The men's sabre was one of eight

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 1960 Summer Olympics At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, eight events in fencing (sport), fencing were contested. Men competed in both individual and team events for each of the three weapon types (Épée (fencing), épée, Foil (fencing), foil and Sabre (fencing), ...

programme. It was the fourteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 7 to 8 September 1960. 70 fencers from 29 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 eighth of nine straight Games in which a Hungarian would win the event. Kárpáti was the second man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the men's sabre (

Jenő Fuchs Jenő Fuchs (29 October 1882 – 14 March 1955) was a Hungarian sabre fencer. He competed at the 1908 and 1912 Olympics and won both the individual and team events at both Games. He missed the 1920 Olympics, where Hungary was not allowed to c ...

in 1908 and 1912) and fifth to win multiple medals of any color. His teammate Zoltán Horváth took silver while

Wladimiro Calarese Wladimiro Calarese (3 October 1930 – 13 August 2005) was an Italian sabre fencer. He won two bronze medals at the 1960 Summer Olympics and two silver medals, at the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics. After retiring from competitions Calarese defe ...

of Italy finished with the bronze.

Background

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Five of the eight finalists from 1956 returned: gold medalist

of Hungary, silver medalist

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 (who, in 1968, would finally break the Hungarian run of nine straight gold medals in the event), fourth-place finisher Jacques Lefèvre of France, fifth-place finisher (and three-time medalist, with bronze in 1936, gold in 1948, and silver in 1952)

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, and sixth-place finisher

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 ...

of Poland. The three world champions since the last Olympics were Pawłowski (1957),

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 ...

of the Soviet Union (1958), and Kárpáti (1959). Israel, Morocco, New Zealand, Tunisia, and Vietnam each made their debut in the men's sabre. Italy made its 12th appearance in the event, most of any nation, 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. 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. The competition involved 5 rounds:Official Report, p. 765. * Round 1: 12 pools, 6 fencers to a pool (two pools had 5 due to withdrawals), top 3 advance (total 36 advancing) * Round 2: 6 pools, 6 fencers to a pool, top 4 advance (total 24 advancing) * Quarterfinals: 4 pools, 6 fencers to a pool, top 3 advance (total 12 advancing) * Semifinals: 2 pools, 6 fencers to a pool, top 4 advance (total 8 advancing) * Final: 1 pool, 8 fencers

Schedule

All times are

Central European Time Central European Time (CET) is a standard time which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Europe and in a few North African countries. CET i ...

(

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time ** B ...

)

Results

Round 1

The top three fencers in each pool advanced.

Round 1 Pool A

Round 1 Pool B

Round 1 Pool C

Menendez of Cuba was entered in this pool, but did not start.

Round 1 Pool D

; Barrage

Round 1 Pool E

Round 1 Pool F

Round 1 Pool G

; Barrage

Round 1 Pool H

; Barrage

Round 1 Pool I

Round 1 Pool J

Schwende of Canada was entered in this pool but did not start. ; Barrage

Round 1 Pool K

Round 1 Pool L

; Barrage

Round 2

Round 2 Pool A

Round 2 Pool B

Round 2 Pool C

Round 2 Pool D

Round 2 Pool E

Round 2 Pool F

; Barrage

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal A

Quarterfinal B

Quarterfinal C

Quarterfinal D

Semifinals

Semifinal A

; Barrage

Semifinal B

; Barrage

Final

A four-way tie for second place required a barrage to determine the silver and bronze medals (as well as 4th and 5th place). The tie for 7th and 8th place was broken based on touches received. ; Barrage

Overall standings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fencing at the 1960 Summer Olympics - Men's sabre Sabre men Men's events at the 1960 Summer Olympics