The men's foil was a fencing event held as part of the fencing programme at the 1904 Summer Olympics. It was the third time the event was held at the Olympics. The competition was held on September 7, 1904. Nine fencers from three nations competed. The medals were swept by "Cuban" fencers; only Fonst was actually Cuban, but the other two men (Albertson Van Zo Post and Charles Tatham) were marked as Cuban by the IOC despite being American. The mistake was corrected after more than 100 years in the early 2020s.

Background This was the third appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1908 (when there was a foil display only rather than a medal event). None of the fencers from 1900 returned.

Two of the three competing nations were making their debut in the men's foil: Cuba and Germany. Only the United States had previously competed, in 1900; the United States' two appearances matched France (1896 and 1900).

Competition format The event used a two-round format (semifinals and a final). The semifinal consisted of two pools, one of five fencers and one of four fencers, with each pool playing a round-robin. The top two in each semifinal advanced to the final; these four played another round-robin. Standard foil rules were used, including that touches had to be made with the tip of the foil, the target area was limited to the torso, and priority determined the winner of double touches.

However, the number of touches made was not determinative of the winner of a bout. Instead, each bout was evaluated by judges. Each judge assigned up to 100 points to each fencer, with the fencer having the higher average score winning the bout.

Schedule Date Time Round Wednesday, 7 September 1904 SemifinalsFinal

Results Semifinals Each fencer in a group faced each other fencer in that group once. The top two fencers in each semifinal group moved on to the final.

Semifinal A Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Ramón Fonst 4 0 2 Albertson Van Zo Post 3 1 3 Fitzhugh Townsend 2 2 4 Theodore Carstens 1 3 5 William Grebe 0 4

Semifinal B Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Gustav Casmir 3 0 2 Charles Tatham 2 1 3 Wilfred Holroyd The IOC results database shows Wilfred Holroyd as American; however, he was British. 1 2 4 Arthur Fox 0 3

Final Fonst continued to defeat all comers, including Post a second time, to win the gold. Post's only two losses in the event came against Fonst, as he took silver. Tatham, who had lost to Casmir in the semifinal pool, defeated him the second time around to take third place.

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Ramón Fonst 3 0 Albertson Van Zo Post 2 1 Charles Tatham 1 2 4 Gustav Casmir 0 3

Final classification Rank Fencer Nation Notes Ramón Fonst Final Albertson Van Zo Post Final Charles Tatham Final 4 Gustav Casmir Final 5 Fitzhugh Townsend 3rd in semifinal pool Wilfred Holroyd The IOC results database shows Wilfred Holroyd as American; however, he was British. 3rd in semifinal pool 7 Theodore Carstens 4th in semifinal pool Arthur Fox 4th in semifinal pool 9 William Grebe 5th in semifinal pool

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