Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's foil
Fencing at the Olympics
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The men's foil was one of three fencing events on the Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. It was held on the second day of competition, 7 April. Eight fencers took part, with the preliminary fencing involving a round-robin held in two groups. The first group was Pierrakos-Mavromichalis, Delaborde, Callot, and Poulos. The second was Komninos-Miliotis, Balakakis, Gravelotte, and Vouros. The two fencers that were undefeated in their groups faced each other in the final for gold and silver medals, while Pierrakos-Mavromichalis and Vouros were awarded third place. Vouros's second win came from a forfeit by Komninos-Miliotis.
| Men's foil at the Games of the I Olympiad | |||||||||||||||||
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A picture of two fencers performing The Grand Salute | |||||||||||||||||
| Venue | Zappeion | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | 7 April 1896 | ||||||||||||||||
| Competitors | 8 from 2 nations | ||||||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||||||
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Background
This was the first 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).[1]
Competition format
The event featured a pool-play semifinals round followed by a single final. Each bout was to three touches. Standard foil rules were used, including that touches had to be made with the tip of the foil, the target area was limited to the torso, and priority determined the winner of double touches. One unusual rule was that the president could award a touch for an off-target strike if the defender had improperly obscured the target area. The pool round consisted of two pools of four fencers each, with each pool fencing a round-robin. The winner of each pool advanced to the final, which was a single bout between the two fencers.[1][2][3]
Schedule
The fencing began at 10 a.m. on the second day of events.
| Date | Time | Round | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gregorian | Julian | ||
| Tuesday, 7 April 1896 | Tuesday, 26 March 1896 | 10:00 | Semifinals Final |
Results
Semifinals
Semifinal A
The Official Report has de Laborde losing to Poulos, 3–1, but other sources indicate de Laborde won 3–2. The latter is shown below.[4][1][3]
| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Qual. | HC | PPM | HdL | IP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Henri Callot (FRA) |
3 | 0 | 9 | 4 | Q | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 | ||
 |
 Perikles Pierrakos-Mavromichalis (GRE) |
2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 3–0 | |||
| 3 | Henri de Laborde (FRA) |
1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 3–2 | |||
| 4 | Ioannis Poulos (GRE) |
0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 2–3 | 0–3 | 2–3 |
Semifinal B
The match between Vouros and Komninos-Miliotis was forfeited by Komninos-Miliotis, sometimes credited as a 3–0 win for Vouros.[3]
| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | Qual. | EHG | AV | KKM | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eugène-Henri Gravelotte (FRA) |
3 | 0 | 9 | 5 | Q | 3–2 | 3–2 | 3–1 | ||
|
Athanasios Vouros (GRE) |
2 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 2–3 | 3–1 | ||||
| 3 | Konstantinos Komninos-Miliotis (GRE) |
1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2–3 | 3–1 | ||||
| 4 | Georgios Balakakis (GRE) |
0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 1–3 |
Final
In the final, the two undefeated Frenchmen faced each other. Gravelotte won in a close bout.
| Pos | Fencer | W | L | TF | TA | EHG | HC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Eugène-Henri Gravelotte (FRA) |
1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3–1 | ||
 |
Henri Callot (FRA) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1–3 |
Final classification
The IOC website provides a full classification of the eight fencers.[3] De Laborde is placed above Komninos-Miliotis, apparently due to Komninos-Miliotis not starting his bout against Vouros. It is unclear why Balakakis is placed above Poulos, who had a better touches for record.