August 4, 2021—Nine days of fencing competition have completed at the Olympic Games, including team and individual events for men and women in epee, foil and sabre.
“Fencing at Tokyo 2020 has been a resounding success, and, for the first time in Olympic history, all 12 fencing events were held in gold-medal matches”, said FIE Secretary-General Emmanuel Katsiadakis. “We have had impressive athleticism with new Olympic champions, including some countries and fencers never before seen on the podium. I applaud each athlete and coach for their patience and sacrifices to be able to take part in these historic Games.”
Several dignitaries visited fencing throughout its nine days of competition, including International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach; Jordan Olympic Committee President and IOC Executive Board member HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein; IOC member HRH The Sovereign Prince Albert II of Monaco; Association of Summer Olympic International Federations President Francesco Ricci Bitti; IOC Executive Board member and United World Wrestling President Nenad Lalovic; IOC Vice President and Executive Board member Anita L. DeFrantz; President of the Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Paris 2024 Tony Estanguet; IOC member Pál Schmitt; IOC Member, Vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations and President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine Sergey Bubka ; IOC member and President of the National Olympic Committee of Italy Giovanni Malagò; President of the National Olympic and Sports Committee of France Brigitte Henriques; President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and President of the European Olympic Committees Spyros Capralos; President of the Hungarian Olympic Committee Krisztián Kulcsár; President of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee Mihai Covaliu.
A total of 42 NOCs participated in Tokyo 2020 fencing, with 212 athletes and 47 alternate athletes.
The medals were distributed among three continents and thirteen countries. ROC topped the fencing medal table with a total of eight medals, followed by France and Korea with five medals each.
Tokyo 2020 fencing medals:
The fencing competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games produced remarkable records and achievements:
- For the first time in Olympic history, a full set of 12 fencing gold-medal competitions took place, including six individual and six team events in epee, foil and sabre for men and women
- Czech Republic’s Alexander Choupenitch took the bronze medal in individual men’s foil, the first Czech Olympic fencing medal since 1908
- Estonia’s Katrina Lehis won for her country the first-ever Olympic fencing medal, a bronze in individual women’s epee, and the first-ever Olympic fencing gold in women’s epee team
- France’s Romain Cannone won the first Olympic individual men’s epee gold for France since 1992
- France took the gold medal in men’s team foil, the eighth time it has won the event in history at the Olympic Games and more than any other nation
- Hong Kong China’s Ka Long Cheung scored the first-ever Olympic fencing medal by winning individual men’s foil
- Hungary’s sabre fencer Aron Szilagyi became the first male fencer to win three Olympic gold medals in individual competition
- India had its first fencer in history at the Olympic Games, Bhavani Chadalavada Anandha Sundh, in women’s sabre
- Japan earned its first-ever Olympic gold medal in fencing by winning men’s team epee
- ROC’s Sofia Pozdniakova is the only fencer who won both individual and team gold in these Games
- ROC’s Sofya Velikaya is the first woman to win a team sabre gold twice in the Olympic Games
- USA’s Lee Kiefer became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in individual foil
Social media coverage of Tokyo 2020 fencing on FIE digital platforms soared with 25 million Facebookimpressions and a reach of 21 million, 13 million impressions on Instagram with a reach of 2 million and 2.7 million impressions on Twitter.
“Tokyo 2020 fencing has been excellent”, said Mr. Katsiadakis. “On behalf of FIE President Usmanov and the entire FIE, I express gratitude to the organisers, volunteers and officials who made it happen. We all appreciate the tremendous work of the FIE Executive Committee members as well as our CEO and FIE staff.”
Complete information about fencing results and athletes at the Olympic Games may be found on the official Olympic website, and on the FIE website, www.FIE.org.
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