The men's sabre was a fencing event held as part of the Fencing at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme in Stockholm, Sweden. It was the fifth appearance of the event.

The Hungarian fencers dominated the competition, with all 12 advancing to the semifinals. In 2 of the 4 semifinals, the Hungarians took the top three places. In a third, Hungarian fencers took the two qualifying spots while the third Hungarian did not start. In the remaining semifinal, Nedo Nadi of Italy placed second to become the only non-Hungarian fencer to advance to the final (the three Hungarians took first, third, and fourth in that semifinal).

The final consisted of 7 Hungarian fencers and Nadi. Nadi took fifth. Jenő Fuchs successfully defended his 1908 Olympic title, the first man to win multiple medals in the sabre. Béla Békessy took silver and Ervin Mészáros earned bronze.

Background

This was the fifth appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four of the eight finalists from 1908 returned: gold medalist Jenő Fuchs, silver medalist Béla Zulawszky, fifth-place finisher Péter Tóth, and sixth-place finisher Lajos Werkner, all of Hungary. Hungary was dominant in the sabre; Fuchs' 1908 victory started a run that lasted through 1964 in which the only Games that Hungary did not win the event was the one to which the nation was not invited (1920).

Russia and Sweden each made their debut in the men's sabre. Austria made its fourth appearance in the event, most of any nation, having missed only the 1904 Games in St. Louis.

Competition format

The competition was held over four rounds. In each round, each pool held a round-robin. European sabre rules at the time used a larger target area than the post-World War I standard. In 1896, 1900, and 1908, the target area had been the whole body; the 1912 rules reduced that to "all body parts, located above the horizontal line passing through the crotch". (The 1904 competition used the American rules which became the standard now used.) Double hits were possible under the rules of the time.Official Report, p. 1024.

First round: 16 pools of between 3 and 5 fencers each. The top 3 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. Quarterfinals: 8 pools of 6 fencers each (before withdrawals). The top 3 fencers in each pool advanced to the semifinals. Semifinals: 4 pools of 6 fencers each. The top 2 fencers in each pool advanced to the final. Final: 1 pool of 8 fencers.

Schedule

Date Time Round Tuesday, 16 July 1912 9:0012:0015:00 Round 1 pools A–DRound 1 pools E–HRound 1 pools I–L Wednesday, 17 July 1912 9:0012:0015:00 Round 1 pools M–PQuarterfinals pools A–DQuarterfinals pools E–H Thursday, 18 July 1912 9:0014:00 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Round 1

Pool A

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Giovanni Benfratello 3 2 Lajos Werkner 2 3 Vladimir Danich 1 4 Gustaf Armgarth 0

Pool B

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Julius Lichtenfels 3 Béla Zulavsky 3 3 Vladimir Andreyev 2 4 Friedrich Golling 2 5 Helge Werner 0

Pool C

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Karl Münich 3 2 Hans Thomson 2 3 Jens Berthelsen 1 4 Boris Nepokupnoy 0

Pool D

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Edoardo Alaimo 4 2 Oluf Berntsen 2 Albert Bogen 2 4 Zdeněk Bárta 1 Aleksandr Shkylev 1

Pool E

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Charles Vanderbyl 3 2 Josef Javůrek 3 3 Josef Puhm 2 4 Carl-Gustaf Klerck 1 Georgy Zakyrich 1

Pool F

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Einar Levison 3 2 Alfred Martin 2 3 Anatoly Timofeyev 1 4 Johannes Kolling 0

Pool G

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Béla Békessy 3 2 Franz Dereani 1 3 William Marsh 1 4 Konstantin Vaterkampf 1

Pool H

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Hendrik de Iongh 3 Péter Tóth 3 3 Sven Nordenström 2 4 Douglas Godfree 1 Aleksandr Mordovin 1

Pool I

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Nikolay Kuznetsov — Ervin Mészáros — Georg Stöhr —

Pool J

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Jenő Fuchs — Apollon Guiber von Greifenfels — Carl Personne —

Poolol K

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Boris Arsenyev — Bertalan Dunay — Ernest zu Hohenlohe —

Pool L

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Zoltán Schenker 3 2 Friedrich Schwarz 2 3 Harry Butterworth 1 4 Pavel Filatov 1

Pool M

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Francesco Pietrasanta 3 2 Pál Pajzs 1 3 Alfred Syson 1 4 Walter Gate 1

Pool N

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Oszkár Gerde 3 2 Nedo Nadi 2 3 Albertson van zo Post 1 4 Archibald Corble 0

Pool O

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Dezső Földes — Alfred Keene — Alfred Sauer —

Pool P

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 László Berti 3 2 Aristide Pontanani 2 3 Edward Brookfield 1 4 Gunnar Lindholm 0

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal A

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 László Berti 0 2 Bertalan Dunay 1 3 Vladimir Andreyev 2 4 Giovanni Benfratello 3 5 Einar Levison 4 Georg Stöhr 4

Quarterfinal B

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Lajos Werkner 0 2 Oszkár Gerde 1 3 Anatoly Timofeyev 2 4 Harry Butterworth 3 Alfred Sauer 3 — Albert Bogen

Quarterfinal C

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Ervin Mészáros 0 2 Friedrich Schwarz 1 3 William Marsh 2 4 Ernest zu Hohenlohe 3 — Edoardo Alaimo Vladimir Danich

Quarterfinal D

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Béla Békessy 1 Dezső Földes 1 3 Oluf Berntsen 2 4 Nikolay Kuznetsov 3 Aristide Pontenani 3 — Karl Münich

Quarterfinal E

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Zoltán Schenker 1 2 Apollon Guiber von Greifenfels 2 Charles Vanderbyl 2 4 Hans Thomson 2 5 Edward Brookfield 3 — Franz Dereani

Quarterfinal F

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Jenő Fuchs 0 Alfred Syson 0 3 Boris Arsenyev 2 4 Jens Berthelsen 3 — Hendrik de Iongh Josef Javůrek

Quarterfinal G

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Nedo Nadi 1 Pál Pajzs 1 3 Béla Zulavsky 2 4 Alfred Keene 2 5 Sven Nordenström 4 — Josef Puhm

Quarterfinal H

Rank Fencer Nation Losses Notes 1 Péter Tóth 0 2 Julius Lichtenels 1 Carl Personne 1 4 Francesco Pietrasanta 1 5 Alfred Martin 4 — Albertson van zo Post

Semifinals

Semifinal A

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Béla Békessy 4 2 Nedo Nadi 3 3 Béla Zulavsky 2 4 Bertalan Dunay 1 5 Friedrich Schwarz 0 — Anatoly Timofeyev

Semifinal B

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Péter Tóth 2 2 Jenő Fuchs 1 3 Alfred Syson 0 — Vladimir Andreyev Oszkár Gerde Julius Lichtenfels

Semifinal C

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Ervin Mészáros 5 2 Dezső Földes 4 3 Pál Pajzs 3 4 Charles Vanderbyl 2 5 Boris Arsenyev 1 6 Carl Personne 0

Semifinal D

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Notes 1 Lajos Werkner 5 2 Zoltán Schenker 4 3 László Berti 3 4 Apollon Guiber von Greifenfels 2 5 William Marsh 1 6 Oluf Berntsen 0

Final

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Jenő Fuchs 6 1 18 10 Béla Békessy 5 2 17 11 Ervin Mészáros 5 2 17 12 4 Zoltán Schenker 4 3 17 13 5 Nedo Nadi 4 3 16 17 6 Péter Tóth 2 5 12 17 7 Lajos Werkner 1 6 13 19 8 Dezső Földes 1 6 9 20

References