The tournament used a variant of the Bergvall system, holding a single elimination bracket for the gold medal with a repechage ending in a match for silver and bronze. Each match featured 4 fencers from one team facing 4 fencers from the other team, for a total of 16 individual bouts. Bouts were to 3 touches.
With 8 teams, the main bracket consisted of quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. Teams defeated by the gold medalist in the main bracket moved to the repechage. With 3 teams in the repechage, a repechage "semifinal" and "final" (which awarded the silver medal to the winner and bronze medal to the loser) were scheduled (Bohemia did not contest the repechage final).
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 team épée was one of four fencing events on the Fencing at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. The event was won by the French team, who also swept the medals in the individual épée event. Each nation could enter a team of up to 8 fencers, with 4 fencers chosen for each match.
The men's sabre was one of four fencing events on the Fencing at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. The top two places were won by Hungarian fencers, who also took the gold medal in the team sabre event. Jenő Fuchs took the gold medal and Béla Zulawszky the silver. Bronze went to Bohemian Vilém Goppold von Lobsdorf. There were 76 competitors from 11 nations. Each nation could enter up to 12 fencers.
Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed as the host nation of the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. The British Olympic Association was the National Olympic Committee responsible for organising the United Kingdom's representation. At the time British athletes competed under the team name "United Kingdom". The British team comprised 676 competitors.
Bohemia competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England as an independent team, though it was part of Austria-Hungary at the time.
Belgium competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.
Bohemia competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, for the last time. Beginning at the 1920 Olympic Games, Bohemian athletes would compete for the new nation of Czechoslovakia. Until 1918 Bohemia was part of Austria-Hungary.
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 men's sabre was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1964 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from October 19 to 20, 1964. 52 fencers from 21 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Tibor Pézsa, the final of nine straight Games in which a Hungarian fencer won the event. The silver medal went to Claude Arabo of France, with Umyar Mavlikhanov of the Soviet Union taking bronze.
The men's sabre was a competition in fencing at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. A total of 39 men from 21 nations competed in this event. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. Competition took place in the Fencing Hall at the Helliniko Olympic Complex on August 14. The event was won by Aldo Montano of Italy, the nation's first victory in the men's sabre since 1920. Montano accomplished what his grandfather and father, both world champions in the individual event and Olympic medalists in the team competition, had not been able to: Olympic gold in the individual event. Zsolt Nemcsik of Hungary took silver while Vladislav Tretiak earned Ukraine's first medal in the event with his bronze. France's five-Games medal streak ended.
The men's sabre fencing competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing took place on August 12 at the Olympic Green Convention Centre. There were 40 competitors from 21 nations. The event was won by Zhong Man of China, the nation's first medal in the men's sabre. Nicolas Lopez's silver put France back on the podium after a one-Games absence. Mihai Covaliu of Romania became the 13th man to win multiple medals in the event, adding a bronze to his 2000 gold medal.
The men's épée was one of seven fencing events on the Fencing at the 1928 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event. The competition was held from 6 August 1928 to 7 August 1928. 59 fencers from 22 nations competed. Each nation could have up to three fencers. The event was won by Lucien Gaudin of France, the nation's third victory in the individual men's épée—taking sole possession of most among nations above Cuba and Belgium, each at two. Gaudin was the second man to win both the foil and épée events at a single Games. It was the third consecutive Games at which France reached the podium in the event. Two Frenchman had reached the head-to-head final; Gaudin won over Georges Buchard, who received silver. Bronze in 1928 went to American George Calnan, the nation's first medal in the event.
The men's team sabre was one of seven fencing events on the Fencing at the 1928 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 8 August 1928 to 9 August 1928. 65 fencers from 12 nations competed.
The men's sabre was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1968 Summer Olympics programme. It was the sixteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 16 to 17 October 1968. 40 fencers from 16 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Jerzy Pawłowski of Poland, breaking a nine-Games string of Hungarian victories in the event. Hungary's best result in the event was Tibor Pézsa's bronze; Pézsa beat Pawłowski in the final pool but the Hungarian lost two other bouts while the Pole was otherwise flawless. Mark Rakita of the Soviet Union lost only to Pawłowski in the final pool, forcing another bout to break the tie between them for gold and silver; that barrage bout was decided by a single point as Pawłowski beat Rakita 5–4.
The men's sabre was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1988 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twenty-first appearance of the event. The competition was held from 22 to 23 September 1988. 40 fencers from 18 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by defending champion Jean-François Lamour of France, the fourth man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the sabre and the 11th man overall to win multiple medals in the event. It was France's third victory in the event, matching the Soviet Union for second-most all-time. Janusz Olech took silver, Poland's first medal in the event since 1968. Italian Giovanni Scalzo earned bronze.
The men's épée 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 1 August 1992. 70 fencers from 30 nations competed. Each nation was limited to three fencers. The event was won by Éric Srecki of France, the nation's fifth victory in the event. France also took bronze, with Jean-Michel Henry winning the bronze medal match. France's podium streak in the event extended to four Games. Pavel Kolobkov of the Unified Team took silver.
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 men's sabre was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1992 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twenty-second appearance of the event. The competition was held on 2 August 1992. 44 fencers from 19 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Bence Szabó of Hungary, the nation's first victory in the men's sabre since 1964 and 12th overall. Marco Marin took silver while Jean-François Lamour finished with the bronze. Lamour, who had won gold in 1984 and 1988, was unable to win a third title but still became only the second man with three medals in the event. Marin had also finished second in 1984; he was the 12th man with multiple medals in the sabre.
The men's sabre competition in fencing at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London was held on 29 July at the ExCeL London Exhibition Centre. There were 37 competitors from 21 nations. Hungary's Áron Szilágyi won the gold medal, beating Diego Occhiuzzi of Italy won took silver. Nikolay Kovalev from Russia won the bronze. Szilágyi's gold medal was Hungary's 13th in the men's sabre.
The men's épée competition in fencing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was held on 9 August at the Carioca Arena 3. There were 38 competitors from 20 nations. South Korea's Park Sang-young won the individual gold, the first victory for South Korea in the event after bronze medals in 2000 and 2012. Géza Imre took silver, Hungary's first medal in the event since 1996. Imre, at age 41, was the oldest individual fencing medalist since 1952. Gauthier Grumier of France earned bronze.
