# Fencing at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's sabre

The men's sabre was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1984 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twentieth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 3 to 4 August 1984. 33 fencers from 16 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Jean-François Lamour of France, the nation's first victory in the event since 1900 (and second overall). Marco Marin of Italy took silver and Peter Westbrook of the United States took bronze. It was the first medal in the event in many Games for each of the three nations since 1964 for France, since 1960 for Italy, and since 1904 for the United States), as the men's sabre competitions had been dominated by Hungary and the Soviet Union. With both of those nations boycotting the 1984 Games, other nations had an opportunity to win medals in the sabre.

## Background

This was the 20th appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1980 returned; five of the six were from boycotting countries and Michele Maffei (at age 38) was no longer on the Italian team. All three of the world champions since the 1980 Games had been from boycotting nations as well. The favorite was rising French star Jean-François Lamour, a seven-time French champion who had never placed better than fifth in a global championship—though this time he would be facing Italians and Romanians rather than Soviets and Hungarians.
The People's Republic of China, Monaco, and the Virgin Islands each made their debut in the men's sabre. Italy made its 18th appearance in the event, most of any nation, having missed the inaugural 1896 event and the 1904 Olympics.

## Competition format

The 1984 tournament used a three-phase format similar to that of 1976 and 1980, though the final phase was different.
The first phase was a multi-round round-robin pool play format; each fencer in a pool faced each other fencer in that pool once. There were three pool rounds:
* The first round had 6 pools of 5 or 6 fencers each, with the top 5 in each pool advancing.
* The second round had 6 pools of 5 fencers each, with the top 4 in each pool advancing.
* The third round had 4 pools of 6 fencers each, with the top 4 in each pool advancing.
The second phase was a truncated double-elimination tournament. Four fencers advanced to the final round through the winners brackets and four more advanced via the repechage.
The final phase was a single elimination tournament with a bronze medal match. (This was changed from a 6-man final round-robin pool in previous years.)
Bouts in the round-robin pools were to 5 touches; bouts in the double-elimination and final rounds were to 10 touches.

## Schedule

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 3 August 1984 | 9:00 | Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 |
| Friday, 3 August 1984 | 9:00  20:00 | Double elimination round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals |

## Results
### Round 1
#### Round 1 Pool A

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | GDB | Marin | HB | FS | Marcil |
| 1 | Gianfranco Dalla Barba (ITA) | 4 | 0 | 20 | 10 | Q | | 5–2 | 5–3 | 5–3 | 5–2 |
| 2 | Cornel Marin (ROU) | 3 | 1 | 17 | 13 | Q | 2–5 | | 5–3 | 5–3 | 5–2 |
| 3 | Hanns Brandstätter (AUT) | 1 | 3 | 13 | 15 | Q | 3–5 | 3–5 | | 2–5 | 5–0 |
| 4 | Freddy Scholz (FRG) | 1 | 3 | 14 | 17 | Q | 3–5 | 3–5 | 5–2 | | 3–5 |
| 5 | Claude Marcil (CAN) | 1 | 3 | 9 | 18 | Q | 2–5 | 2–5 | 0–5 | 5–3 | |

#### Round 1 Pool B

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | JFL | ML | JS | WR | JZ | JM |
| 1 | Jean-François Lamour (FRA) | 5 | 0 | 25 | 8 | Q | | 5–1 | 5–2 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 5–3 |
| 2 | Mike Lofton (USA) | 3 | 2 | 18 | 19 | Q | 1–5 | | 5–3 | 2–5 | 5–2 | 5–4 |
| 3 | Jörg Stratmann (FRG) | 3 | 2 | 20 | 21 | Q | 2–5 | 3–5 | | 5–4 | 5–3 | 5–4 |
| 4 | Wang Ruiji (CHN) | 2 | 3 | 18 | 19 | Q | 1–5 | 5–2 | 4–5 | | 3–5 | 5–2 |
| 5 | John Zarno (GBR) | 2 | 3 | 16 | 21 | Q | 1–5 | 2–5 | 3–5 | 5–3 | | 5–3 |
| 6 | João Marquilhas (POR) | 0 | 5 | 16 | 25 | | 3–5 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 2–5 | 3–5 | |

#### Round 1 Pool C

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | AT | PW | IP | GS | OM | JK |
| 1 | Atilio Tass (ARG) | 2 | 3 | 17 | 18 | Q | | 3–5 | 3–5 | 1–5 | 5–2 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Peter Westbrook (USA) | 3 | 2 | 22 | 17 | Q | 5–3 | | 4–5 | 3–5 | 5–4 | 5–0 |
| 3 | Ioan Pop (ROU) | 4 | 1 | 20 | 16 | Q | 5–3 | 5–4 | | 0–5 | 5–1 | 5–3 |
| 4 | Giovanni Scalzo (ITA) | 5 | 0 | 25 | 7 | Q | 5–1 | 5–3 | 5–0 | | 5–2 | 5–1 |
| 5 | Olivier Martini (MON) | 1 | 4 | 14 | 22 | Q | 2–5 | 4–5 | 1–5 | 2–5 | | 5–2 |
| 6 | James Kreglo (ISV) | 0 | 5 | 7 | 25 | | 1–5 | 0–5 | 3–5 | 1–5 | 2–5 | |

#### Round 1 Pool D

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | MM | HGV | LG | JMB | AG | JMC |
| 1 | Marin Mustață (ROU) | 4 | 1 | 24 | 14 | Q | | 5–4 | 5–2 | 4–5 | 5–1 | 5–2 |
| 2 | Hervé Granger-Veyron (FRA) | 4 | 1 | 24 | 15 | Q | 4–5 | | 5–3 | 5–4 | 5–1 | 5–2 |
| 3 | Liu Guozhen (CHN) | 3 | 2 | 20 | 16 | Q | 2–5 | 3–5 | | 5–3 | 5–3 | 5–0 |
| 4 | Jean-Marie Banos (CAN) | 3 | 2 | 22 | 19 | Q | 5–4 | 4–5 | 3–5 | | 5–4 | 5–1 |
| 5 | Antonio García (ESP) | 1 | 4 | 14 | 20 | Q | 1–5 | 1–5 | 3–5 | 4–5 | | 5–0 |
| 6 | José María Casanovas (ARG) | 0 | 5 | 5 | 25 | | 2–5 | 2–5 | 0–5 | 1–5 | 0–5 | |

#### Round 1 Pool E

Allam did not start.
| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | MM | ZB | JPB | RC | CJ |
| 1 | Marco Marin (ITA) | 4 | 0 | 20 | 9 | Q | | 5–3 | 5–1 | 5–3 | 5–2 |
| 2 | Zisis Babanasis (GRE) | 3 | 1 | 18 | 12 | Q | 3–5 | | 5–2 | 5–1 | 5–4 |
| 3 | Jean-Paul Banos (CAN) | 2 | 2 | 13 | 17 | Q | 1–5 | 2–5 | | 5–3 | 5–4 |
| 4 | Richard Cohen (GBR) | 1 | 3 | 12 | 15 | Q | 3–5 | 1–5 | 3–5 | | 5–0 |
| 5 | Chen Jinchu (CHN) | 0 | 4 | 10 | 20 | Q | 2–5 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 0–5 | |
| – | Ibrahim Allam (EGY) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | |

#### Round 1 Pool F

Ko did not start.
| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | PG | JN | MS | IS | SM |
| 1 | Pierre Guichot (FRA) | 3 | 1 | 19 | 10 | Q | | 4–5 | 5–3 | 5–1 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Jürgen Nolte (FRG) | 3 | 1 | 18 | 17 | Q | 5–4 | | 3–5 | 5–4 | 5–4 |
| 3 | Mark Slade (GBR) | 2 | 2 | 13 | 13 | Q | 3–5 | 5–3 | | 0–5 | 5–0 |
| 4 | Ildemaro Sánchez (VEN) | 1 | 3 | 11 | 15 | Q | 1–5 | 4–5 | 5–0 | | 1–5 |
| 5 | Steve Mormando (USA) | 1 | 3 | 10 | 16 | Q | 1–5 | 4–5 | 0–5 | 5–1 | |
| – | Ko Yin-Fai (HKG) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | |

### Round 2
#### Round 2 Pool A

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | FS | GS | PW | IS | LG |
| 1 | Freddy Scholz (FRG) | 4 | 0 | 20 | 13 | Q | | 5–3 | 5–3 | 5–3 | 5–4 |
| 2 | Giovanni Scalzo (ITA) | 3 | 1 | 18 | 11 | Q | 3–5 | | 5–3 | 5–0 | 5–3 |
| 3 | Peter Westbrook (USA) | 2 | 2 | 16 | 16 | Q | 3–5 | 3–5 | | 5–3 | 5–3 |
| 4 | Ildemaro Sánchez (VEN) | 1 | 3 | 11 | 16 | Q | 3–5 | 0–5 | 3–5 | | 5–1 |
| 5 | Liu Guozhen (CHN) | 0 | 4 | 11 | 20 | | 4–5 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 1–5 | |

#### Round 2 Pool B

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | JFL | JN | RC | SM | JMB |
| 1 | Jean-François Lamour (FRA) | 4 | 0 | 20 | 5 | Q | | 5–3 | 5–0 | 5–1 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Jürgen Nolte (FRG) | 2 | 2 | 17 | 16 | Q | 3–5 | | 5–2 | 4–5 | 5–4 |
| 3 | Richard Cohen (GBR) | 2 | 2 | 12 | 13 | Q | 0–5 | 2–5 | | 5–2 | 5–1 |
| 4 | Steve Mormando (USA) | 2 | 2 | 13 | 17 | Q | 1–5 | 5–4 | 2–5 | | 2–3 |
| 5 | Jean-Marie Banos (CAN) | 0 | 4 | 9 | 20 | | 1–5 | 4–5 | 1–5 | 3–5 | |

#### Round 2 Pool C

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | MM | HB | CMarin | ML | Marcil |
| 1 | Marco Marin (ITA) | 4 | 0 | 20 | 9 | Q | | 5–3 | 5–2 | 5–1 | 5–3 |
| 2 | Hanns Brandstätter (AUT) | 2 | 2 | 17 | 15 | Q | 3–5 | | 5–3 | 4–5 | 5–2 |
| 3 | Cornel Marin (ROU) | 2 | 2 | 15 | 15 | Q | 2–5 | 3–5 | | 5–4 | 5–1 |
| 4 | Mike Lofton (USA) | 2 | 2 | 15 | 17 | Q | 1–5 | 5–4 | 4–5 | | 5–3 |
| 5 | Claude Marcil (CAN) | 0 | 4 | 9 | 20 | | 3–5 | 2–5 | 1–5 | 3–5 | |

#### Round 2 Pool D

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | GDB | ZB | JS | JZ | AG |
| 1 | Gianfranco Dalla Barba (ITA) | 4 | 0 | 20 | 4 | Q | | 5–1 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Zisis Babanasis (GRE) | 3 | 1 | 16 | 12 | Q | 1–5 | | 5–2 | 5–2 | 5–3 |
| 3 | Jörg Stratmann (FRG) | 2 | 2 | 13 | 14 | Q | 1–5 | 2–5 | | 5–1 | 5–3 |
| 4 | John Zarno (GBR) | 1 | 3 | 9 | 17 | Q | 1–5 | 2–5 | 1–5 | | 5–2 |
| 5 | Antonio García (ESP) | 0 | 4 | 9 | 20 | | 1–5 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 2–5 | |

#### Round 2 Pool E

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | MM | PG | WR | MS | OM |
| 1 | Marin Mustață (ROU) | 3 | 1 | 19 | 10 | Q | | 4–5 | 5–3 | 5–1 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Pierre Guichot (FRA) | 3 | 1 | 19 | 13 | Q | 5–4 | | 4–5 | 5–3 | 5–1 |
| 3 | Wang Ruiji (CHN) | 2 | 2 | 16 | 16 | Q | 3–5 | 5–4 | | 3–5 | 5–2 |
| 4 | Mark Slade (GBR) | 2 | 2 | 14 | 17 | Q | 1–5 | 3–5 | 5–3 | | 5–4 |
| 5 | Olivier Martini (MON) | 0 | 4 | 8 | 20 | | 1–5 | 1–5 | 2–5 | 4–5 | |

#### Round 2 Pool F

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | HGV | IP | CJ | JPB | AT |
| 1 | Hervé Granger-Veyron (FRA) | 3 | 1 | 18 | 13 | Q | | 3–5 | 5–2 | 5–4 | 5–2 |
| 2 | Ioan Pop (ROU) | 3 | 1 | 19 | 14 | Q | 5–3 | | 5–3 | 5–3 | 4–5 |
| 3 | Chen Jinchu (CHN) | 2 | 2 | 15 | 12 | Q | 2–5 | 3–5 | | 5–0 | 5–2 |
| 4 | Jean-Paul Banos (CAN) | 1 | 3 | 12 | 18 | Q | 4–5 | 3–5 | 0–5 | | 5–3 |
| 5 | Atilio Tass (ARG) | 1 | 3 | 12 | 19 | | 2–5 | 5–4 | 2–5 | 3–5 | |

### Round 3
#### Round 3 Pool A

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | GDB | HGV | PW | IP | RC | JZ |
| 1 | Gianfranco Dalla Barba (ITA) | 5 | 0 | 25 | 10 | Q | | 5–3 | 5–2 | 5–1 | 5–3 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Hervé Granger-Veyron (FRA) | 4 | 1 | 23 | 19 | Q | 3–5 | | 5–4 | 5–4 | 5–2 | 5–4 |
| 3 | Peter Westbrook (USA) | 3 | 2 | 21 | 14 | Q | 2–5 | 4–5 | | 5–3 | 5–1 | 5–0 |
| 4 | Ioan Pop (ROU) | 2 | 3 | 18 | 21 | Q | 1–5 | 4–5 | 3–5 | | 5–3 | 5–3 |
| 5 | Richard Cohen (GBR) | 1 | 4 | 14 | 24 | | 3–5 | 2–5 | 1–5 | 3–5 | | 5–4 |
| 6 | John Zarno (GBR) | 0 | 5 | 12 | 25 | | 1–5 | 4–5 | 0–5 | 3–5 | 4–5 | |

#### Round 3 Pool B

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | JFL | CM | ZB | GS | JPB | JS |
| 1 | Jean-François Lamour (FRA) | 5 | 0 | 25 | 14 | Q | | 5–3 | 5–3 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 5–0 |
| 2 | Cornel Marin (ROU) | 3 | 2 | 20 | 15 | Q | 3–5 | | 5–1 | 2–5 | 5–3 | 5–1 |
| 3 | Zisis Babanasis (GRE) | 3 | 2 | 19 | 17 | Q | 3–5 | 1–5 | | 5–4 | 5–2 | 5–1 |
| 4 | Giovanni Scalzo (ITA) | 2 | 3 | 21 | 17 | Q | 4–5 | 5–2 | 4–5 | | 3–5 | 5–0 |
| 5 | Jean-Paul Banos (CAN) | 1 | 4 | 18 | 23 | | 4–5 | 3–5 | 2–5 | 5–3 | | 4–5 |
| 6 | Jörg Stratmann (FRG) | 1 | 4 | 7 | 24 | | 0–5 | 1–5 | 1–5 | 0–5 | 5–4 | |

#### Round 3 Pool C

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | PG | MM | CJ | JN | ML | IS |
| 1 | Pierre Guichot (FRA) | 4 | 1 | 24 | 12 | Q | | 5–2 | 5–2 | 4–5 | 5–3 | 5–0 |
| 2 | Marco Marin (ITA) | 3 | 2 | 21 | 16 | Q | 2–5 | | 4–5 | 5–2 | 5–3 | 5–1 |
| 3 | Chen Jinchu (CHN) | 3 | 2 | 20 | 18 | Q | 2–5 | 5–4 | | 3–5 | 5–2 | 5–2 |
| 4 | Jürgen Nolte (FRG) | 3 | 2 | 18 | 20 | Q | 5–4 | 2–5 | 5–3 | | 1–5 | 5–3 |
| 5 | Mike Lofton (USA) | 2 | 3 | 18 | 19 | | 3–5 | 3–5 | 2–5 | 5–1 | | 5–3 |
| 6 | Ildemaro Sánchez (VEN) | 0 | 5 | 9 | 25 | | 0–5 | 1–5 | 2–5 | 3–5 | 3–5 | |

#### Round 3 Pool D

| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Notes | FS | SM | MM | WR | MS | HB |
| 1 | Freddy Scholz (FRG) | 4 | 1 | 22 | 11 | Q | | 5–2 | 2–5 | 5–3 | 5–0 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Steve Mormando (USA) | 3 | 2 | 20 | 17 | Q | 2–5 | | 5–2 | 3–5 | 5–3 | 5–2 |
| 3 | Marin Mustață (ROU) | 3 | 2 | 19 | 19 | Q | 5–2 | 2–5 | | 5–4 | 5–3 | 2–5 |
| 4 | Wang Ruiji (CHN) | 2 | 3 | 19 | 22 | Q | 3–5 | 5–3 | 4–5 | | 2–5 | 5–4 |
| 5 | Mark Slade (GBR) | 2 | 3 | 16 | 21 | | 0–5 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 5–2 | | 5–4 |
| 6 | Hanns Brandstätter (AUT) | 1 | 4 | 16 | 22 | | 1–5 | 2–5 | 5–2 | 4–5 | 4–5 | |

### Double elimination rounds
#### Winners brackets
##### Winners group 1

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Round of 8 | Round of 8 |
| Gianfranco Dalla Barba (ITA) | 10 | | |
| Wang Ruiji (CHN) | 4 | Gianfranco Dalla Barba (ITA) | 9 |
| Peter Westbrook (USA) | 10 | Peter Westbrook (USA) | 11 |
| Zisis Babanasis (GRE) | 3 | | |

##### Winners group 2

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Round of 8 | Round of 8 |
| Marco Marin (ITA) | 10 | | |
| Chen Jinchu (CHN) | 3 | Marco Marin (ITA) | 11 |
| Ioan Pop (ROU) | 10 | Ioan Pop (ROU) | 10 |
| Pierre Guichot (FRA) | 3 | | |

##### Winners group 3

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Round of 8 | Round of 8 |
| Freddy Scholz (FRG) | 4 | | |
| Steve Mormando (USA) | 10 | Steve Mormando (USA) | 9 |
| Cornel Marin (ROU) | 9 | Hervé Granger-Veyron (FRA) | 10 |
| Hervé Granger-Veyron (FRA) | 10 | | |

##### Winners group 4

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Round of 8 | Round of 8 |
| Marin Mustață (ROU) | 5 | | |
| Giovanni Scalzo (ITA) | 10 | Giovanni Scalzo (ITA) | 5 |
| Jürgen Nolte (FRG) | 2 | Jean-François Lamour (FRA) | 10 |
| Jean-François Lamour (FRA) | 10 | | |

#### Losers brackets
##### Losers group 1

| Round of 4 | Round of 4 | Round of 2 | Round of 2 |
| Wang Ruiji (CHN) | 9 | | |
| Zisis Babanasis (GRE) | 10 | Zisis Babanasis (GRE) | 4 |
| | | Giovanni Scalzo (ITA) | 10 |

##### Losers group 2

| Round of 4 | Round of 4 | Round of 2 | Round of 2 |
| Chen Jinchu (CHN) | 3 | | |
| Pierre Guichot (FRA) | 10 | Pierre Guichot (FRA) | 10 |
| | | Steve Mormando (USA) | 8 |

##### Losers group 3

| Round of 4 | Round of 4 | Round of 2 | Round of 2 |
| Freddy Scholz (FRG) | 10 | | |
| Cornel Marin (ROU) | 9 | Freddy Scholz (FRG) | 4 |
| | | Ioan Pop (ROU) | 10 |

##### Losers group 4

| Round of 4 | Round of 4 | Round of 2 | Round of 2 |
| Marin Mustață (ROU) | 10 | | |
| Jürgen Nolte (FRG) | 6 | Marin Mustață (ROU) | 11 |
| | | Gianfranco Dalla Barba (ITA) | 9 |

### Final round

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals |
| Jean-François Lamour (FRA) | 10 | | | | |
| Ioan Pop (ROU) | 6 | | | | |
| Ioan Pop (ROU) | 6 | Jean-François Lamour (FRA) | 10 | | |
| | | Peter Westbrook (USA) | 4 | | |
| Pierre Guichot (FRA) | 8 | Peter Westbrook (USA) | 4 | | |
| Peter Westbrook (USA) | 10 | | | | |
| Peter Westbrook (USA) | 10 | | | Jean-François Lamour (FRA) | 12 |
| | | | | Marco Marin (ITA) | 11 |
| Hervé Granger-Veyron (FRA) | 10 | | | | | Marco Marin (ITA) | 11 |
| Marin Mustață (ROU) | 8 | | |
| Marin Mustață (ROU) | 8 | Hervé Granger-Veyron (FRA) | 4 | Third place | Third place |
| | | Marco Marin (ITA) | 10 |
| Giovanni Scalzo (ITA) | 9 | Marco Marin (ITA) | 10 | Peter Westbrook (USA) | 10 |
| Marco Marin (ITA) | 11 | | | Hervé Granger-Veyron (FRA) | 5 |

## Final classification

| Fencer | Nation |
| Jean-François Lamour | France |
| Marco Marin | Italy |
| Peter Westbrook | United States |
| Hervé Granger-Veyron | France |
| Pierre Guichot | France |
| Marin Mustață | Romania |
| Giovanni Scalzo | Italy |
| Ioan Pop | Romania |
| Gianfranco Dalla Barba | Italy |
| Freddy Scholz | West Germany |
| Zisis Babanasis | Greece |
| Steve Mormando | United States |
| Cornel Marin | Romania |
| Chen Jinchu | China |
| Jürgen Nolte | West Germany |
| Wang Ruiji | China |
| Mike Lofton | United States |
| Mark Slade | Great Britain |
| Jean-Paul Banos | Canada |
| Hanns Brandstätter | Austria |
| Richard Cohen | Great Britain |
| Jörg Stratmann | West Germany |
| John Zarno | Great Britain |
| Ildemaro Sánchez | Venezuela |
| Atilio Tass | Argentina |
| Liu Guozhen | China |
| Jean-Marie Banos | Canada |
| Claude Marcil | Canada |
| Antonio García | Spain |
| Olivier Martini | Monaco |
| João Marquilhas | Portugal |
| James Kreglo | Virgin Islands |
| José María Casanovas | Argentina |