The women'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 ...

event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

took place on 24 July 2021 at the

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. 34 fencers from 18 nations competed. The medals for the competition were presented by

Giovanni Malagò Giovanni Malagò (born 13 March 1959) is an Italian businessman, sports manager and former futsal player. He is the current president of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI). Since 1 January 2019 he is a member of the International Ol ...

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; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Donald Anthony Jr.,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

; FIE Vice President.

Background

This will be the 7th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1996. The reigning Olympic champion is Emese Szász of Hungary. The reigning (2019) World Champion is

Nathalie Moellhausen Nathalie Moellhausen (born 1 December 1985) is an épée fencer who initially represented Italy and now represents Brazil. In 2019, she became her country's first-ever individual World Champion in épée at the Championships held in Budapest, H ...

of Brazil.

Qualification

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

(NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified fencers in the women's épée. Nations were limited to three fencers each from 1996 to 2004. However, the 2008 Games introduced a rotation of women's team fencing events with one weapon left off each Games; the individual event without a corresponding team event had the number of fencers per nation reduced to two. Women's épée was the first event this applied to, so each nation could enter a maximum of two fencers in the event in 2008. The 2020 Games eliminated this rotation and all weapons had team events. There are 34 dedicated quota spots for women's épée. The first 24 spots go to the 3 members of each of the 8 qualified teams in the team épée event (China, Poland, ROC, South Korea, Hong Kong, United States, Italy, and Estonia). Next, 6 more fencers are selected from the world rankings based on continents: 2 from Europe, 1 from the Americas, 2 from Asia/Oceania, and 1 from Africa. Finally, 4 spots are allocated by continental qualifying events: 1 from Europe, 1 from the Americas, 1 from Asia/Oceania, and 1 from Africa. Each nation can earn only one spot through rankings or events. Additionally, there are 8 host/invitational spots that can be spread throughout the various fencing events. Japan qualified one fencer through normal qualification, but used no host quota places in women's épée. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

delayed many of the events for qualifying for fencing, moving the close of the rankings period back to April 5, 2021 rather than the original April 4, 2020.Academy of Fencing Masters
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Competition format

The 1996 tournament had vastly simplified the competition format for individual fencing competitions into a single-elimination bracket, with a bronze medal match. The 2020 tournament will continue to use that format. Fencing is done to 15 touches or to the completion of three three-minute rounds if neither fencer reaches 15 touches by then. At the end of time, the higher-scoring fencer is the winner; a tie results in an additional one-minute sudden-death time period. This sudden-death period is further modified by the selection of a draw-winner beforehand; if neither fencer scores a touch during the minute, the predetermined draw-winner wins the bout. Standard

rules regarding target area, striking, and priority are used.NBC
/ref>

Schedule

The competition is held over a single day, Saturday, 24 July. The first session runs from 9 a.m. to approximately 4:20 p.m. (when the quarterfinals are expected to conclude), after which there is a break until 6 p.m. before the semifinals and medal bouts are held. Women's épée bouts alternate with the men's sabre event bouts. All times are

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...

(

UTC+9 UTC+09:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +09:00. During the Japanese occupations of British Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, and French Indochina, it was used as a common time with ...

)

Results

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Bottom half

Section 3 Red Piste

References

External links

Draw
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fencing at the 2020 Summer Olympics - Women's épée Women's épée Women's events at the 2020 Summer Olympics 2021 in women's fencing