Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson Fences Against Olympic Medalist

No one can ever accuse Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson of not pursuing his passions outside of rock music. In addition to being a pilot and brewer, Dickinson has also shown a love of fencing throughout his life. He recently participated in a warm-up session against Bartosz Piasecki, who won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The sparring match took place prior to the Norwegian fencing championships. Dickinson got off to a quick start, winning two points in a row, despite being nearly a foot shorter than his 6'5" opponent. However, Piasecki eventually took control, shutting him out in the final round. Still, the medalist was impressed with the rocker.

"He's kick-ass," Piasecki told Norwegian paper Aftenposten (via Maiden Revelations). "He is short but incredibly fast, that's his weapon. He looked like Rocky when he arrived in a brown robe with his fencing kit in a shoulder bag."

Dickinson began fencing as a schoolboy, but, as he said, "gave up competing in tournaments when I was 23. At that point I was ranked No. 7 in Britain.” Still, he occasionally finds time to fence, finding that it helps him with his day job, adding, "the by-product is that I end up getting in reasonably good shape. Actually fencing is very similar to the way I run around on stage. Or maybe I run around on stage like that because I fence. Either way it works for me.”