The professional sabre competition at the 1900 Summer Olympics involved 27 fencers from 7 nations. It was held from 23 to 27 June at the Tuileries Garden. The event was won by Antonio Conte of Italy, with that nation also receiving second place with Italo Santelli. Austria's Milan Neralić finished third.
Background
Fencing was the only sport that had professional competitions at the Olympics in 1900 and 1904. A professional foil event was held in 1900, with épée and sabre joining in 1904. The professional events were not held again afterwards (excepting the 1906 Intercalated Games, so this was the only time that masters sabre was contested.
Competition format
The event used a three-round format: quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. Each round consisted of pool play. For the quarterfinals, the fencers were divided into 4 pools of 6 of 7 fencers each; the top four fencers in each pool advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals had the 16 men compete in 2 pools of 8, with the top 4 in each pool advancing to an 8-man final.
The actual competition format within pools is not entirely clear. The pool composition in the quarterfinals is unknown.
Schedule
Date Time Round Saturday, 23 June 1900 Quarterfinals Monday, 25 June 1900 Semifinals Wednesday, 27 June 1900 13:30 Final
Results
Quarterfinals
The first round was held on 23 June. There were four pools, with the top four fencers advancing to the semifinals from each pool.
Fencer Nation Notes Xavier Anchetti François Brun-Buisson Camier Alexandre Chantelat Charles Clappier Antonio Conte François Delibes Hébrant Lajos Horváth Julian Michaux Louis Midelair Milan Neralić Georges Pinault Italo Santelli Orazio Santelli Petro Zakovorot Élie Aufort Charles Bersin Henri Coquelin Dambremat Vincent Dargein Henri Delamaide Márton Endrédy Louis Flahaut Marius Gabriel Otto Schoenfeld Schoenfeld Luc Alessandri
Semifinals
The 16 fencers were divided into 2 pools of 8 each, playing round-robin tournaments on 25 and 26 June. The top four in each pool advanced to the final.
Semifinal A
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Antonio Conte 6 1 2 Hébrant 5 2 3 François Delibes 5 2 4 Milan Neralić 5 2 5 Lajos Horváth 3 4 6 François Brun-Buisson 1 6 7 Charles Clappier 0 7 8 Orazio Santelli 3 4
Semifinal B
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Italo Santelli 6 1 2 Julian Michaux 6 1 3 Petro Zakovorot 5 2 4 Xavier Anchetti 4 3 5 Alexandre Chantelat 3 4 6 Georges Pinault 2 5 7 Camier 2 5 8 Louis Midelair 0 7
Final
The final was held on 27 June, with a round-robin among the final 8 fencers. Ties were broken by an extra bout.
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Antonio Conte 7 0 Italo Santelli 6 1 Milan Neralić 4 3 4 François Delibes 3 4 Julian Michaux 3 4 6 Xavier Anchetti 2 5 Petro Zakovorot 2 5 8 Hébrant 1 6
Barrage for 4th place
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses 4 François Delibes 1 0 5 Julian Michaux 0 1
Barrage for 6th place
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses 6 Xavier Anchetti 1 0 7 Petro Zakovorot 0 1
Results summary
Rank Fencer Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Wins Losses Rank Wins Losses Antonio Conte 1st–4th 6 1 1st 7 0 Italo Santelli 1st–4th 6 1 1st 6 1 Milan Neralić 1st–4th 5 2 4th 4 3 4 François Delibes 1st–4th 5 2 3rd 3+1 4+0 5 Julian Michaux 1st–4th 6 1 2nd 3+0 4+1 6 Xavier Anchetti 1st–4th 4 3 4th 2+1 5+0 7 Petro Zakovorot 1st–4th 5 2 3rd 2+0 5+1 8 Hébrant 1st–4th 5 2 2nd 1 6 9 Alexandre Chantelat 1st–4th 3 4 5th rowspan=8 colspan=2 Lajos Horváth 1st–4th 3 4 5th 11 François Brun-Buisson 1st–4th 1 6 6th Georges Pinault 1st–4th 2 5 6th 13 Camier 1st–4th 2 5 7th Charles Clappier 1st–4th 0 7 7th 15 Louis Midelair 1st–4th 0 7 8th Orazio Santelli 1st–4th 3 4 8th 17–27 Aufort 5th–7th rowspan=12 colspan=5 Charles Bersin 5th–7th Henri Coquelin 5th–7th Dambremat 5th–7th Vincent Dargein 5th–7th Henri Delamaide 5th–7th Márton Endrédy 5th–7th Flahaut 5th–7th Marie-Joseph Gabriel 5th–7th Otto Schoenfeld 5th–7th Schoenfeld 5th–7th Luc Alessandri 5th–7th
References