At the 1900 Summer Olympics, seven fencing events were contested. 260 fencers from 19 nations competed. The events took place at the Tuileries Garden.
The men's foil was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1964 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from October 13 to October 14, 1964. 55 fencers from 21 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Egon Franke of Poland, the nation's first victory in the men's foil. France returned to the podium after a one-Games absence, with Jean-Claude Magnan taking silver and Daniel Revenu the bronze.
The men's épée was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1964 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from October 18 to 19 1964. 65 fencers from 25 nations competed. Each nation was limited to three fencers. The event was won by Grigory Kriss of the Soviet Union, the nation's first gold medal in the event after a bronze four years earlier. The Soviets also took bronze, with Guram Kostava finishing in third place. Between the two was silver medalist Bill Hoskyns of Great Britain; it was the second consecutive Games with a British silver medalist in the event. Italy's six-Games gold medal streak in the men's individual épée ended with the nation missing the podium entirely; Gianluigi Saccaro finished fourth after losing the bronze-medal barrage to Kostava.
The épée event for amateurs was one of three épée events at the 1900 Summer Olympics. 102 fencers from 11 nations competed, with 91 of them from France. The event was won by Ramón Fonst of Cuba, the first of his two golds in individual épée. Silver and bronze both went to host nation fencers, Louis Perrée and Léon Sée. These badly organized games — derisively called “The Farcical Games” — were so poorly publicized that years later, even the competitors were clueless that they had competed in the Olympics in 1900. No official records for the games exist. These accomplishments are not even mentioned in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. This was the first appearance of the event, as only foil and sabre events had been held at the first Games in 1896; the Men's épée event has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1900.
The foil event for professionals involved 61 fencers from 7 nations. It was held from 22 to 29 May. The event as won by Lucien Mérignac, as France swept the top three places. Alphonse Kirchhoffer and Jean-Baptiste Mimiague were second and third, respectively.
23 fencers from 7 nations competed in the amateur sabre competition. The event was won by Georges de la Falaise of France, with his countryman Léon Thiébaut placing second. Austrian Siegfried Flesch was third.
The men's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1932 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eighth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 2 to 4 August 1932. 26 fencers from 12 nations competed, with one other entered but not starting. Each nation was limited to three fencers. The event was won by Gustavo Marzi of Italy, the nation's third victory in the men's foil. His countryman Giulio Gaudini took bronze for the second consecutive Games, becoming the fourth man to win multiple medals in the event. Joe Levis gave the United States its first men's foil medal with his silver.
The men's épée was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme. It was the ninth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 9 August 1936 to 11 August 1936. 68 fencers from 26 nations competed. Nations were limited to three fencers. The event was won by Franco Riccardi of Italy, the nation's second consecutive victory in the men's épée. Riccardi's teammates Saverio Ragno and Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici took silver and bronze, respectively, to give Italy a medal sweep—Italy's first and the fourth overall in the event. Cornaggia-Medici, who had won gold in 1932, became the fourth man to win multiple medals in the individual épée. For the first time, France competed in the event but did not win any medals.
The men's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme. It was the ninth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 5 August 1936 to 6 August 1936. 62 fencers from 22 nations competed. Nations were limited to three fencers. The event was won by Giulio Gaudini of Italy, the nation's second consecutive and fourth overall victory in the men's foil. Gaudini, who had won bronze medals in 1928 and 1932, was the first man to win three medals in the event. His countryman Giorgio Bocchino took bronze. Edward Gardère put France back on the podium after a one-Games absence.
The men's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the tenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 3 August 1948 to 4 August 1948. 63 fencers from 25 nations competed. The event was won by Jehan Buhan of France, the nation's first victory in the men's foil since 1928 and fifth overall. His countryman Christian d'Oriola took silver, while Lajos Maszlay earned Hungary's first medal in the men's individual foil with his bronze.
The men's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eleventh appearance of the event. The competition was held from 23 July 1952 to 24 July 1952. 61 fencers from 25 nations competed. All three medallists were left-handed. Nations were limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Christian d'Oriola of France, the nation's second consecutive victory in the men's foil and sixth overall. D'Oriola was the fifth man to win multiple medals in the event. The silver and bronze medals were won by Edoardo Mangiarotti and Manlio Di Rosa of Italy.
The men's sabre was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twelfth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 31 July 1952 to 1 August 1952. 66 fencers from 26 nations competed. Nations were limited to three fencers each. The event was won by Pál Kovács, the sixth of nine straight Games in which a Hungarian would win the event. Kovács became the fourth man to win multiple medals in the individual sabre, adding to his 1948 bronze. Hungary swept the medals in the event for the second time. Aladár Gerevich's silver completed a set of three different color medals in the event, the first man to win three medals in individual sabre. Tibor Berczelly earned bronze.
The men's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twelfth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 26 November 1956. 32 fencers from 14 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Christian d'Oriola of France, the second man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the foil and second man to win three medals in the event. It was France's third consecutive and seventh overall victory in the event. As in 1952, the next two spots were taken by Italians, this time Giancarlo Bergamini and Antonio Spallino.
The men's épée was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twelfth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 30 November 1956. 41 fencers from 18 nations competed. Nations were limited to three fencers each. The event was won by Carlo Pavesi of Italy, the nation's fifth consecutive victory in the men's épée. In all five of those Games, Italy earned at least two medals in the event; this was the second sweep during that period for Italy. Giuseppe Delfino was the silver medalist while Edoardo Mangiarotti took bronze. It was Mangiarotti's third medal in the event, along with gold in 1952 and another bronze in 1948; he was the first man to win three medals in the individual épée.
The women's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event. The competition was held on 29 November 1956. 23 fencers from 11 nations competed.
The men's foil was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1960 Summer Olympics programme. It was the thirteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 29 – 30 August 1960. 78 fencers from 31 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Viktor Zhdanovich of the Soviet Union, with his countryman Yury Sisikin the runner-up; they were the nation's first medals in the event. The Soviets nearly swept the medals, with Mark Midler advancing to a three-man barrage for third place before finishing in fifth place. Albie Axelrod's bronze put the United States on the podium for the event for the first time since 1932. Traditional powers Italy and France, who between them had won 11 of 12 gold medals and 9 of 12 silver, were kept off the podium entirely.
The men's épée was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1960 Summer Olympics programme. It was the thirteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 5 to 6 September 1960. 79 fencers from 32 nations competed. Each nation was limited to three fencers. The event was won by Giuseppe Delfino of Italy, the nation's sixth consecutive victory in the men's épée. Delfino, who had taken silver in 1956, was the seventh man to win multiple medals in the event. Silver went to Allan Jay of Great Britain and bronze to Bruno Habārovs of the Soviet Union, the first-ever medal in the event for both nations. It was the first time during Italy's gold-medal streak that the nation did not have a second medalist as well.
The women's foil was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1960 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eighth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 31 August – 1 September 1960. 56 fencers from 24 nations competed.
The men's foil was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1992 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twenty-first appearance of the event. The competition was held on 31 July 1992. 59 fencers from 25 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Philippe Omnès of France, the nation's first victory in the men's foil since 1956 and eighth overall. Serhiy Holubytskiy of the Unified Team took silver. Elvis Gregory earned Cuba's first medal in the event in 88 years with his bronze.
The women's foil was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1992 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 30 July 1992. 46 fencers from 19 nations competed.
