The United States women continued to reign supreme in the foil fencing competition yesterday, adding team gold to the individual silver and gold they took earlier this week and becoming the first-ever American team, male or female, to take the gold medal in the team competition. Now, it was time for day 7th and also for the masculine competition, with the Mens Epee Team Medal Matches.

The Republic of South Korea won its third consecutive gold medal in the men's sabre team competition on Wednesday 31 July, and the Asian nation, the defending champions, beat Hungary 41-45 in the final, which was held at the Paris 2024 fencing venue at the Grand Palais.

Today, Hungary and Japan had to go to sudden-death overtime to determine the winner of the men's team épée gold medal. 

In a narrow contest, Japan came from behind to tie the final at 25-25, but Gergely Siklosi got the winning hit in overtime to secure gold for the Hungarians. Czechia beat France 43-41 for the bronze.

Recap from Women's Fencing

It was on day six (1 August) of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 that the four women made history inside of the iconic Grand Palais by beating Italy’s women 45-39, with Italy upgrading the medal they took at Tokyo 2020 from bronze to silver.

The final got off to an exciting start, with USA’s back-to-back reigning champion Lee Kiefer and Italy’s Arianna Erigo making a combined seven hits within the first minute of competition, tying up the score 4-4 before Kiefer put the United States in the lead at the first changeover.

USA’s Lauren Scruggs began to pull away from the Italians, finishing five points ahead at the second changeover and other than a 12-12 tie, the United States held their lead on Italy until the end. “I’m just very shocked. I have honestly no words to describe it,” Scruggs said after accepting the gold. “It’s super cool to make history. It’s unbelievable to make history. I’m just very, very shocked right now. I don’t have a lot of words to describe it.”

Italy’s Erigo gave birth to twins just over one year ago, and tonight, she will stand on the Olympic podium with a silver medal around her neck. Japan took the bronze medal over Canada in a close contest that finished with a score of 33-32.

Small check on the rules

In fencing, two competitors, each holding a weapon in one hand, face each other to strike their opponent on a valid target area of the body. The rules differ according to the type of weapon used. There are 12 events in Olympic fencing, with three types of weapons used: foil, épée and sabre.

Hits made with the point (tip), edge, or back of the blade are counted as valid in sabre, with the target area including the entire torso above the waist, as well as the head and arms. In épée and foil, fencers only score when they strike their opponent with the point of their weapon. In the épée, the target area covers the entire body from the mask down to the feet, while in foil the target area is the trunk only (torso, shoulders and neck). The first fencer to reach 15 points, or score the most points at the completion of three three-minute rounds, wins the match. In team fencing, the first team to score 45 points, or the team leading when time runs out, wins.

Fencing is a long-standing Olympic sport, as evidenced by its presence on the Olympic programme since the inaugural modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. Women’s fencing entered the Games in 1924 in Paris. Today, men and women compete in individual and team events. Previously, foil was the only women’s fencing event until the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games when women’s épée was added, while women’s sabre was added for the first time at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Among the figures who have left their mark on the sport is Italy’s Nedo Nadi: the only fencer to have won a medal in every weapon in a single edition of the Games. In 1912, at 18 years old, he won gold in the foil. Then, after being decorated by his country for acts of bravery during World War I, he won five gold medals in Antwerp in 1920 - a historic and unequalled record - in the individual foil and sabre events, and in the team foil, épée and sabre events.