The men's foil 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, ...

events on the

fencing at the 1968 Summer Olympics At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, eight events in fencing were contested. Men competed in both individual and team events for each of the three weapon types (épée, foil and sabre), but women competed only in foil events. Medal summary ...

programme. It was the fifteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 15 to 16 October 1968. 64 fencers from 25 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by

Ion Drîmbă Ionel Alexandru "Ion" Drîmbă (also Drâmbă, March 18, 1942 – February 20, 2006) was a Romanian fencer. he competed at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won the first ever Olympic gold medal in fencing for Romania in 1968. Biography Dr ...

of Romania, the nation's first medal in the men's foil. Silver went to

Jenő Kamuti Dr. Jenő Kamuti ( hu, Kamuti Jenő, born September 17, 1937, in Budapest) is a former Hungarian foil fencer. Fencing career Kamut was a member of the Hungarian foil team from 1956 to 1976. He was World Team Champion in foil in 1957 and Unive ...

, the first medal for Hungary in the event since 1948.

Daniel Revenu Daniel Revenu (born 5 December 1942 in Issoundun, Indre, France) is a French fencer and Olympic champion in foil competition, and medalists in four successive Olympics. Daniel Revenu is the son of French fencing coach Ernest Revenu, from Melun ...

of France repeated as the bronze medalist, the sixth man to win multiple medals in the event.

Background

This was the 15th 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). Seven of the eight quarterfinalists (all but the champion) from 1964 returned: silver medalist

Jean Claude Magnan Jean-Claude Magnan (born 4 June 1941 in Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône) is a French fencer and Olympic champion in foil competition, and a medalist in three successive Olympics. He received a gold medal in foil team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in M ...

and bronze medalist

of France, fourth-place finisher Roland Losert of Austria, fifth-place finisher

of Hungary, sixth-place finisher Tim Gerresheim of the United Team of Germany (now competing for West Germany), and joint seventh-place finishers Sándor Szabó of Hungary and

Henry Hoskyns Henry William Furse "Bill" Hoskyns MBE (19 March 1931 – 4 August 2013) was a British fencer who appeared at six Olympic Games., Fencing career Hoskyns, born in London won two silver medals in 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games. No British fence ...

of Great Britain. The Soviet team included the last two world champions:

German Sveshnikov German Sveshnikov (russian: Герман Александрович Свешников; 11 May 1937 – 9 June 2003) was a Soviet fencer. He won a gold medal in the team foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin she ...

and Viktor Putyatin. Romania held the team world championship. Lebanon, Paraguay, and Puerto Rico each made their debut in the men's foil; West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 14th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the inaugural 1896 competition.

Competition format

The 1968 tournament continued to use a mix of pool play and knockout rounds, but with substantial changes from 1964. The first two rounds were round-robin pool play, followed by a knockout round, finishing with another pool for the final. Early-round barrages were eliminated and the knockout round was a modified double elimination round.Official Report, pp. 637–39. * Round 1: 12 pools, with 5 or 6 fencers in each pool. The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced, cutting the field from 64 to 48. * Round 2: 8 pools, with 6 fencers per pool. Again, the top 4 fencers advanced, reducing the number of remaining fencers from 48 to 32. * Knockout round: This was a modified double-elimination tournament. The 32 fencers were divided into 4 groups of 8. The winner of the "winners bracket" in each group advanced to the final pool. The winner of the "losers bracket" from each group faced the winner of a different group's "losers bracket," with the winner of that match advancing to the final pool as well. The knockout round winnowed the fencers from 32 to 6. * Final round: A final pool with the 6 remaining fencers determined the medals and 4th through 6th place. A barrage was used if necessary.

Schedule

All times are Central Standard Time ( UTC-6)

Results

Round 1

Round 1 Pool A

Round 1 Pool B

Round 1 Pool C

Round 1 Pool D

Round 1 Pool E

Round 1 Pool F

Round 1 Pool G

Round 1 Pool H

Round 1 Pool I

Round 1 Pool J

Round 1 Pool K

Round 1 Pool L

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

Round 2 Pool G

Round 2 Pool H

Double elimination rounds

Winners brackets

=Winners group 1

=Winners group 2

=Winners group 3

=Winners group 4

Losers brackets

=Losers group 1

=Losers group 2

Final round

; Barrage

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fencing at the 1968 Summer Olympics - Men's foil Foil men Men's events at the 1968 Summer Olympics