Fencing at the 1900 Summer Olympics – Men's sabre

23 fencers from 7 nations competed in the amateur sabre competition. The event was won by Georges de la Falaise of France, with his countryman Léon Thiébaut placing second. Austrian Siegfried Flesch was third.

Background

This was the second appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The competition had a much smaller, yet also more international, field than the other 1900 fencing events; less than half of the entrants were French.

France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland all made their debut in the men's sabre. Austria was the only nation to have competed at both the 1896 and 1900 appearances of the event.

Competition format

The event used a three-round format (quarterfinals, semifinals, final). Each round used round-robin pool play with actual results counting toward placement (as opposed to foil, which had multiple rounds of jury selection rather than results being used). Standard sabre rules were used, except that the target area was the entire body (rather than being limited to above the waist). Quarterfinals: The 23 fencers competed in four round-robin pools of 5 or 6 fencers each. The top four in each pool advanced to the semifinals. (Because of withdrawals, the fifth-placed fencer in two of the pools advanced). Semifinals: The 16 fencers from the quarterfinals were divided into two pools of 8 fencers each. Each pool played a round robin. The top four fencers in each semifinal pool advanced to the final. Final: The final pool had 8 fencers.

Schedule

Date Time Round Tuesday, 19 June 1900 Quarterfinals Wednesday, 20 June 1900 Quarterfinals continued Friday, 22 June 1900 14:00 Semifinals Monday, 25 June 1900 Final

Results

Quarterfinals

The fencers competed in four round-robin pools in the first round on 19 and 20 June. The top four fencers in each pool advanced to the semifinals. Which fencers competed in which pools is unknown.

Fencer Nation Notes Maurice Boisdon Clément de Boissière Gaston Dutertre Gaston Dutertre withdrew after the first round, to be replaced by Stagliano. It can therefore be inferred that Stagliano was the fifth-place fencer in the same preliminary pool as Dutertre. Similarly, Todoresku replaced Lécuyer. Georges de la Falaise Giunio Fedreghini Siegfried Flesch Mauricio, 4th Duke of Gor Harstein Hugó Hoch Pierre Georges Louis d'Hugues Gyula von Iványi Léon Lécuyer Camillo Müller Amon Ritter von Gregurich Heinrich von Tenner Léon Thiébaut Stagliano Miklós Todoresku François de Boffa Émile Lafourcade-Cortina Alfons Schöne Casimir Semelaignes Fernand Semelaignes

Semifinals

The 16 remaining fencers were divided into two pools of 8. They played round-robin tournaments on 22 June, with four advancing from each pool to the final.

Semifinal A

Rank Fencer Nation Notes 1 Gyula von Iványi 2 Camillo Müller 3 Siegfried Flesch 4 Georges de la Falaise 5–8 Maurice Boisdon Harstein Pierre Georges Louis d'Hugues Giunio Fedreghini

Semifinal B

Rank Fencer Nation Notes 1 Amon Ritter von Gregurich 2 Heinrich von Tenner 3 Clément de Boissière 4 Léon Thiébaut 5–8 Hugó Hoch Mauricio, 4th Duke of Gor Stagliano Miklós Todoresku

Final

The final was a round-robin among the 8 remaining fencers.

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Georges de la Falaise 6 1 Léon Thiébaut 5 2 Siegfried Flesch 4 3 4 Amon Ritter von Gregurich 4 3 5 Gyula von Iványi 3 4 6 Clément de Boissière 3 4 7 Heinrich von Tenner 2 5 8 Camillo Müller 1 6

Results summary

Rank Fencer Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Wins Losses Georges de la Falaise 1st–4th 4th 6 1 Léon Thiébaut 1st–4th 4th 5 2 Siegfried Flesch 1st–4th 3rd 4 3 4 Amon Ritter von Gregurich 1st–4th 1st 4 3 5 Gyula von Iványi 1st–4th 1st 3 4 6 Clément de Boissière 1st–4th 3rd 3 4 7 Heinrich von Tenner 1st–4th 2nd 2 5 8 Camillo Müller 1st–4th 2nd 1 6 9–16 Maurice Boisdon 1st–4th 5th–8th rowspan=10 colspan=2 Giunio Fedreghini 1st–4th 5th–8th Harstein 1st–4th 5th–8th Hugó Hoch 1st–4th 5th–8th Pierre Georges Louis d'Hugues 1st–4th 5th–8th Mauricio, 4th Duke of Gor 1st–4th 5th–8th Stagliano 5th 5th–8th Miklós Todoresku 5th 5th–8th 17 Gaston Dutertre 1st–4th Léon Lécuyer 1st–4th 19–23 François de Boffa 5th–6th rowspan=5 colspan=3 Émile Lafourcade-Cortina 5th–6th Alfons Schöne 5th–6th Casimir Semelaignes 5th–6th Fernand Semelaignes 5th–6th

References