The men's sabre 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 1956 Summer Olympics At the 1956 Summer Olympics, 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 co ...

programme. It was the thirteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 5 December 1956. 35 fencers from 17 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by

Rudolf Kárpáti Rudolf Kárpáti (17 July 1920 – 1 February 1999) was a fencer from Hungary, who won six gold medals in sabre at four Olympic Games (1948–1960). He also won seven gold, three silver and two bronze medals at the world championships. For his a ...

, the seventh of nine straight Games in which a Hungarian would win the event.

Jerzy Pawłowski Jerzy Władysław Pawłowski (25 October 1932 – 11 January 2005) was a Polish fencing, fencer and double agent. Life While a major in the Polish Army, Pawłowski won the gold medal in the individual saber event at the 1968 Summer Olympics in ...

of Poland took silver and Lev Kuznetsov of the Soviet Union took bronze, the first medals in the event for each nation and the first time since 1924 that any nation other than Hungary and Italy earned a medal in the men's sabre.

Background

This was the 13th appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four of the nine finalists from 1952 returned: gold medalist (and 1948 bronze medalist)

Pál Kovács Pál Kovács (17 July 1912 – 8 July 1995) was a Hungarian athlete, who began as a hurdler, but eventually switched to fencing. By the time Kovács won his first fencing gold, in 1936, he had already been a member of the winning Hungarian tea ...

of Hungary, silver medalist (and 1948 gold and 1936 bronze medalist)

Aladár Gerevich Aladár Gerevich (16 March 1910 – 14 May 1991) was a Hungarian fencer, regarded as "the greatest Olympic swordsman ever". He won seven gold medals in sabre at six different Olympic Games. Biography Gerevich is only one of two athletes to ...

of Hungary, fourth-place finisher

Gastone Darè Gastone Darè (18 February 1918 – 7 June 1976) was an Italian fencer and politician. He won two silver medals in the team sabre events at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics. He also competed at the 1955 Mediterranean Games where he won a g ...

of Italy, and sixth-place finisher Jacques Lefèvre of France. The last three world champions were on the heavily favored Hungarian team: 1953 champion Kovács (who had also won in 1937), 1954 champion

, and 1955 champion Gerevich (also in 1935 and 1951). Colombia, Indonesia, and Luxembourg each made their debut in the men's sabre; East and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany. Italy made its 11th appearance in the event, most of any nation (surpassing Denmark, which missed the men's sabre event for the first time since competing in 1908), having missed the inaugural 1896 event and the 1904 St. Louis Games.

Competition format

The competition used a pool play format, with each fencer facing the other fencers in the pool in a round robin. Bouts were to 5 touches. Barrages were used to break ties necessary for advancement (touches against were the first tie-breaker used to give ranks when the rank did not matter). However, only as much fencing was done as was necessary to determine advancement, so some bouts never occurred if the fencers advancing from the pool could be determined.Official Report, p. 451. The 12 fencers from the top four teams in the team sabre event received a bye in the first round. * Round 1: There 4 pools of between 5 and 6 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. * Quarterfinals: There were 4 pools of 7 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. * Semifinals: There were 2 pools of 8 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each semifinal advanced to the final. * Final: The final pool had 8 fencers.

Schedule

All times are

Australian Eastern Standard Time Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Western Standard Time (AWST; UTC+08:00), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST; UTC+09:30), and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST; UTC+10:00). Time is regulated by the individual state ...

( UTC+10)

Results

Round 1

The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. Fencers from the four teams that advanced to the final of the men's team sabre event received byes through round 1: * France: Claude Gamot, Jacques Lefèvre, and

Jacques Roulot Jacques Roulot (18 November 1933 – 15 February 2002) was a French fencer. He competed in the individual and team sabre events at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics. He also competed at the Mediterranean Games in 1955, where he won a silve ...

* Hungary:

, and

* Poland: Marian Kuszewski,

, and

Wojciech Zabłocki Wojciech Mikołaj Zabłocki (6 December 1930 – 5 December 2020) was a Polish architect and fencer, specialist in the saber modality. Sports career Zabłocki participated in four Olympic Games: 1952 Helsinki, 1956 Melbourne, 1960 Rome, 196 ...

* Soviet Union: Yevhen Cherepovsky, Lev Kuznetsov, and

Yakov Rylsky Yakov Anufrievich Rylsky (russian: Яков Ануфриевич Рыльский) (25 October 1928 – 9 December 1999) was an Olympic champion and three-time world champion Russian sabre fencer who competed for the Soviet Union. He took part i ...

Pool 1

; Barrage

Pool 2

Pool 3

; Barrage

Pool 4

; Barrage

Quarterfinals

The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

; Barrage

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

; Barrage

Semifinals

The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

; Barrage

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics - Men's sabre Sabre men Men's events at the 1956 Summer Olympics