Fencing at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's foil

The men's foil was a fencing event held as part of the Fencing at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme in Stockholm, Sweden. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which had not been contested in 1908. There were 94 competitors from 15 nations, a large increase from the 9 fencers who had competed in 1904. The event was won by Nedo Nadi of Italy, the first of his two victories in the event. His countryman Pietro Speciale took silver, while Richard Verderber of Austria took bronze.

Background

This was the fourth 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). The organizers of the 1912 Games explicitly rejected the 1908 organizers' view that foil fencing was not suitable for competition. The only fencer from 1904 to return was silver medalist Albertson Van Zo Post of the United States. France and Italy were the strongest nations in foil fencing; a dispute over the rules led to the French team boycotting the fencing competitions.Official Report, p. 455.

Bohemia, Denmark, Great Britain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, and South Africa each made their debut in the men's foil. The United States made its third appearance, having missed only the inaugural 1896 competition.

Competition format

The event used a four-round format. In each round, the fencers were divided into pools to play a round-robin within the pool. Bouts were to five touches. 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, there were significant disputes over particulars of the rules, which led to the French boycott.Official Report, p. 1016. Round 1: There were 16 pools, each of between 4 and 7 fencers. The top 3 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. Quarterfinals: There were 8 pools of 6 fencers each. The top 3 fencers in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. Semifinals: There were 4 pools of 6 fencers each. The top 2 fencers in each semifinal advanced to the final. Final: The final pool had 8 fencers.

Schedule

Date Time Round Saturday, 6 July 1912 8:0013:0016:00 Round 1 pools A–DRound 1 pools E–HRound 1 pools I–L Sunday, 7 July 1912 8:0013:0016:00 Round 1 pools M–PQuarterfinals pools A–DQuarterfinals pools E–H Monday, 8 July 1912 9:0013:00 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Round 1

Pool A

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Léon Tom 0 2 Viliam Tvrzský 1 3 Dezső Földes 2 4 Dmitry Knyazhevich 3 Andreas Suttner 3

Pool B

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Marcel Berré 0 2 Marc Larimer 2 Edgar Amphlett 2 4 Johannes Adam 3 Feliks Leparsky 3

Pool C

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Gordon Alexander 1 Albertson van zo Post 1 3 Josef Pfeiffer 2 4 Bertalan Dunay 2 5 Pavel Guvorsky 4

Pool D

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Nedo Nadi 0 2 Zoltán Schenker 1 3 Scott Breckenridge 3 4 Miloš Klika 3 5 Walter Gate 4 Percival Davson 4 7 Julius Thomson 6

Pool E

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Julius Lichtenfels 1 2 Arthur Fagan 2 3 Jens Berthelsen 3 4 Graeme Hammond 3 Gaston Salmon 3 6 Gustaf Armgarth 4 7 Vladimir Kayser 5

Pool F

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Francesco Pietrasanta 0 2 Fernand de Montigny 1 3 Sotirios Notaris 2 4 Lars Aas 4 Ernest Stenson-Cooke 4 John MacLaughlin 4 7 Nikolay Goredetsky 6

Pool G

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Sherman Hall 1 Victor Willems 1 3 Pietro Speciale 2 4 Sydney Martineau 3 Aleksandr Mordovin 3 6 Hans Olsen 4 Carl Personne 4

Pool H

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Harold Raynor 0 2 Béla Zulavsky 1 3 Adolf Davids 2 4 Nils Grönvall 3 5 Vladimir Samoylov 4

Pool I

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Béla Békessy 1 Edgar Seligman 1 3 Wilhelm Löffler 2 4 Josef Javůrek 3 5 Franz Dereani 4 6 John Gignoux 5

Pool J

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Einar Levison 0 2 Pál Pajzs 1 3 Hermann Plaskuda 2 4 Josef Puhm 3 William Bowman 3 6 Zdeněk Vávra 5

Pool K

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Ivan Osiier 0 2 Axel Jöhncke 2 3 Friedrich Golling 2 4 Gavriil Bertrain 2

Pool L

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Edoardo Alaimo 0 2 Péter Tóth 1 3 Vilém Goppold, Jr. 2 4 Alfred Sauer 3 5 Albert Naumann 4 Vladimir Sarnavsky 4

Pool M

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Paul Anspach 0 2 Carl Hjorth 1 Robert Montgomerie 1 4 Oluf Berntsen 3 Lev Martyushev 3 6 Christopher von Tangen 5 Reinhold Trampler 5

Pool N

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Henri Anspach 1 Bjarne Eriksen 1 Richard Verderber 1 4 Adrianus de Jong 3 5 Anatoly Zhakovlev 4 — A M Hassanein

Pool O

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 László Berti 1 Jacques Ochs 1 3 Lauritz Østrup 2 4 Heinrich Ziegler 2 5 Rudolf Cvetko 3 6 František Kříž 5

Pool P

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Fernando Cavallini 1 Robert Hennet 1 Emil Schön 1 4 George Breed 3 5 Leonid Grinev 4 6 Gunnar Böös 5

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal A

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Zoltán Schenker 0 2 Nedo Nadi 1 3 Julius Lichtenfels 1 4 Gordon Alexander 3 5 Marc Larimer 4 Léon Tom 4

Quarterfinal B

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Béla Zulavsky 0 2 Viliam Tvrzský 1 3 Edgar Amphlett 2 4 Jens Berthelsen 3 5 Francesco Pietrasanta 4 — Albertson van zo Post

Quarterfinal C

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Pietro Speciale 0 2 Dezső Földes 1 Edgar Seligman 1 4 Marcel Berré 3 Scott Breckinridge 3 6 Josef Pfeiffer 5

Quarterfinal D

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Edoardo Alaimo 0 Béla Békessy 0 3 Sherman Hall 1 4 Adolf Davids 3 Axel Jöhncke 3 Fernand de Montigny 3

Quarterfinal E

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Ivan Osiier 1 Péter Tóth 1 Victor Willems 1 4 Wilhelm Löffler 3 Sotirios Notaris 3 6 Harold Rayner 4

Quarterfinal F

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Henri Anspach 1 Fernando Cavallini 1 3 Pál Pajzs 2 4 Carl Hjorth 3 5 Arthur Fagan 4 Friedrich Golling 4

Quarterfinal G

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Robert Hennet 1 2 Robert Montgomerie 2 3 Richard Verderber 2 4 Vilém Goppold, Jr. 3 Lauritz Østrup 3 6 Hermann Plaskuda 4

Quarterfinal H

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Lázsló Berty 1 2 Paul Anspach 2 3 Emil Schön 3 4 Bjarne Eriksen 3 Einar Levison 3 Jacques Ochs 3

Semifinals

Semifinal A

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Edoardo Alaimo 1 Edgar Seligman 1 3 Pál Pajzs 2 Zoltán Schenker 2 5 Robert Hennet 3 6 Viliam Tvrzský 4

Semifinal B

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Nedo Nadi 0 2 Béla Békessy 1 3 Paul Anspach 2 Emil Schön 2 5 Ivan Osiier — Edgar Amphlett

Semifinal C

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Pietro Speciale 0 2 Robert Montgomerie 2 3 Péter Tóth 2 4 Henri Anspach 3 Julius Lichtenfels 3 Béla Zulavsky 3

Semifinal D

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Richard Verderber 0 László Berti 0 3 Sherman Hall 2 Victor Willems 3 — Fernando Cavallini Dezső Földes

Final

The first tie-breaker was hits received in victories; Verderber and Berti each were hit 10 times in their 4 wins, while Alaimo was hit 11 times in his 4 wins.

References