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 10Mallon's count of 8 is based on Corvington and Smet being labelled French in the first round and quarterfinals of Mallon's book; Mallon correctly has Smet as Belgian in the semifinals and final. Adding Belgium and Haiti gives the 9th and 10th nations. 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

Results

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    

Semifinals

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    

Finals

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 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 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

References

Category:Fencing at the 1900 Summer Olympics