Fencing at the 1900 Summer Olympics – Men's foil

The amateur foil was a competition in the 1900 Summer Olympics. It had 54 fencers. These fencers were from 10 nations. 39 of the 54 competitors were from France. For most rounds, skill was more important than winning. The event was won by all French fencers. Émile Coste, Henri Masson, and Marcel Boulenger were in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. They were all French. This was the second Men's foil in the Olympics where France was in 1st and 2nd place.

## Background

This was the second time this event was in the Olympics. It has been at every Summer Olympics except 1908. None of the fencers in 1900 also competed in 1896.

There were 10 nations in this Olympic Fencing tournament. 9 of these countries had never been in the men's foil before. These countries were Austria, Belgium, Haiti, Italy, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. France was in this event in 1896.

## Competition format

This event had 5 rounds. There were 4 main rounds, and a "repechage". The order was round 1, then quarterfinals, then repechage, then semifinals, then finals. In the first 3 rounds, fencers had a one match (or "bout"). The match results did not matter. Skill decided who went to the next round. The last two rounds (semifinals and finals) were round-robin. The actual results of the bouts decided who went to the next round. The normal foil rules were used. Touches had to be made with the tip of the foil. You had to hit the other person's torso. Priority chose the winner of double touches.

In round 1, there were 54 fencers. They went against each other in one bout bout. In each bout, there was one winner. A jury decided the 37 winners.

In the quarterfinals, there were now 37 fencers. One fencer would have no opponents. 3 fencers quit the tournament, however. This cancelled one bout. This also meant that one fencer fenced 2 times. The jury chose 10 fencers for the semifinals. They also chose 14 fencers for the repechage.

In the repechage, there were the 14 fencers from the quarterfinals. They went against each other in one bout. 6 of the fencers would advance. One of the 6 fencers quit the tournament, however. This meant that another fencer was chosen from the repechage.

In the semifinals, there were 16 fencers from the quarterfinals and repechage. They were put into 2 sections (or "pool"). Each "pool" had 8 fencers. They would all play against each other in their pool. The best 4 fencers in each pool went to the final. The worst 4 fencers in each pool went into a different final. They would compete for 9 to 16th place. This final was called the "classification 9–16 final".

In the finals, there were 2 finals. There was the "main final" and the "classification 9–16 final". The main final had the top 4 from each semifinal pool. The classification 9–16 final had the worst 4 from each semifinal pool. Each final had their own round-robin tournament.

## Schedule

|Date|Time|Round|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Monday, 14 May 1900||**Round 1 bouts 1–18**|
|Tuesday, 15 May 1900||**Round 1 bouts 19–27**|
|Wednesday, 16 May 1900||**Quarterfinals**|
|Thursday, 17 May 1900||**Repechage**|
|Friday, 18 May 1900||**Semifinals**|
|Saturday, 19 May 1900||**Semifinals** continued|
|Monday, 21 May 1900|**10:00**|**Finals**|

### Round 1

|Bout||Fencer 1||Nation 1||Notes 1||Fencer 2||Nation 2||Notes 2|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Mauricio, 4th Duke of Gor|||Félix Debax|||||||||
|2|Georges Dillon-Kavanagh|||Paul Robert|||||||||
|3|Carlos de Candamo|||Albert Cahen|||||||||
|4|Henri Masson|||Olivier Collarini|||||||||
|5|Robert Marc|||G. Bélot|||||||||
|6|Martini|||Henri Jobier|||||||||
|7|Tony Smet|||Charles Guérin|||||||||
|8|Ferrand|||Joseph Sénat|||||||||
|9|Jean Taillefer|||Grossard|||||||||
|10|Calvet|||Emil Fick|||||||||
|11|Adrien Guyon|||Palardi|||||||||
|12|Jactel|||Giuseppe Giurato|||||||||
|13|Clément de Boissière|||Gardiès|||||||||
|14|Léon Thiébaut|||F. Weill|||||||||
|15|Giunio Fedreghini|||Piot|||||||||
|16|Heinrich Rischtoff|||Pélabon|||||||||
|17|Jean Weill|||Passerat|||||||||
|18|André Corvington|||Édouard Fouchier|||||||||
|19|Pierre Georges Louis d'Hugues|||Émile Coste|||||||||
|20|Rudolf Brosch|||Marcel Boulenger|||||||||
|21|H. Valarche|||de Saint-Aignan|||||||||
|22|Henri Plommet|||van der Stoppen|||||||||
|23|Raphaël Perrissoud|||Frédéric Soudois|||||||||
|24|Joseph Ducrot|||Albert Gauthier|||||||||
|25|André de Schonen|||Paul Leroy|||||||||
|26|Jean-Joseph Renaud|||Eugène Bergès|||||||||
|27|Wattelier|||Herman Georges Berger|||||||||

### Quarterfinals

|Bout||Fencer 1||Nation 1||Notes 1||Fencer 2||Nation 2||Notes 2|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Jean-Joseph Renaud|||Félix Debax|||||||||
|2|Clément de Boissière|||Adrien Guyon|||||||||
|3|Henri Masson|||Carlos de Candamo|||||||||
|4|Tony Smet|||de Saint-Aignan|||||||||
|5|Charles Guérin|||Eugène Bergès|||||||||
|6|André de Schonen|||Henri Plommet|||||||||
|7|Émile Coste|||Paul Robert|||||||||
|8|Marcel Boulenger|||Albert Cahen|||||||||
|9|Joseph Ducrot|||Jactel|||||||||
|10|Georges Dillon-Kavanagh|||Raphaël Perrissoud|||||||||
|11|Rudolf Brosch|||H. Valarche|||||||||
|12|G. Bélot|||Calvet|||||||||
|13|Ferrand|||Robert Marc|||||||||
|14|Jean Taillefer|||Martini|||||||||
|15|Léon Thiébaut|||Mauricio, 4th Duke of Gor|||||||||
|16|Henri Jobier|||Olivier Collarini|||||||||
|17|Pierre Georges Louis d'Hugues|||Albert Cahen|||||||||
|18|Joseph Sénat|||Walkover|||||||||
|—|Soudois|||Did not start|||||||||
|van der Stoppen|||||||||||||
|Wattelier|||||||||||||

### Repechage

|Fencer||Nation||Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|G. Bélot|||||
|Eugène Bergès|||||
|Rudolf Brosch|||||
|Georges Dillon-Kavanagh|||||
|Pierre Georges Louis d'Hugues|||||
|Joseph Sénat|||||
|de Saint-Aignan|||||
|Carlos de Candamo|||||
|Ferrand|||||
|Henri Jobier|||||
|Henri Plommet|||||
|André de Schonen|||||
|Jean Taillefer|||||
|Léon Thiébaut|||||

#### Semifinal A

|Rank||Fencer||Nation||Wins||Losses||Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Émile Coste||7|0|||||||
|2|Henri Masson||5|2|||||||
|3|Joseph Sénat||5|2|||||||
|4|Rudolf Brosch||3|4|||||||
|5|Charles Guérin||3|4|||||||
|6|Clément de Boissière||2|5|||||||
|7|G. Bélot||2|5|||||||
|8|Tony Smet||1|6|||||||

#### Semifinal B

|Rank||Fencer||Nation||Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Marcel Boulenger||||||
|2|Félix Debax||||||
|3|Pierre Georges Louis d'Hugues||||||
|4|Georges Dillon-Kavanagh||||||
|5|Jean-Joseph Renaud||||||
|6|Adrien Guyon||||||
|7|Joseph Ducrot||||||
|8|Eugène Bergès||||||

#### Classification 9–16

|Rank||Fencer||Nation|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|9|Clément de Boissière||||
|10|Eugène Bergès||||
|11|de Saint-Aignan||||
|12|G. Bélot||||
|13|Joseph Ducrot||||
|14|Tony Smet||||
|15|Adrien Guyon||||
|16|Charles Guérin||||

#### Final

|Rank||Fencer||Nation||Wins||Losses|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Émile Coste||6|1|||||
||Henri Masson||5|2|||||
||Marcel Boulenger||4|3|||||
|4|Félix Debax||4|3|||||
|5|Pierre Georges Louis d'Hugues||3|4|||||
|6|Joseph Sénat||3|4|||||
|7|Georges Dillon-Kavanagh||2|5|||||
|8|Rudolf Brosch||1|6|||||

## Final classifiation

|Rank||Fencer||Nation||Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Émile Coste||Final||||
||Henri Masson||Final||||
||Marcel Boulenger||Final||||
|4|Félix Debax||Final||||
|5|Pierre Georges Louis d'Hugues||Final||||
|6|Joseph Sénat||Final||||
|7|Georges Dillon-Kavanagh||Final||||
|8|Rudolf Brosch||Final||||
|9|Clément de Boissière||Classification 9–16||||
|10|Eugène Bergès||Classification 9–16||||
|11|de Saint-Aignan||Classification 9–16||||
|12|G. Bélot||Classification 9–16||||
|13|Joseph Ducrot||Classification 9–16||||
|14|Tony Smet||Classification 9–16||||
|15|Adrien Guyon||Classification 9–16||||
|16|Charles Guérin||Classification 9–16||||
|17|Jean-Joseph Renaud||Withdrew before semifinals||||
|18|Carlos de Candamo||Repechage||||
|Ferrand||Repechage|||||
|Henri Jobier||Repechage|||||
|Henri Plommet||Repechage|||||
|André de Schonen||Repechage|||||
|Jean Taillefer||Repechage|||||
|Léon Thiébaut||Repechage|||||
|rowspan=10|25|Paul Robert||Quarterfinals|||
|Albert Cahen||Quarterfinals|||||
|Jactel||Quarterfinals|||||
|Raphaël Perrissoud||Quarterfinals|||||
|H. Valarche||Quarterfinals|||||
|Calvet||Quarterfinals|||||
|Robert Marc||Quarterfinals|||||
|Martini||Quarterfinals|||||
|Mauricio, 4th Duke of Gor||Quarterfinals|||||
|Olivier Collarini||Quarterfinals|||||
|35|Soudois||Withdrew before quarterfinals||||
|van der Stoppen||Withdrew before quarterfinals|||||
|Wattelier||Withdrew before quarterfinals|||||
|rowspan=17|38|Grossard||Round 1|||
|Emil Fick||Round 1|||||
|Palardi||Round 1|||||
|Giuseppe Giurato||Round 1|||||
|Gardiès||Round 1|||||
|F. Weill||Round 1|||||
|Giunio Fedreghini||Round 1|||||
|Piot||Round 1|||||
|Heinrich Rischtoff||Round 1|||||
|Pélabon||Round 1|||||
|Jean Weill||Round 1|||||
|Passerat||Round 1|||||
|André Corvington||Round 1|||||
|Édouard Fouchier||Round 1|||||
|Albert Gauthier||Round 1|||||
|Paul Leroy||Round 1|||||
|Herman Georges Berger||Round 1|||||

## Infobox (olympic event)

- **event**: Men's foil
- **games**: 1900 Summer
- **image**: File:Le capitaine Émile Coste, champion olympique de fleuret en 1900.jpg
- **image size**: 200px
- **caption**: Émile Coste
- **venue**: Tuileries Garden
- **dates**: 14–21 May
- **competitors**: 54
- **nations**: 10
- **gold**: Émile Coste
- **goldnoc**: FRA
- **silver**: Henri Masson (fencer), Henri Masson
- **silvernoc**: FRA
- **bronze**: Marcel Boulenger
- **bronzenoc**: FRA
- **prev**: Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's foil, 1896
- **next**: Fencing at the 1904 Summer Olympics – Men's foil, 1904