Under the glass roof of the Grand Palais, Manon Apithy-Brunet won her first gold medal at the Paris Olympics, a historic achievement for the host country, beating Sara Balzer 15-12 to become the first French woman to win an Olympic sabre medal in the team event at Tokyo 2020.

Born in Lyon on 7 February 1996, she is the first French sabre fencer to win a gold medal since the introduction of women's sabre to the Olympic Games in 2004 and the 45th gold medal in the rich history of French fencing (second only to Italy).

In the fight for third place, fencer Olga Kharlan won bronze in the individual sabre competition, giving Ukraine its first medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Kharlan won the third-place match 15-14 against South Korea's Choi Sebin, ranked 24th in the world, staging a spectacular comeback from 5-11 down. The medal adds to a successful Olympic career that now includes five medals: team sabre gold at Beijing 2008 and silver at Rio de Janeiro 2016, and individual sabre bronze at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

The Paris Olympics could be the last for the most dominant sabre fencer of the past decade, who also was remembered for being disqualified from the 2023 World Championships for refusing to shake hands with her Russian opponent Anna Smirnova.

At the end of the day in Paris, Cheung Ka Long (HKG) retained the men's foil title by narrowly defeating Italy's Filippo Macchi in a dramatic final that required multiple video reviews and was reminiscent of soap opera finales.

The final was worthy of television drama. On the decisive point, both fencers went for the hit and Cheung ran off to celebrate, thinking he had won. But, as with any potential winning point, the referees checked the video to ensure fairness.

With no hit awarded, they restarted the match and the same scenario played out twice more, with both fencers celebrating prematurely, only to have the touches disallowed each time.

When it looked as if Macchi's celebrations might cost Cheung the gold, a quick review and the referee's decision awarded the victory to Cheung. Despite protests from the defeated Macchi, he eventually shook hands with the 27-year-old Asian fencer, who was crowned back-to-back Olympic champion.