# Fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's foil

The men's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the tenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 3 August 1948 to 4 August 1948. 63 fencers from 25 nations competed. The event was won by Jehan Buhan of France, the nation's first victory in the men's foil since 1928 and fifth overall (passing Italy for most all-time). His countryman Christian d'Oriola took silver, while Lajos Maszlay earned Hungary's first medal in the men's individual foil with his bronze.

## Background

This was the 10th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1908 (when there was a foil display only rather than a medal event). None of the pre-World War II 1936 finalists returned. The favorite was young Christian d'Oriola, the 1947 world champion. Joining him on the French team was 1947 épée world champion Jehan Buhan, who would have been favored in 1940 were it not for the war.
Colombia, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Turkey each made their debut in the men's foil. The United States made its ninth appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the inaugural 1896 competition.

## Competition format

The event used a four-round format. In each round, the fencers were divided into pools to play a round-robin within the pool. Bouts were to five touches. Not all bouts were played in some pools if not necessary to determine advancement. Ties were broken through fence-off bouts ("barrages") in early rounds if necessary for determining advancement, but by touches received in final rounds (and for non-advancement-necessary placing in earlier rounds). Standard foil rules were used, including that touches had to be made with the tip of the foil, the target area was limited to the torso, and priority determined the winner of double touches.
* Round 1: There were 8 pools of 7–9 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals.
* Quarterfinals: There were 4 pools of 8 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals.
* Semifinals: There were 2 pools of 8 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each semifinal advanced to the final.
* Final: The final pool had 8 fencers.

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Tuesday, 3 August 1948 | | Round 1 |
| Wednesday, 4 August 1948 | | Quarterfinals Semifinals Final |

## Results
### Round 1

The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to round 2.

#### Pool 1

Hörning defeated Gretsch in a barrage for fourth place.
| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Manlio Di Rosa | Italy | 6 | 1 | Q |
| 2 | Fulvio Galimi | Argentina | 6 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Aage Leidersdorff | Denmark | 6 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Walo Hörning | Switzerland | 5 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | Émile Gretsch | Luxembourg | 5 | 3 | |
| 6 | Lucilo de la Peña | Cuba | 3 | 4 | |
| 7 | Hugo Higueras | Peru | 2 | 5 | |
| 8 | Salvatore Scianamea | Brazil | 0 | 7 | |
| 8 | Tom Smith | Ireland | 0 | 7 | |

#### Pool 2

Younes and Rydström defeated Barrientos in a three-way barrage for third and fourth place.
| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Giuliano Nostini | Italy | 7 | 0 | Q |
| 2 | André Van De Werve De Vorsselaer | Belgium | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Mahmoud Younes | Egypt | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 4 | Nils Rydström | Sweden | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | Armando Barrientos | Cuba | 4 | 3 | |
| 6 | Ioannis Karamazakis | Greece | 2 | 5 | |
| 7 | Jaime Ucar | Uruguay | 1 | 5 | |
| 8 | Georges Pouliot | Canada | 0 | 7 | |

#### Pool 3

Palócz defeated Albrechtsen in a barrage for fourth place.
| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Emrys Lloyd | Great Britain | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 2 | Henri Paternóster | Belgium | 4 | 2 | Q |
| 3 | Renzo Nostini | Italy | 4 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Endre Palócz | Hungary | 3 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | Ole Albrechtsen | Denmark | 3 | 3 | |
| 6 | Heikki Raitio | Finland | 2 | 4 | |
| 7 | Enrique Accorsi | Chile | 0 | 6 | |

#### Pool 4

| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Christian d'Oriola | France | 7 | 0 | Q |
| 2 | Lajos Maszlay | Hungary | 5 | 2 | Q |
| 3 | Lodovico Alessandri | Brazil | 5 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Henny ter Weer | Netherlands | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | Léon Buck | Luxembourg | 3 | 4 | |
| 6 | Konstantinos Bembis | Greece | 3 | 4 | |
| 7 | Nick Thuillier | Ireland | 1 | 6 | |
| 8 | Roland Asselin | Canada | 0 | 7 | |

#### Pool 5

| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Jéhan Buhan | France | 6 | 0 | Q |
| 2 | Bo Eriksson | Sweden | 5 | 2 | Q |
| 3 | Daniel Rossi | Uruguay | 5 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Hassan Hosni Tawfik | Egypt | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | Nate Lubell | United States | 3 | 4 | |
| 6 | Johannes Zoet | Netherlands | 2 | 5 | |
| 7 | Jorge Agostini | Cuba | 2 | 4 | |
| 8 | Owen Tuohy | Ireland | 0 | 7 | |

#### Pool 6

| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Dean Cetrulo | United States | 7 | 0 | Q |
| 2 | René Bougnol | France | 6 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Manuel Torrente | Argentina | 5 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Arthur Smith | Great Britain | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | Kauko Jalkanen | Finland | 2 | 5 | |
| 6 | Roberto Camargo | Colombia | 2 | 5 | |
| 7 | Jean Rubli | Switzerland | 1 | 5 | |
| 7 | Eddy Kuijpers | Netherlands | 1 | 6 | |

#### Pool 7

Abdel Hafeez defeated Lamesch in a barrage for fourth place.
| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | René Paul | Great Britain | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 2 | Félix Galimi | Argentina | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Silvio Giolito | United States | 4 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Osman Abdel Hafeez | Egypt | 3 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | Gust Lamesch | Luxembourg | 3 | 3 | |
| 6 | Nihat Balkan | Turkey | 0 | 5 | |
| 6 | Alfredo Grisi | Mexico | 0 | 5 | |

#### Pool 8

Schlaepfer defeated Hátszeghy in a barrage for fourth place.
| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Sergio Iesi | Uruguay | 6 | 1 | Q |
| 2 | Paul Valcke | Belgium | 6 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Ivan Ruben | Denmark | 5 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Corrado Schlaepfer | Switzerland | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | József Hátszeghy | Hungary | 4 | 3 | |
| 6 | Stefanos Zintzos | Greece | 2 | 5 | |
| 7 | Alf Horn | Canada | 1 | 6 | |
| 8 | Nejat Tulgar | Turkey | 0 | 7 | |

### Quarterfinals

The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Giuliano Nostini | Italy | 6 | 0 | Q |
| 2 | René Bougnol | France | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Ivan Ruben | Denmark | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 4 | Dean Cetrulo | United States | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | André Van De Werve De Vorsselaer | Belgium | 3 | 4 | |
| 6 | Hassan Hosni Tawfik | Egypt | 2 | 5 | |
| 7 | Endre Palócz | Hungary | 1 | 5 | |
| 8 | Daniel Rossi | Uruguay | 1 | 5 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Manlio Di Rosa | Italy | 6 | 0 | Q |
| 2 | Jéhan Buhan | France | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Silvio Giolito | United States | 4 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Bo Eriksson | Sweden | 4 | 2 | Q |
| 5 | Aage Leidersdorff | Denmark | 2 | 4 | |
| 6 | Arthur Smith | Great Britain | 2 | 4 | |
| 7 | Fulvio Galimi | Argentina | 1 | 5 | |
| 8 | Walo Hörning | Switzerland | 0 | 6 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Christian d'Oriola | France | 6 | 1 | Q |
| 1 | Félix Galimi | Argentina | 6 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Henri Paternóster | Belgium | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 4 | Osman Abdel Hafeez | Egypt | 4 | 2 | Q |
| 5 | René Paul | Great Britain | 3 | 4 | |
| 6 | Henny ter Weer | Netherlands | 2 | 4 | |
| 7 | Corrado Schlaepfer | Switzerland | 1 | 5 | |
| 8 | Lodovico Alessandri | Brazil | 0 | 6 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Renzo Nostini | Italy | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 2 | Emrys Lloyd | Great Britain | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Lajos Maszlay | Hungary | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 4 | Paul Valcke | Belgium | 5 | 2 | Q |
| 5 | Sergio Iesi | Uruguay | 3 | 4 | |
| 6 | Manuel Torrente | Argentina | 1 | 5 | |
| 7 | Mahmoud Younes | Egypt | 1 | 5 | |
| 8 | Nils Rydström | Sweden | 0 | 6 | |

### Semifinals

The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Jéhan Buhan | France | 6 | 0 | Q |
| 2 | Christian d'Oriola | France | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 3 | Ivan Ruben | Denmark | 4 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Emrys Lloyd | Great Britain | 4 | 2 | Q |
| 5 | Renzo Nostini | Italy | 2 | 4 | |
| 6 | Henri Paternóster | Belgium | 1 | 5 | |
| 7 | Osman Abdel Hafeez | Egypt | 1 | 5 | |
| 8 | Silvio Giolito | United States | 1 | 5 | |

#### Semifinal 2

Di Rosa defeated Cetrulo in a barrage for fourth place.
| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | Notes |
| 1 | Lajos Maszlay | Hungary | 5 | 1 | Q |
| 1 | René Bougnol | France | 5 | 2 | Q |
| 1 | Paul Valcke | Belgium | 5 | 2 | Q |
| 4 | Manlio Di Rosa | Italy | 4 | 3 | Q |
| 5 | Dean Cetrulo | United States | 4 | 3 | |
| 6 | Giuliano Nostini | Italy | 2 | 4 | |
| 7 | Félix Galimi | Argentina | 1 | 5 | |
| 8 | Bo Eriksson | Sweden | 0 | 6 | |

### Final

| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Wins | Losses | TS | TR |
| | Jéhan Buhan | France | 7 | 0 | 35 | 14 |
| | Christian d'Oriola | France | 5 | 2 | 29 | 18 |
| | Lajos Maszlay | Hungary | 4 | 3 | 25 | 22 |
| 4 | Emrys Lloyd | Great Britain | 4 | 3 | 23 | 29 |
| 5 | René Bougnol | France | 3 | 4 | 28 | 26 |
| 6 | Manlio Di Rosa | Italy | 3 | 4 | 22 | 27 |
| 7 | Paul Valcke | Belgium | 1 | 6 | 21 | 27 |
| 8 | Ivan Ruben | Denmark | 1 | 6 | 15 | 33 |