The men's

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains ...

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 1952 Summer Olympics At the 1952 Summer Olympics, seven fencing events were contested, six for men and one for women. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table Participating nations A total of 286 fencers (249 men and 37 women) from 32 nations comp ...

programme. It was the eleventh appearance of the event. The competition was held from 27 July 1952 to 28 July 1952. 76 fencers from 29 nations competed. Nations were limited to three fencers each. The event was won by

Edoardo Mangiarotti Edoardo Mangiarotti (; 7 April 1919 – 25 May 2012) was an Italian fencer. He won a total of 39 Olympic titles and World championships, more than any other fencer in the history of the sport. His Olympic medals include one individual go ...

of Italy, the nation's fourth consecutive victory in the men's épée (passing France for most all-time). It was also the fourth consecutive year that Italy had at least two fencers on the podium in the event, as Edoardo's brother Dario Mangiarotti took silver. Bronze went to

Oswald Zappelli Oswald Zappelli (27 October 1913 – 3 April 1968) was a Swiss fencer. He won a silver medal in the individual épée event at the 1948 Summer Olympics and bronze medals in the individual and team épée events at the 1952 Summer Olympics ...

of Switzerland. Zappelli and Edoardo Mangiarotti had faced each other in a barrage for silver and bronze medals in 1948, which Zappelli had won; the two men were the fifth and sixth to earn multiple medals in the event.

Background

This was the 11th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Games in 1896 (with only foil and sabre events held) but has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1900. Four of the 10 finalists from the 1948 Games returned: silver medalist

of Switzerland, bronze medalist

of Italy, eighth-place finisher

Émile Gretsch Émile Gretsch (12 August 1908 – 17 July 2004) was a Luxembourgian épée and foil fencer. He competed at the 1948, 1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business ...

of Luxembourg, and tenth-place finisher Ronald Parfitt of Great Britain. Also competing was Dario Mangiarotti, Edoardo's elder brother, part of the silver medal 1948 Italian team who had to withdraw from the individual event due to injury (his replacement,

Luigi Cantone Luigi Cantone (July 21, 1917 – November 6, 1997) was an Italian fencer and Olympic champion in épée competition. He received a gold medal in ''épée individual'' at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London London is the capital ...

, won gold in the individual competition). The Mangiarotti brothers had each won a World Championship since the London Games, Dario in 1949 and Edoardo in 1951 (making him the reigning World Champion coming into the 1952 Olympics). The 1950 World Champion,

Mogens Lüchow Mogens Lüchow (13 May 1918 – 20 March 1989) was a Danish fencer. He competed in the individual and team épée events at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommar ...

of Denmark, also competed. Australia, Guatemala, Ireland, Japan, the Soviet Union, Venezuela, and Vietnam each made their debut in the event. Belgium and the United States each appeared for the 10th time, tied for most among nations.

Competition format

The competition format was pool play round-robin, with bouts to three touches. Not all bouts were played in some pools if not necessary to determine advancement. Ties were broken through fence-off bouts ("barrages") in early rounds if necessary for determining advancement. Ties not necessary for advancement were either not broken (if at least one fencer had not finished all bouts in the round-robin) or broken first by touches received and then by touches scored. In the final, ties were broken by barrage if necessary for medal placement but otherwise first by touches received and then by touches scored.Official Report, p. 490. Fencers from the four nations that reached the team event final received byes to the quarterfinals. * Round 1: 8 pools of 8 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. * Quarterfinals: 5 pools between 8 and 9 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the semifinals. * Semifinals: 2 pools of 10 fencers each. The top 5 fencers in each pool advanced to the final. * Final: 1 pool of 10 fencers.

Schedule

All times are

Eastern European Summer Time Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...

(

UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours later than the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be wri ...

)

Results

Round 1

The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to round 2. Fencers from the four teams that advanced to the final of the men's team épée event received byes through round 1: * Italy: Dario Mangiarotti,

, and Carlo Pavesi * Luxembourg: Léon Buck,

, and

Jean-Fernand Leischen Jean-Fernand Leischen (21 August 1919 – 20 April 2017) was a Luxembourgian fencer who competed in three Summer Olympic Games, competing in the men's individual and team épée events at each one. His best was result was fourth at the team ...

* Sweden:

Per Carleson Senior Colonel Per Hjalmar Ludvig Carleson (11 July 1917 – 8 June 2004) was a Swedish officer and épée fencer. Carleson was one of the founders of the Swedish Coastal Rangers. Early life Carleson was born on 11 July 1917 in Stockholm ...

, Sven Fahlman, and

Carl Forssell Carl Forssell (25 October 1917 – 28 November 2005) was a Swedish fencer. Competing in the team épée he won a bronze medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics, a silver at the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympiala ...

* Switzerland: Paul Barth,

Paul Meister Paul Meister (20 January 1926 – 17 December 2018) was a Swiss fencer. He won a bronze medal in the team épée event at the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), ...

, and

Pool 1

Pool 2

Mourão and Meraz defeated Amaral in a three-way barrage for third and fourth place.

Pool 3

Pool 4

Przeździecki defeated Brooke in a barrage for fourth place.

Pool 5

Pool 6

Kearney defeated Soberón and de Paula in a three-way barrage for fourth place.

Pool 7

Bougnol defeated Camous, Skrobisch, and Kroggel in a four-way barrage for fourth place.

Pool 8

Dias and Fethers defeated Makler in a three-way barrage for third and fourth place.

Quarterfinals

The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.Official Report, p. 491.

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Dybkær defeated Barth in a barrage for fourth place.

Quarterfinal 4

Forssell defeated Delaunois and Berzsenyi in a three-way barrage for fourth place.

Quarterfinal 5

Sákovics and Zappelli defeated Fethers in a three-way barrage for third and fourth place.

Semifinals

The top 5 finishers in each pool advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

There was a three-way barrage for silver, bronze, and fourth place. D. Mangiarotti came out best in that barrage, followed by Zappelli and then Buck.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Epee men Fencing at the 1952 Summer Olympics Men's events at the 1952 Summer Olympics