The men's sabre was one of seven

fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

events on the

fencing at the 1952 Summer Olympics At the 1952 Summer Olympics, seven fencing events were contested, six for men and one for women. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table Participating nations A total of 286 fencers (249 men and 37 women) from 32 nations comp ...

programme. It was the twelfth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 31 July 1952 to 1 August 1952. 66 fencers from 26 nations competed. Nations were limited to three fencers each. The event was won by

Pál Kovács Pál Kovács (17 July 1912 – 8 July 1995) was a Hungarian athlete, who began as a hurdler, but eventually switched to fencing. By the time Kovács won his first fencing gold, in 1936, he had already been a member of the winning Hungarian te ...

, the sixth of nine straight Games in which a Hungarian would win the event. Kovács became the fourth man to win multiple medals in the individual sabre, adding to his 1948 bronze. Hungary swept the medals in the event for the second time (the first was in 1912).

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 was the first athlete to win t ...

's silver completed a set of three different color medals in the event, the first man to win three medals in individual sabre.

Tibor Berczelly Tibor Berczelly (3 January 1912 – 15 October 1990) was a Hungarian sabre and foil fencer. He won three gold and two bronze medals at three Olympic Games. References External links * 1912 births 1990 deaths Hungarian male foil ...

earned bronze.

Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Seven of the eight finalists from 1948 returned (all except American Tibor Nyilas: gold medalist (and 1936 bronze medalist)

of Hungary, silver medalist (and 1936 finalist) Vincenzo Pinton of Italy, bronze medalist

of Hungary, fourth-place finisher Jacques Lefèvre of France, fifth-place finisher George Worth of the United States, sixth-place finisher

Gastone Darè Gastone Darè (18 February 1918 – 7 June 1976) was an Italian fencer and politician. He won two silver medals in the team sabre events at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics. He also competed at the 1955 Mediterranean Games where he won a ...

of Italy, and eighth-place finisher

Antonio Haro Antonio Haro (26 October 1910 – 22 September 2002) was a Mexican épée and sabre fencer. He competed at four Olympic Games. References External links * 1910 births 2002 deaths Mexican male épée fencers Olympic fencers for Me ...

of Mexico. Gerevich was the reigning (1951) world champion, with Darè (1949) and

Jean Levavasseur Jean Levavasseur (8 June 1924 – 10 February 1999) was a French fencer. He won a bronze medal in the team sabre event at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He competed World Fencing Championships in 1949, winning a silver medal in the team sabre ev ...

of France (1950) other recent world champions competing. Kovács was also a world champion, though not so recently—he had won in 1937. Australia, Guatemala, Japan, Saar, the Soviet Union, Portugal, and Venezuela each made their debut in the men's sabre. Italy and Denmark each made their 10th appearance in the event, tied for most of any nation, each having missed two of the first three events but having appeared every Games since 1908.

Competition format

The competition format was pool play round-robin, with bouts to five touches. Not all bouts were played in some pools if not necessary to determine advancement. Ties were broken through fence-off bouts ("barrages") in early rounds if necessary for determining advancement. Ties not necessary for advancement were either not broken (if at least one fencer had not finished all bouts in the round-robin) or broken first by touches received and then by touches scored. In the final, ties were broken by barrage if necessary for medal placement but otherwise first by touches received and then by touches scored.Official Report, p. 499. The fencers from the top four teams in the team sabre event received a bye in the first round. * Round 1: There 7 pools of between 7 and 8 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. * Quarterfinals: There were 5 pools of 8 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. * Semifinals: There were 3 pools of 6 or 7 fencers each. The top 3 fencers in each semifinal advanced to the final. * Final: The final pool had 9 fencers.

Schedule

All times are

Eastern European Summer Time Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes ...

(

UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a UTC offset, time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, ...

)

Results

Round 1

The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. Fencers from the four teams that advanced to the final of the men's team foil event received byes through round 1: * France: Jacques Lefèvre,

, and

Jean-François Tournon Jean-François Tournon (6 August 1905 – 12 April 1986) was a French fencer. He won a bronze medal in the team sabre event at the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) ...

* Italy:

Renzo Nostini Renzo Nostini (27 May 1914 – 30 September 2005) was an Italian fencer. He won four silver medals, two at the 1948 Summer Olympics and two more at the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of ...

, and Vincenzo Pinton * Hungary:

, and

* United States:

Joe de Capriles Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage, based on the novel ''Joe'' (1991) by Larry Brown * Joe (2023 film), an Indian film * ''Joe'' (TV se ...

Allan Kwartler Allan S. Kwartler (nicknamed "Doc"; September 10, 1917 – November 11, 1998), born in New York City, was an American sabre and foil fencer. He was Pan-American sabre champion, 3-time Olympian, and twice a member of sabre teams that earned ...

, and George Worth

Pool 1

Pool 2

Plattner defeated Molnar in a barrage for fourth place.

Pool 3

Pool 4

Carnera defeated Rau in a barrage for fourth place.

Pool 5

Pool 6

Amez-Droz defeated Liebscher in a barrage for fourth place.

Pool 7

Abdel Rahman defeated Eriksson in a barrage for fourth place.

Quarterfinals

The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.Official Report, p. 500.

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Quarterfinal 5

Semifinals

The top 3 finishers in each pool advanced to the final.

did not compete in the semifinals.

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Ballister defeated Loisel in a barrage for third place.

Semifinal 3

Final

Berczelly defeated Darè in a barrage for the bronze medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fencing at the 1952 Summer Olympics - Men's sabre Sabre men Men's events at the 1952 Summer Olympics