| Fencing at the Games of the VIII Olympiad | |
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At the 1924 Summer Olympics, seven fencing events were contested. A women's event, the individual foil, was held for the first time.
After the games, an Italian and a Hungarian settled a scoring controversy with a real duel. [1] Aldolfo Contronei, described in some sources as a 45-year-old fencing critic for an Italian newspaper [2] and others as the captain of the Italian foil team, [3] fought Giorgio Santelli, the 27-year-old son of the Hungarian Olympic team's coach Italo Santelli. Giorgio Santelli had invoked the Code Duello in order to fight in the place of his 60-year-old father. The duel was fought in the town of Abbazia near the Hungarian border with heavy sabers. The duel was terminated after only two minutes of combat time when Santelli must have landed a tierce of quarte in the side of Contronei's forehead.
A further duel resulted when Gyorgy Kovacs, a Hungarian judge at the Games also involved in the causes of the earlier duel, fought one of the Italian team, Oreste Puliti, four months after the Games over allegations made by Kovacs and other judges. [4]
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual foil | Ellen Osiier  Denmark | Gladys Davis  Great Britain | Grete Heckscher Denmark |
A total of 240 fencers from 23 nations competed at the Paris Games: [5]
Argentina (13)(men:13 women:0)
Austria (5)(men:5 women:0)
Belgium (19)(men:19 women:0)
Chile (1)(men:1 women:0)
Cuba (6)(men:6 women:0)
Czechoslovakia (7)(men:7 women:0)
Denmark (11)(men:7 women:4)
Egypt (3)(men:3 women:0)
France (24)(men:20 women:4)
Great Britain (20)(men:16 women:4)
Greece (6)(men:6 women:0)
Hungary (10)(men:9 women:1)
Italy (19)(men:19 women:0)
Netherlands (17)(men:14 women:3)
Norway (4)(men:4 women:0)
Poland (5)(men:4 women:1)
Portugal (10)(men:10 women:0)
Spain (13)(men:13 women:0)
Sweden (9)(men:6 women:3)
Switzerland (10)(men:7 women:3)
Turkey (1)(men:1 women:0)
United States (21)(men:19 women:2)
Uruguay (6)(men:6 women:0)| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France (FRA) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 2 | Belgium (BEL) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | Denmark (DEN) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Italy (ITA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 6 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (8 entries) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 | |
At the 1900 Summer Olympics, seven fencing events were contested. 260 fencers from 19 nations competed. The events took place at the Tuileries Garden.
A foil is one of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. It is a flexible sword of total length 110 cm (43 in) or under, rectangular in cross section, weighing under 500 g (18 oz), with a blunt tip. As with the épée, points are only scored by making contact with the tip. The foil is the most commonly used weapon in fencing.
Italo Santelli was an Italian fencer who is considered to be the "father of modern sabre fencing".
Hungary competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 232 competitors, 187 men and 45 women, took part in 134 events in 20 sports.
Italy competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 224 competitors, 197 men and 27 women, took part in 123 events in 19 sports.
Italy competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 210 competitors, 183 men and 27 women, took part in 122 events in 20 sports.
Hungary competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. 212 competitors, 147 men and 65 women, took part in 145 events in 24 sports.
Allan S. Kwartler, born in New York City, was an American sabre and foil fencer. He was Pan-American sabre champion, 3-time Olympian, and twice a member of sabre teams that earned 4th-place in Olympic Games.
MaestroGiorgio Santelli was a fencer and fencing master who was part of the Italian team that won the gold medal in Men's team sabre at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was the largest mid-20th century influence in raising the quality and popularity of fencing in the United States, and creator of one of the best-known fencing equipment manufacturers.
Hungary competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. 182 competitors, 150 men and 32 women, took part in 111 events in 17 sports.
Hungary competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 178 competitors, 124 men and 54 women, took part in 109 events in 17 sports.
Italy competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 231 competitors, 208 men and 23 women, took part in 114 events in 19 sports.
Italy competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden. 129 competitors, 114 men and 15 women, took part in 76 events in 13 sports. As the country hosted the next Olympics in Rome, the flag of Italy was hoisted at the closing ceremony.
Hungary competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, returning to the Olympic Games after not being invited to the 1920 Games because of the nation's role in World War I. 89 competitors, 86 men and 3 women, took part in 54 events in 12 sports.
Hungary competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. 184 competitors, 157 men and 27 women, took part in 107 events in 18 sports.
Hungary competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. 167 competitors, 135 men and 32 women, took part in 116 events in 15 sports.
The men's sabre was one of seven fencing events on the Fencing at the 1924 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event, the only fencing event to have been on the programme at every Games. The competition was held from Tuesday July 16, 1924 to Thursday July 18, 1924. 47 fencers from 15 nations competed. Nations were limited to four fencers each, down from eight in 1920. The event was won by Sándor Pósta of Hungary, beginning a nine-Games streak in which Hungarians won the gold medal in the men's sabre. Roger Ducret of France took silver, while another Hungarian, János Garay, earned bronze.
Evelyn Florence Terhune was an American foil fencer and fencing coach who competed in the women's individual and team foil events at the 1960 Summer Olympics and was the long-time head coach of the women's fencing team at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU).
Andrea Cassarà is an Italian left-handed foil fencer, two-time individual European champion, 2011 individual world champion, and three-time Olympics medalist.
