivid memory was of Burdan yelling.

The training lasted less then a year.

But she tried it again at age 11, when she also was taking lessons in dance and karate. This time, she liked it.

"I guess it was appealing because it was so different from all the other sports out there. I mean, everybody in Fayette County plays soccer or softball," said Gaillard.

Becky Douville, 45, thinks much of her enjoyment of the sport stems from the coach. "Whatever your skill level, he takes you as serious as he does" the champion, said Douville, who took up the sport in 1996. She followed her son David, who is now 18. Two other sons also fence.

"He does not want to have a recreational club. You don't have to compete, but you have to work as hard as everybody else," Douville said of Burdan.