The men's foil was one of seven

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 ...

events on the

Fencing at the 1924 Summer Olympics At the 1924 Summer Olympics, seven fencing events were contested. A women's event, the individual foil, was held for the first time. Scoring controversy After the games, an Italian and a Hungarian settled a scoring controversy with a real duel. ...

programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event, which had not been on the programme in 1908. The competition was held from Monday July 1, 1924, to Thursday July 4, 1924. 49 fencers from 17 nations competed. Nations were limited to four fencers each, down from eight in 1920. The event was won by

Roger Ducret Roger Ducret (2 April 1888 – 10 January 1962) was a French fencer who competed at the 1920, 1924 and 1928 Olympics. At the 1924 Summer Olympics he entered five events out of six and earned a gold or silver medal in each of them, winning indi ...

of France, the nation's third victory in the men's foil. His countryman

Philippe Cattiau Philippe Cattiau (28 July 1892 – 18 February 1962) was a French épée and foil fencer who won a total of eight Olympic medals between 1920 and 1936. He was born in Saint-Malo in Brittany. A stadium in the Paris suburb of Vil ...

finished second for the second consecutive Games; Cattiau and Ducret (bronze in 1920) became the second and third men to win multiple medals in the event.

Maurice Van Damme Maurice Van Damme (born 1888) was a Belgian fencer. He won a silver and bronze medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la ...

earned Belgium's first medal in the men's foil with his bronze.

Background

This was the sixth 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). Three of the 1920 finalists returned: silver medalist

and bronze medalist

of France, along with eighth-place finisher

Ivan Osiier Dr. Ivan Joseph Martin Osiier (December 16, 1888 – December 23, 1965), was a Danish Olympic medalist, and world champion, fencer who fenced foil, épée, and saber. He was given the Olympic Diploma of Merit during his career. He is also on ...

of Denmark (competing in the Games for the fourth time of his eventual seven). Other notable Olympic veterans included 1912 sixth-place finisher

Edgar Seligman Edgar Isaac Seligman (14 April 1867 – 27 September 1958) was a British épée, foil, and sabre fencer. After the family moved to London he became a British citizen by naturalisation. Seligman competed in five Olympiads and won two silver me ...

and eighth-place finisher Robert Montgomerie of Great Britain. A dispute in the team foil event resulted in the Italian team withdrawing from the fencing tournament without competing in the individual foil—the second time in three Games that an Italy–France matchup was prevented by a dispute (France had withdrawn from the 1912 fencing tournament over a rules dispute). Argentina, Poland, Portugal, and Uruguay each made their debut in the men's foil. The United States made its fifth appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the inaugural 1896 competition.

Competition format

The event used a five-round format. In each round, the fencers were divided into pools to play a round-robin within the pool. Bouts were to five touches. Standard

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

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 12 pools of between 2 and 5 fencers each. The top 3 fencers in each pool advanced to round 2. * Round 2: There were 6 pools, intended to be of 6 fencers each but one of which had only 5 because a round 1 pool had had only 2 fencers and thus could not advance the full 3. The top 3 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. * Quarterfinals: There were 3 pools of 6 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. * Semifinals: There were 2 pools of 6 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each semifinal advanced to the final. * Final: The final pool had 8 fencers.

Schedule

Results

Round 1

The top three fencers in each pool advanced.

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

Pool E

Pool F

Pool G

Pool H

Pool I

Pool J

Pool K

Pool L

Round 2

The top three fencers in each pool advanced.

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

Pool E

Pool F

Quarterfinals

The top four fencers in each pool advanced.

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Semifinals

The top four fencers in each pool advanced.

Pool A

Pool B

Final

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fencing at the 1924 Summer Olympics - Men's foil Foil men Men's events at the 1924 Summer Olympics