The men's sabre was one of ten

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 1996 Summer Olympics At the 1996 Summer Olympics, ten fencing (sport), fencing events were contested. Women's épée events made a debut at these Games. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table Russia finished atop of the fencing medal table at the ...

programme. It was the twenty-third appearance of the event. The competition was held on July 21, 1996. 43 fencers from 20 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by

Stanislav Pozdnyakov Stanislav Alekseyevich Pozdnyakov ( rus, Станислав Алексеевич Поздняков, , stənʲɪˈslaf pəzʲnʲɪˈkof; born 27 September 1973) is a Russian former fencer, a five-time Olympian (1992–2008) and five-time Olymp ...

, prevailing over silver medalist

Sergey Sharikov Sergey Aleksandrovich Sharikov (russian: Сергей Александрович Шариков, 18 June 1974 – 6 June 2015), also known as Serguei/Sergei Charikov, was a left-handed Russian Olympic champion sabre fencer. In the Olympics he w ...

in an all-Russia final. The medals were the first for Russia as an independent nation, separate from the Soviet Union, in the men's sabre.

Damien Touya Damien Touya (born 23 April 1975) is a French fencer. He won medals at three Olympics. He won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, in the team sabre, together with Julien Pillet and his brother Gaël Touya Gaël Touya (born 23 ...

of France won the bronze medal bout, extending France's podium streak to four Games.

Background

This was the 23rd appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two of the quarterfinalists from 1992 returned: gold medalist Bence Szabó of Hungary and fifth-place finisher Antonio García of Spain.

Grigory Kiriyenko Grigory Anatolyevich Kiriyenko (russian: Григорий Анатольевич Кириенко) (born 29 September 1965 in Novosibirsk) is a Russian fencer, who won two gold Olympic medals in the team sabre competition: at the 1992 Summer Oly ...

of Russia had won two world championships (1989 and 1991) before the 1992 Games but suffered an early exit; he had won two more world championships (1993 and 1995) since then and hoped for better success in Atlanta. His teammates,

and

, also came into the tournament among the top five seeds. Germany's Felix Becker was also a world champion (1994). Algeria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine each made their debut in the men's sabre; Russia competed separately from the other Soviet republics for the first time since 1912. Italy made its 21st appearance in the event, most of any nation, having missed the inaugural 1896 event and the 1904 Games.

Competition format

The 1996 tournament vastly simplified the competition format after a horrendously complex system used in the previous Games in Barcelona. Pool play was eliminated. Double elimination was eliminated. The tournament became a simple single-elimination bracket, with a bronze medal match. Bouts were to 15 touches. Standard

sabre A sabre (French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as t ...

rules regarding target area, striking, and priority were used.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 200.

Schedule

All times are

Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a sma ...

( UTC-4)

Results

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4 Finals

Final classification

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabre men Fencing at the 1996 Summer Olympics Men's events at the 1996 Summer Olympics