The men's sabre was one of ten fencing events on the fencing at the 2000 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twenty-fourth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 21 September 2000. 39 fencers from 20 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Mihai Covaliu of Romania, the nation's first medal in the men's sabre. Mathieu Gourdain's silver extended France's podium streak in the event to five Games. Germany also earned its first medal in the men's sabre, with Wiradech Kothny's bronze.

Background

This was the 24th appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Five of the quarterfinalists from 1996 returned: gold medalist Stanislav Pozdnyakov and silver medalist Sergey Sharikov of Russia, bronze medalist Damien Touya of France, sixth-place finisher Vadym Huttsait of Ukraine, and seventh-place finisher Rafał Sznajder of Poland. The three world champions since the Atlanta Games were Pozdnyakov (1997), Luigi Tarantino of Italy (1998), and Touya (1999).

Belarus and Kazakhstan each made their debut in the men's sabre. Italy made its 22nd appearance in the event, most of any nation, having missed the inaugural 1896 event and the 1904 Games.

Competition format

The 1996 tournament had vastly simplified the competition format into a single-elimination bracket, with a bronze medal match. The 2000 tournament continued to use that format. Bouts were to 15 touches. Standard sabre rules regarding target area, striking, and priority were used.

Schedule

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round Thursday, 21 September 2000 9:3017:30 Round of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsBronze medal matchFinal

Results

The field of 40 fencers competed in a single-elimination tournament to determine the medal winners. Semifinal losers proceeded to a bronze medal match.

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Finals

Final classification

Rank Fencer Nation Mihai Covaliu Mathieu Gourdain Wiradech Kothny 4 Domonkos Ferjancsik 5 Damien Touya 6 Aleksey Frosin 7 Tonhi Terenzi 8 Victor Găureanu 9 Stanislav Pozdnyakov 10 Sergey Sharikov 11 Csaba Köves 12 Julien Pillet 13 Vadym Huttsait 14 Dennis Bauer 15 Dmitry Lapkes 16 James Williams 17 Zsolt Nemcsik 18 Luigi Tarantino 19 Raffaello Caserta 20 Fernando Medina 21 Jorge Pina 22 Rafał Sznajder 23 Eero Lehmann 24 Marcin Sobala 25 Volodymyr Kaliuzhniy 26 Norbert Jaskot 27 Alberto Falcón 28 Florin Lupeică 29 Volodymyr Lukashenko 30 Keeth Smart 31 Zhao Chunsheng 32 Lee Seung-Won 33 Laurent Waller 34 Akhnaten Spencer-El 35 Igor Tsel 36 Masashi Nagara 37 Diego Drajer 38 Cándido Maya 39 Mahmoud Samir

References

External links Official Report of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics