The men's foil 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 2000 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twenty-third appearance of the event. The competition was held on 20 September 2000. 40 fencers from 22 nations competed.
Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by
Kim Yeong-Ho of South Korea, the first Asian man to win an Olympic fencing title.
Ralf Bißdorf
Ralf Bißdorf (born 15 March 1971) is a German former fencer. He won a silver medal in the individual foil event at the 2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 20 ...
of Germany took silver, the first medal for united Germany since 1928 (though East and West Germany had each won medals separately).
Dmitry Shevchenko's bronze medal was Russia's first as an independent nation in the event.
Background
This was the 23rd 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). Four of the eight quarterfinalists from 1996 returned: silver medalist
Lionel Plumenail
Lionel Plumenail (born 22 January 1967) is a French fencer. He won a gold medal in the team foil at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Athens, together with Jean-Noël Ferrari, Brice Guyart and Patrice Lhotellier. He also won a silver medal ...
of France, fourth-place finisher
Wolfgang Wienand of Germany, fifth-place finisher
Rolando Tucker of Cuba, sixth-place finisher (and 1992 silver medalist)
Sergei Golubitsky of Ukraine, and eighth-place finisher
Kim Young-ho
Kim Young-ho (born April 9, 1971 in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea) is a South Korean foil fencer.
At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, he won the gold medal in individual foil, defeating Ralf Bissdorf of Germany
Germany,, ...
of South Korea. Golubitsky was the favorite, having won all three world championships between Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. Kim was a serious contender as well, rising from an unknown giant-killer (knocking off then-reigning world champion
Dmitriy Shevchenko of Russia in the 1996 Games) to a giant himself (taking second in the 1997 and third in the 1999 world championships). Shevchenko returned as well, hoping for a better result than his early exit in Atlanta.
For the first time in the event's history, no nations made their debut in the men's foil. France and the United States each made their 21st appearance, tied for most of any nation; France had missed only the 1904 (with fencers not traveling to St. Louis) and the 1912 (boycotted due to a dispute over rules) foil competitions, while the United States had missed the inaugural 1896 competition and boycotted the 1980 Games altogether.
Competition format
The 1996 tournament had vastly simplified the competition format into a single-elimination bracket, with a bronze medal match. The 2000 tournament continued to use that format. Bouts were to 15 touches. Standard
foil
Foil may refer to:
Materials
* Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine
* Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal
* Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food
* Tin foil, metal foil ...
rules regarding target area, striking, and priority were used.
[
]
Schedule
All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10
UTC+10:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +10:00. This time is used in:
As standard time (year-round)
''Principal cities: Brisbane, Gold Coast, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Port Moresby, Dededo, Saipan''
North Asia
*Russia – ...
)
Results
The field of 40 fencers competed in a single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
to determine the medal winners. Semifinal losers proceeded to a bronze medal match
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
.
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Finals
Final classification
References
External links
Official Report of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fencing at the 2000 Summer Olympics - Men's foil
Foil men
Men's events at the 2000 Summer Olympics