Fencing at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's foil

The men's foil was a fencing event held as part of the Fencing at the 1920 Summer Olympics programme in Antwerp, Belgium. It was the fifth appearance of the event. A total of 56 fencers from 10 nations competed in the event, which was held on August 17 and August 18, 1920. Nations were limited to eight fencers each, with Belgium and Italy entering the maximum. Nedo Nadi of Italy repeated as Olympic champion, retaining the title he initially won at the 1912 Summer Olympics. Philippe Cattiau and Roger Ducret of France earned silver and bronze, respectively, returning France to the podium for the first time since 1900.

Background

This was the fifth 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). Four of the 1912 finalists returned after the war: gold medalist Nedo Nadi and silver medalist Pietro Speciale of Italy and sixth-place finisher Edgar Seligman and eighth-place finisher Robert Montgomerie of Great Britain.

Czechoslovakia and Egypt each made their debut in the men's foil. The United States made its fourth appearance, having missed only the inaugural 1896 competition. France, a perennial power in the event, returned after not traveling to St. Louis in 1904 and boycotting the 1912 fencing competitions over rules disputes.

Competition format

The event used a three-round format. In each round, the fencers were divided into pools to play a round-robin within the pool. Bouts were to three touches (an unpopular change from the more typical five). 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. Quarterfinals: There were 8 pools of between 5 and 9 fencers each. The top 3 fencers in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. Semifinals: There were 4 pools of 6 fencers each. The top 3 fencers in each semifinal advanced to the final. Final: The final pool had 12 fencers.

Schedule

Date Time Round Tuesday, 17 August 1920 9:00 Quarterfinals Wednesday, 18 August 1920 15:30 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal A

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 André Labatut 6 0 2 Jean Verbrugge 5 1 3 Ejnar Levison 4 2 4 Henry Breckinridge 2 4 Wouter Brouwer 2 4 Rodolfo Terlizzi 2 4 7 Cecil Kershaw 0 6

Quarterfinal B

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Nedo Nadi 7 1 2 Georges Trombert 7 1 3 Viliam Tvrzský 6 2 4 Salomon Zeldenrust 5 3 5 Millard Bloomer 4 4 6 Albert Pape 3 5 7 H. Evan James 2 6 Gustaf Lindblom 2 6 9 Kay Schrøder 0 8

Quarterfinal C

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Aldo Nadi 6 0 2 Ivan Osiier 4 2 3 Lionel Bony de Castellane 4 2 4 Eugène Dufrane 3 3 Roland Willoughby 3 3 6 Josef Jungmann 1 5 7 Nils Hellsten 0 6

Quarterfinal D

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Abelardo Olivier 7 1 2 Modeste Cuypers 6 2 Marcel Perrot 6 2 4 Georg Hegner 4 4 Adrianus de Jong 4 4 6 Josef Javůrek 3 5 Brooks Parker 3 5 8 Robert Montgomerie 2 6 9 Hans Törnblom 1 7

Quarterfinal E

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Federico Cesarano 4 0 2 Charles Crahay 3 1 3 Francis Honeycutt 2 2 4 Ahmed Hassanein 1 3 5 Verner Bonde 0 4

Quarterfinal F

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Philippe Cattiau 6 0 2 Pietro Speciale 4 2 3 Knut Enell 4 2 4 Marcel Berré 2 4 Geoffrey Doyne 2 4 František Dvořák 2 4 7 Jan Van der Wiel 1 6

Quarterfinal G

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Roger Ducret 5 0 2 Oreste Puliti 4 1 3 Robert de Schepper 3 2 4 Thomas Wand-Tetley 2 3 5 George Calnan 1 4 6 Aage Berntsen 0 5

Quarterfinal H

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Fernand de Montigny 5 0 2 Tommaso Constantino 4 1 3 Félix Vigeveno 3 2 4 Edgar Seligman 2 3 5 Antonín Mikala 1 4 6 Leonard Schoonmaker 0 5

Semifinals

Semifinal A

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Nedo Nadi 5 0 2 Oreste Puliti 4 1 3 Roger Ducret 3 2 4 Lionel Bony de Castellane 2 3 5 Robert de Schepper 1 4 6 Francis Honeycutt 0 5

Semifinal B

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Philippe Cattiau 4 1 Aldo Nadi 4 1 3 Marcel Perrot 3 2 4 Modeste Cuypers 2 3 5 Ejnar Levison 1 4 Viliam Tvrský 1 4

Semifinal C

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Fernand de Montigny 4 1 Georges Trombert 4 1 3 Ivan Osiier 3 2 4 Tommaso Constantino 2 3 Charles Crahay 2 3 6 Federico Cesarano 0 5

Semifinal D

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 André Labatut 5 0 2 Abelardo Olivier 4 1 3 Pietro Speciale 2 3 4 Félix Vigeveno 2 3 5 Knut Enell 1 4 Jean Verbrugge 1 4

Final

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Nedo Nadi 10 1 Philippe Cattiau 9 2 14 Roger Ducret 9 2 19 4 André Labatut 7 4 5 Aldo Nadi 6 5 19 6 Fernand de Montigny 6 5 27 7 Oreste Puliti 5 6 8 Ivan Osiier 4 7 9 Abelardo Olivier 3 8 10 Georges Trombert 3 8 11 Marcel Perrot 3 8 12 Pietro Speciale 1 10

References