# Fencing at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's team sabre

The men's team sabre was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme. It was the ninth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 29 July 1952, to 30 July 1952. 85 fencers from 19 nations competed.

## Competition format

The competition format continued the pool play round-robin from prior years. Each of the four fencers from one team would face each of the four from the other, for a total of 16 bouts per match. The team that won more bouts won the match, with competition potentially stopping when one team reached 9 points out of the possible 16 (this did not always occur and matches sometimes continued). If the bouts were 8–8, touches received was used to determine the winning team. Pool matches unnecessary to the result were not played.

## Results
### Round 1

The top two teams in each pool advanced to round 2.

#### Pool 1

France (11–5) and Poland (8–8, 63–63 touches against, unclear how match was determined) each beat Romania. Poland led 6–1 over France when that match was abandoned.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Poland | 2 | 0 | 14 | 9 | Q |
| 2 | France | 1 | 1 | 12 | 11 | Q |
| 3 | Romania | 0 | 2 | 13 | 19 | |

#### Pool 2

Austria (13–3) and Italy (9–1) each beat Venezuela.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Austria | 1 | 0 | 13 | 3 | Q |
| 2 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Venezuela | 0 | 2 | 4 | 22 | |

#### Pool 3

Denmark (12–4) and Egypt (9–1) each beat Australia.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Denmark | 1 | 0 | 12 | 4 | Q |
| 2 | Egypt | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Australia | 0 | 2 | 5 | 21 | |

#### Pool 4

Germany (9–7) and Belgium (9–2) each beat the Soviet Union.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Belgium | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | Q |
| 2 | Germany | 1 | 0 | 9 | 7 | Q |
| 3 | Soviet Union | 0 | 2 | 9 | 18 | |

#### Pool 5

Hungary defeated Portugal 15–1, Argentina defeated Saar 12–4, Hungary defeated Saar 15–1, and Argentina defeated Portugal 9–5.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Hungary | 2 | 0 | 30 | 2 | Q |
| 2 | Argentina | 2 | 0 | 21 | 9 | Q |
| 3 | Portugal | 0 | 2 | 6 | 24 | |
| 4 | Saar | 0 | 2 | 5 | 27 | |

#### Pool 6

Great Britain (11–5) and the United States (9–2) each beat Switzerland.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 11 | 5 | Q |
| 2 | United States | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | Q |
| 3 | Switzerland | 0 | 2 | 7 | 20 | |

### Round 2

The top two teams in each pool advanced to the semifinals.

#### Pool 1

Great Britain (9–7) and Italy (9–1) each beat Argentina.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | Q |
| 2 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 9 | 7 | Q |
| 3 | Argentina | 2 | 0 | 8 | 18 | |

#### Pool 2

Austria (13–3) and Hungary (9–0) each beat Denmark.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Austria | 1 | 0 | 13 | 3 | Q |
| 2 | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | Q |
| 3 | Denmark | 0 | 2 | 3 | 22 | |

#### Pool 3

The United States (11–5) and France (9–5) each beat Germany.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | United States | 1 | 0 | 11 | 5 | Q |
| 2 | France | 1 | 0 | 9 | 5 | Q |
| 3 | Germany | 0 | 2 | 10 | 20 | |

#### Pool 4

Poland (9–7) and Belgium (9–2) each beat Egypt.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Belgium | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | Q |
| 2 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 9 | 7 | Q |
| 3 | Egypt | 0 | 2 | 9 | 18 | |

### Semifinals

The top two teams in each pool advanced to the final.

#### Semifinal 1

In the first pairing, Hungary defeated France 13–3 and Austria beat Belgium 9–7. In the second set of matches, Hungary defeated Belgium 13–3 and France defeated Austria 10–6. In the first of the two final matches, Hungary defeated Austria 12–4 to secure first place in the group and eliminate Austria (who would come third regardless of the result between France and Belgium). Belgium (0–2, 10–22 in bouts) and France (1–1, 13–19 in bouts) faced off for the second advancement spot; Belgium would need to win by at least 10–6 to overcome France's advantage in bouts (the tie-breaker if France, Austria, and Belgium all finished at 1–2). When France took a 7th bout in the match after a 6–6 start, the French were guaranteed second place in the group even if Belgium were to win the final three bouts (and thus the match); those final three bouts were not played and France was declared the match victor 7–6.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Hungary | 3 | 0 | 38 | 10 | Q |
| 2 | France | 2 | 1 | 20 | 25 | Q |
| 3 | Austria | 1 | 2 | 19 | 29 | |
| 4 | Belgium | 0 | 3 | 16 | 29 | |

#### Semifinal 2

In the first pairing, Italy defeated Great Britain 11–5 and the United States beat Poland 10–6. In the second set of matches, the United States defeated Great Britain 9–5 and Italy defeated Poland 11–4. The two 2–0 teams advanced without playing each other; the two 0–2 teams likewise did not play each other.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL | Notes |
| 1 | Italy | 2 | 0 | 22 | 9 | Q |
| 2 | United States | 2 | 0 | 19 | 11 | Q |
| 3 | Great Britain | 0 | 2 | 10 | 20 | |
| 4 | Poland | 0 | 2 | 10 | 21 | |

### Final

In the first pairings, Hungary defeated France 13–3 and Italy beat the United States 12–4. The second set of matches featured Hungary defeating the United States and Italy beating France, each by a score of 13–3. This made the France vs. United States match a de facto bronze medal match, won by France 8–6. (The match was stopped at 8 wins because the United States trailed in touches against 60–48 and even if the Americans won by the final two bouts 5–0 apiece to even the bouts at 8–8, the French would win on touches against 60–58). The Hungary vs. Italy match was for the gold medal. Italy took a 7–6 lead, but Hungary won the next two bouts to go ahead 8–7. The final bout (between each team's top fencers, Kovács and Darè) never took place; Hungary's 64–50 touch lead was so great that even had Darè been able to beat Kovács 5–0 to draw the teams even on bouts 8–8 the Hungarians would nevertheless win the match.
| Rank | Nation | MW | ML | BW | BL |
| | Hungary | 3 | 0 | 34 | 13 |
| | Italy | 2 | 1 | 32 | 15 |
| | France | 1 | 2 | 14 | 32 |
| 4 | United States | 0 | 3 | 13 | 33 |