The men's sabre was a

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

event held as part of the

Fencing at the 1920 Summer Olympics At the 1920 Summer Olympics, six fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's cont ...

programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event. A total of 43 fencers from 9 nations competed in the event, which was held on August 25 and August 26, 1920. Nations were limited to eight fencers each. The event was won by

Nedo Nadi Nedo Nadi (9 June 1894 – 29 January 1940) was one of the best Italian fencers of all time. He is the only fencer to win a gold medal in each of the three weapons at a single Olympic Games and won the most fencing gold medals ever at a single ...

of Italy, one of his five gold medals in 1920. His brother

Aldo Nadi Aldo Nadi (29 April 1899 – 10 November 1965) was one of the greatest Italian fencers of all time. Biography Aldo was born into a fencing family in Livorno, Italy, and both Aldo and his brother Nedo Nadi were fencers from a very young age. T ...

took silver.

Adrianus de Jong Adrianus Egbert Willem "Adriaan" "Arie" de Jong (21 June 1882 – 23 December 1966) was a fencer who competed at five Olympic Games. However, he had his greatest international success with the sabre, where he won the first two Worl ...

of the Netherlands finished third. They were the first medals in the individual men's sabre for both countries. This was the only time from 1908 to 1964 that Hungary did not win the men's sabre—with no Hungarian fencers competing after the nation was disinvited after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Background

This was the sixth appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Seven of the eight finalists from 1912 had been Hungarian; with Hungary not invited to the 1920 Games in the aftermath of

, none of those seven could return. The other finalist, however, was

of Italy—the heavy favorite with no Hungarians competing (and with 1919 Inter-Allied champion Vincent Gillens of Belgium not attending either). Czechoslovakia made its debut in the men's sabre. Italy and Denmark each made their fourth appearance in the event, tying Austria (also not invited to the Games following the war) for most of any nation.

Competition format

The event used a three-round format. In each round, the fencers were divided into pools to play a round-robin within the pool. Bouts were to three touches (an unpopular change from the more typical five). Standard

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

rules were used, including that the target area was the now-standard target above the waist (in contrast to the larger target in 1912 and the whole body in 1896, 1900, and 1908). * Quarterfinals: There were 5 pools of between 7 and 9 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals, except that the top 5 in quarterfinal C advanced (with two men tied for fourth, the tie was not broken and both advanced). * Semifinals: There were 3 pools of 7 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each semifinal advanced to the final. * Final: The final pool had 12 fencers.

Schedule

Results

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal A

Quarterfinal B

Quarterfinal C

Quarterfinal D

Quarterfinal E

Semifinals

Semifinal A

Semifinal B

Semifinal C

Final

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fencing At The 1920 Summer Olympics - Men's Sabre Fencing at the 1920 Summer Olympics