The men's épée was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1932 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eighth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 8 August 1932 to 9 August 1932. 28 fencers from 12 nations competed, with three others entered but not starting.Official Olympic Report , la84.org. Retrieved 10 August 2018. A maximum of three fencers per nation could compete.Official Report, p. 492. The event was won by Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici of Italy, with his countryman Carlo Agostoni taking bronze. They were the first medals for Italy in the men's individual épée. France reached the podium for the fourth consecutive Games in the event with Georges Buchard's silver. Buchard was the third man to win multiple medals in the event, repeating his second-place finish from 1928.
Background This was the eighth appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Games in 1896 (with only foil and sabre events held) but has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1900.
Two of the 10 finalists from the 1928 Games returned: silver medalist (and 1924 finalist) Georges Buchard of France and bronze medalist George Calnan of the United States. Buchard was the reigning (1931) World Champion; he had also won in 1927 and would win again in 1933. He and fellow French fencer Philippe Cattiau, the 1929 and 1930 World Champion, were the favorites in the event.
For the first time, no nations made their debut in the event. Belgium and the United States each appeared for the seventh time, tied for most among nations.
Competition format
The competition format continued the pool play round-robin from prior years, but increased the number of touches to win a bout to 3. With fewer fencers than in prior Games, the number of rounds was reduced from four to three. A point system was used, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss.Official Report, p. 506 The total number of touches received was used as the first tie-breaker. Touches scored was used as the second in the final.Official Report, p. 508 It also was apparently used in the earlier rounds for the most part, though the official placing for 8th and 9th in round 1 pool 1 is inconsistent.
Quarterfinals: 3 pools of between 9 and 11 fencers each. The top 7 fencers in the first two pools (each scheduled to have 11 fencers) and the top 6 fencers in the third pool (scheduled to have 9 fencers) advanced to the semifinals. Semifinals: 2 pools of 10 fencers each. The top 6 fencers in each pool advanced to the final. Final: 1 pool of 12 fencers.
Schedule
Date Time Round Monday, 8 August 1932 9:0013:00 QuarterfinalsSemifinals Tuesday, 9 August 1932 13:00 Final
Results
Quarterfinals
The top 7 finishers in pools 1 and 2 and the top 6 finishers in pool 3 advanced to the semifinals.
Quarterfinal 1
It is unclear why Markus is ranked ahead of Corbin; being equal on points and touches received, Corbin's touches scored should have ranked him higher.
Rank Fencer Nation Points Notes 1 Saverio Ragno 16 24 10 2 Georges Buchard 12 21 13 3 Balthazar De Beukelaer 10 19 14 4 Sven Thofelt 8 17 15 5 Aage Leidersdorff 7 18 20 6 Eduardo Prieto 7 17 20 7 Doris de Jong 4 15 20 8 Bertram Markus 4 10 21 9 Harold Corbin 4 13 21 — Erwin Casmir Somfai
Quarterfinal 2
5 bouts in the round-robin were skipped (Agostini-Schmetz, Agostini-Saucedo, Saucedo-de Graffenried, Poplimont-Calnan, and Poplimont-Petneházy).
The Official Report lists the bout between Farrell and Delgadillo as 2–2, but Sports-Reference reports a 3–2 Farrell win. The latter is consistent with Farrell having 7 points, as reported in both sources, and Delgadillo having 4, as listed in Sports-Reference. The Official Report lists Delgadillo as having 6 points, which is inconsistent with either a tie or loss. Both sources, however, list Delgadillo as having received 26 touches; if the result of the bout was 3–2 for Farrell, this number should be 27.
The Official Report does not explain why Lindman advanced to the semifinals rather than Farrell.
Rank Fencer Nation Points Notes 1 Carlo Agostoni 16 24 6 2 Bernard Schmetz 15 24 11 3 Raúl Saucedo 13 22 11 4 André Poplimont 13 22 15 5 George Calnan 12 24 17 6 Paul de Graffenried 8 16 21 7 Patrick Farrell 7 14 23 8 Bo Lindman 6 21 22 9 Erik Kofoed-Hansen 6 16 22 10 Gerónimo Delgadillo 4 16 27 11 Imre Petneházy 0 3 27
Quarterfinal 3
Rank Fencer Nation Points Notes 1 Max Janlet 10 18 9 2 Philippe Cattiau 10 18 14 3 Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici 9 18 12 4 Gustave Heiss 8 15 11 5 Tibor Benkő 6 12 14 6 Stig Lindström 5 14 19 7 Eduardo Prieto Souza 4 11 18 Ernest Dalton 4 11 18 — Ivan Osiier
Semifinals
The top six finishers in each semifinal advanced to the final.Official Report, p. 507
Semifinal 1
Two bouts were not played: De Beukelaer-de Jong and Cattiau-Saucedo.
Both the Official Report and Sports-Reference credit De Beukelaer with 10 points; however, the head-to-head data shown by each has him winning 6 bouts and losing 2, which should result in 12 points.
Rank Fencer Nation Points Notes 1 Saverio Ragno 13 24 16 2 Georges Buchard 12 20 16 3 Sven Thofelt 10 20 12 4 Balthazar De Beukelaer 10 21 14 5 Philippe Cattiau 10 18 17 6 Raúl Saucedo 9 20 17 7 Gustave Heiss 8 20 19 8 Eduardo Prieto 4 15 22 9 Doris de Jong 3 12 23 10 Tibor Benkő 3 12 26
Semifinal 2
Rank Fencer Nation Points Notes 1 Bernard Schmetz 14 22 13 2 Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici 12 22 17 3 George Calnan 11 24 17 4 Paul de Graffenried 11 20 19 5 Carlo Agostoni 10 20 14 6 Stig Lindström 10 22 17 7 Max Janlet 10 18 19 8 André Poplimont 6 13 21 9 Bo Lindman 4 15 24 10 Aage Leidersdorff 2 10 25
Final
Rank Fencer Nation Points Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici 18 31 18 Georges Buchard 16 27 17 Carlo Agostoni 15 30 17 4 Saverio Ragno 14 27 20 5 Bernard Schmetz 14 26 22 6 Philippe Cattiau 13 23 22 7 George Calnan 13 22 22 8 Balthazar De Beukelaer 8 19 25 9 Sven Thofelt 8 21 27 10 Raúl Saucedo 7 18 28 11 Paul de Graffenried 4 17 29 12 Stig Lindström 4 15 29
Results summary
Rank Fencer Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals FinalPoints Points Rank Points Rank Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici 9 3rd 12 2nd 18 Georges Buchard 12 2nd 12 2nd 16 Carlo Agostoni 16 1st 10 5th 15 4 Saverio Ragno 16 1st 13 1st 14 5 Bernard Schmetz 15 2nd 14 1st 14 6 Philippe Cattiau 10 2nd 10 5th 13 7 George Calnan 12 5th 11 3rd 13 8 Balthazar De Beukelaer 10 3rd 10 4th 8 9 Sven Thofelt 8 4th 10 3rd 8 10 Raúl Saucedo 13 3rd 9 6th 7 11 Paul de Graffenried 8 6th 11 4th 4 12 Stig Lindström 5 6th 10 6th 4 13 Max Janlet 10 1st 10 7th rowspan=8 Gustave Heiss 8 4th 8 7th 15 André Poplimont 13 4th 6 8th Eduardo Prieto 7 6th 4 8th 17 Bo Lindman 6 8th 4 9th Doris de Jong 4 7th 3 9th 19 Tibor Benkő 6 5th 3 10th Aage Leidersdorff 7 5th 2 10th 21 Patrick Farrell 7 7th rowspan=11 colspan=3 Ernest Dalton 4 7th Eduardo Prieto Souza 4 7th 24 Bertram Markus 4 8th 25 Erik Kofoed-Hansen 6 9th Harold Corbin 4 9th 27 Gerónimo Delgadillo 4 10th 28 Imre Petneházy 0 11th — Erwin Casmir Ivan Osiier Somfai
References