The women's foil was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1992 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 30 July 1992. 46 fencers from 19 nations competed.
Competition format
The 1992 tournament used a three-phase format roughly similar to prior years in consisting of a group phase, a double-elimination phase, and a single-elimination phase, but each phase was very different from previous formats.
The first phase was a single round (vs. 3 rounds in 1988) round-robin pool play format; each fencer in a pool faced each other fencer in that pool once. There were 7 pools with 6 or 7 fencers each. The fencers' ranks within the pool were ignored; the overall winning percentage (with touch differential and then touches against used as tie-breakers) were used to rank the fencers. The top 36 advanced to the second phase, while the other fencers were eliminated.
The second phase was a modified, truncated double-elimination tournament. 28 fencers received a bye to the second round (round of 32), while the 8 fencers ranked 29–36 played in the round of 64. Fencers losing in the round of 64 were eliminated, while the remaining rounds were double elimination via repechages. The repechages (but not the main brackets) used a complicated reseeding mechanism. Ultimately, the 4 fencers remaining undefeated after the round of 8 advanced to the quarterfinals along with 4 fencers who advanced through the repechages after one loss.
The final phase was a single elimination tournament with quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final and bronze medal match.
All bouts were to 5 touches. In the second and third phases, matches were best-of-three bouts.
Results
Group round
Fencers were ranked by win percent, then touch differential, then touches against. This ranking, with adjustments to ensure that no two fencers of the same nation were in the same bracket (noted in parentheses), was used to seed the elimination round brackets.
Rank Fencer Nation Pool Rank Wins Losses Win % TF - TA Qual. 1 Gertrúd Stefanek 5 1 6 0 1.000 30 13 17 2 Sin Seong-Ja 2 1 5 1 .833 26 12 14 3 Francesca Bortolozzi-Borella 2 2 5 1 .833 25 15 10 4 Zsuzsa Némethné Jánosi 6 1 5 1 .833 29 21 8 5 Olga Velichko 4 1 4 1 .800 23 7 16 6 Yelena Glikina 3 1 4 1 .800 24 14 10 7 Barbara Wolnicka-Szewczyk 3 2 4 1 .800 22 14 8 8 (10) Ildikó Nébaldné Mincza 7 1 4 1 .800 23 15 8 9 (8) Zita-Eva Funkenhauser 4 2 4 1 .800 24 18 6 10 (9) Wang Huifeng 4 3 4 1 .800 22 17 5 11 Elisabeta Guzganu-Tufan 6 2 4 2 .667 26 13 13 12 Isabelle Spennato 2 3 4 2 .667 25 15 10 13 Margherita Zalaffi 1 1 4 2 .667 26 17 9 14 Anna Sobczak 6 3 4 2 .667 25 17 8 15 (16) Monika Maciejewska 1 2 4 2 .667 25 17 8 16 (15) Reka Zsofia Lazăr-Szabo 5 2 4 2 .667 24 17 7 17 (18) E Jie 5 3 4 2 .667 25 18 7 18 (17) Thalie Tremblay 1 3 4 2 .667 22 21 1 19 Caitlin Bilodeaux 6 4 4 2 .667 23 23 0 20 Claudia Grigorescu 3 3 3 2 .600 20 13 7 21 Xiao Aihua 7 2 3 2 .600 19 16 3 22 Lydia Czuckermann-Hatuel 7 3 3 2 .600 22 20 2 23 Giovanna Trillini 5 4 3 3 .500 25 17 8 24 I Jeong-Suk 1 4 3 3 .500 24 19 5 25 Rosa María Castillejo 5 5 3 3 .500 22 18 4 26 Tatyana Sadovskaya 2 4 3 3 .500 23 19 4 27 Laurence Modaine-Cessac 6 5 3 3 .500 21 18 3 28 (31) Gisèle Meygret 1 5 3 3 .500 21 21 0 29 (28) Tamara Savić-Šotra 2 5 3 3 .500 22 23 -1 30 (29) Yuko Takayanagi 1 6 3 3 .500 24 25 -1 31 (30) Sabine Bau 3 4 2 3 .400 19 17 2 32 (34) Annette Dobmeier 7 4 2 3 .400 20 18 2 33 (32) Fiona McIntosh 7 5 2 3 .400 15 20 -5 34 (35) Montserat Esquerdo 4 4 1 4 .200 17 21 -4 35 (33) Mary O'Neill 4 5 1 4 .200 11 21 -10 36 Renée Aubin 7 6 1 4 .200 14 24 -10 37 Linda Strachan 4 6 1 4 .200 11 24 -13 Kim Jin-sun 3 5 1 4 .200 11 24 -13 39 Molly Sullivan 3 6 1 4 .200 7 21 -14 40 Andrea Chiuchich 2 6 1 5 .167 15 25 -10 41 Julia Bracewell 6 6 1 5 .167 16 29 -13 42 Sandra Giancola 5 6 1 5 .167 9 27 -18 43 Yanina Iannuzzi 6 7 0 6 .000 11 30 -19 44 Heidi Botha 1 7 0 6 .000 8 30 -22 45 Elvia Reyes 5 7 0 6 .000 5 30 -25 46 Rencia Nasson 2 7 0 6 .000 3 30 -27
Elimination rounds
Main brackets
Main bracket 1
O'Neill was eliminated after the round of 64. The losers in the round of 32 faced off, with Stefanek beating Maciejewska and I beating Castillejo to advance to the repechage. The losers of the round of 16, Tremblay and Funkenhauser, advanced directly to the first round of the repechage. Wang, having lost in the round of 8, went to the third round of the repechage. McIntosh won the bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals.
Repechage qualifiers 1
Main bracket 2
Takayanagi was eliminated after the round of 64. The losers in the round of 32 faced off, with Spennato beating Savić-Šotra and Grigorescu beating Aubin to advance to the repechage. The losers of the round of 16, Xiao and Némethné Jánosi, advanced directly to the first round of the repechage. Velichko, having lost in the round of 8, went to the third round of the repechage. Zalaffi won the bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals.
Repechage qualifiers 2
Main bracket 3
Esquerdo was eliminated after the round of 64. The losers in the round of 32 faced off, with Bortolozzi-Borella beating Bilodeaux and Czuckermann-Hatuel beating Aubin to advance to the repechage. The losers of the round of 16, Sobczak and Guzganu-Tufan, advanced directly to the first round of the repechage. Modaine-Cessac, having lost in the round of 8, went to the third round of the repechage. Bau won the bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals.
Repechage qualifiers 3
Main bracket 4
Esquerdo was eliminated after the round of 64. The losers in the round of 32 faced off, with Sadovskaya beating Mincza and Meygret beating E to advance to the repechage. The losers of the round of 16, Wolnicka-Szewczyk and Guzganu-Tufan, advanced directly to the first round of the repechage. Sin, having lost in the round of 8, went to the third round of the repechage. Lazăr-Szabo won the bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals.
Repechage qualifiers 4
Repechage rounds 1 and 2
The fencers were reseeded: the eight fencers who had lost in the round of 16 were reseeded as 1–8 while the eight fencers who had lost in the round of 32 but won the repechage qualifiers were reseeded as 9–16. For example, original seed #1 Stefanek was reseeded as #9 because she was the top-seeded fencer who had advanced through the repechage qualifiers. Seeds were adjusted to avoid rematches from the main bracket—Meygret and Sadovskaya were swapped to avoid a Meygret–Sin rematch. Original seeds are shown in parentheses in the brackets.
Fencer Nation From round of 16 1 2 Sin Seong-Ja 2 4 Zsuzsa Némethné Jánosi 3 7 Barbara Wolnicka-Szewczyk 4 8 Zita-Eva Funkenhauser 5 11 Elisabeta Guzganu-Tufan 6 14 Anna Sobczak 7 17 Thalie Tremblay 8 21 Xiao Aihua From round of 32 and qualifiers 9 1 Gertrúd Stefanek 10 3 Francesca Bortolozzi-Borella 11 12 Isabelle Spennato 12 20 Claudia Grigorescu 13 22 Lydia Czuckermann-Hatuel 14 24 I Jeong-Suk 15 31 Gisèle Meygret 16 26 Tatyana Sadovskaya
Repechage rounds 1 and 2 bracket 1
Repechage rounds 1 and 2 bracket 2
Repechage rounds 1 and 2 bracket 3
Repechage rounds 1 and 2 bracket 4
Repechage round 3
The fencers were reseeded again. Seeds 1–4 were given to round 8 losers, based on their original seeds (excluding adjustments to avoid having multiple fencers from the same nation in a bracket, which affected Köves and Nolte). Seeds 5–8 were given to the winners of the second round of the repechage, based on their original seeds.
Fencer Nation From round of 8 1 – 5 Olga Velichko 2 – 9 Wang Huifeng 3 – 23 Giovanna Trillini 4 – 27 Laurence Modaine-Cessac From repechage round 2 5 2 4 Zsuzsa Némethné Jánosi 6 6 14 Anna Sobczak 7 12 20 Claudia Grigorescu 8 16 26 Tatyana Sadovskaya
Repechage round 3 bracket 1
Repechage round 3 bracket 2
Repechage round 3 bracket 3
Repechage round 3 bracket 4
Final rounds
The fencers were reseeded a final time. Seeds 1–4 were given to the round of 8 winners, based on their original seeds. Seeds 5–8 were given to the winners of the third round of the repechage, based on their original seeds.
Fencer Nation From round of 8 1 – – 13 Margherita Zalaffi 2 – – 15 Reka Zsofia Lazăr-Szabo 3 – – 30 Sabine Bau 4 – – 32 Fiona McIntosh From repechage round 3 5 2 – 9 Wang Huifeng 6 3 – 23 Giovanna Trillini 7 8 16 26 Tatyana Sadovskaya 8 4 – 27 Laurence Modaine-Cessac
Final classification
Fencer Country Giovanna Trillini Wang Huifeng Tatyana Sadovskaya Laurence Modaine-Cessac Margherita Zalaffi Reka Zsofia Lazăr-Szabo Sabine Bau Fiona McIntosh Zsuzsa Némethné Jánosi Olga Velichko Anna Sobczak Claudia Grigorescu Zita-Eva Funkenhauser Thalie Tremblay Xiao Aihua I Jeong-Suk Gertrúd Stefanek Sin Seong-Ja Francesca Bortolozzi-Borella Barbara Wolnicka-Szewczyk Elisabeta Guzganu-Tufan Isabelle Spennato Lydia Czuckermann-Hatuel Gisèle Meygret Yelena Glikina Ildikó Nébaldné Mincza Monika Maciejewska E Jie Caitlin Bilodeaux Rosa María Castillejo Tamara Savić-Šotra Renée Aubin Yuko Takayanagi Annette Dobmeier Montserat Esquerdo Mary O'Neill Linda Strachan Kim Jin-sun Molly Sullivan Andrea Chiuchich Julia Bracewell Sandra Giancola Yanina Iannuzzi Heidi Botha Elvia Reyes Rencia Nasson
References