Fencing at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's épée

The men's épée was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme. It was the ninth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 9 August 1936 to 11 August 1936. 68 fencers from 26 nations competed. Nations were limited to three fencers.[1][2] The event was won by Franco Riccardi of Italy, the nation's second consecutive victory in the men's épée (matching Cuba and Belgium for second-most all-time among nations). Riccardi's teammates Saverio Ragno and Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici took silver and bronze, respectively, to give Italy a medal sweep—Italy's first and the fourth overall in the event (Cuba in 1904, France in 1908 and 1920). Cornaggia-Medici, who had won gold in 1932, became the fourth man to win multiple medals in the individual épée. For the first time, France competed in the event but did not win any medals (snapping a four-Games podium streak).

Men's épée
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Gold medalist Franco Riccardi (1928)
VenueImperial Sports Field, Berlin
Dates9–11 August
Competitors68 from 26 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Franco Riccardi
 Italy
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Saverio Ragno
 Italy
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici
 Italy
← 1932
1948 →

Background

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This was the ninth appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Games in 1896 (with only foil and sabre events held) but has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1900.[3]

Three of the 12 finalists from the 1932 Games returned: gold medalist Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici of Italy, fourth-place finisher Saverio Ragno of Italy, and tenth-place finisher Raúl Saucedo of Argentina. Hans Drakenberg of Sweden was the reigning (1935) World Champion as well as European champion; Pál Dunay of Hungary had been World Champion in 1934.[3]

Brazil, Poland, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. Belgium and the United States each appeared for the eighth time, tied for most among nations.

Competition format

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The competition format was pool play round-robin, with bouts to three touches (unlike foil and sabre, but continuing the format from 1932). The format returned to four rounds. Not all bouts were played in some pools if not necessary to determine advancement. Two points were awarded for each bout won; if both fencers scored a hit simultaneously to make the bout 3–3, each received one point for the "null match". Ties were broken through fence-off bouts in early rounds if necessary for determining advancement, but by touches received in final rounds (and for non-advancement-necessary placement in earlier rounds).[4]

  • Round 1: 8 pools of between 7 and 10 fencers each. The top 5 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals.
  • Quarterfinals: 4 pools of 10 fencers each. The top 5 fencers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.
  • Semifinals: 2 pools of 10 fencers each. The top 5 fencers in each pool advanced to the final.
  • Final: 1 pool of 10 fencers.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Sunday, 9 August 1936 9:00 Round 1
Monday, 10 August 1936 9:00
15:00
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Tuesday, 11 August 1936 13:00 Final

Results

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Round 1

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The top five finishers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals.[5]

Pool 1

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De Beaumont is listed in 8th place and Schröder in 9th place in the official report, but Schröder had more points than de Beaumont.[5]

Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Nicolae Marinescu   Romania 12 6 3 0 22 17 Q
2 Hans Drakenberg   Sweden 10 5 1 0 17 9 Q
3 Antonio Villamil   Argentina 10 5 1 0 17 10 Q
4 Béla Bay   Hungary 10 5 2 0 19 13 Q
5 Roman Kantor   Poland 10 5 4 0 21 22 Q
6 Mahmoud Abdin   Egypt 8 4 5 0 20 21
7 Nicolaas van Hoorn   Netherlands 6 3 5 0 19 18
8 Otto Schröder   Germany 5 2 5 1 17 21
9 Charles de Beaumont   Great Britain 4 2 6 0 12 20
10 Bertrand Boissonnault   Canada 3 1 6 1 8 23

Pool 2

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Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Henrique de Aguilar   Brazil 12 6 0 0 18 5 Q
2 Preben Christiansen   Denmark 9 4 1 1 16 12 Q
3 Gustaf Dyrssen   Sweden 8 4 2 0 14 10 Q
4 Pál Dunay   Hungary 7 3 2 1 14 14 Q
5 Khristos Zalokostas   Greece 6 3 3 0 13 11 Q
6 Antoni Franz   Poland 5 2 4 1 15 19
7 Robert Bergmann   Czechoslovakia 3 1 4 1 11 17
8 Karl Hanisch   Austria 0 0 8 0 8 21

Pool 3

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Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Hans Granfelt   Sweden 12 6 2 0 22 12 Q
2 Hervé, Count du Monceau de Bergendael   Belgium 12 6 2 0 20 15 Q
3 François Duret   Switzerland 10 5 2 0 18 11 Q
4 Egill Knutzen   Norway 10 5 3 0 18 14 Q
5 Marcel Boulad   Egypt 8 4 4 0 15 16 Q
6 Gustave Heiss   United States 6 3 5 0 13 20
7 Henri Dulieux   France 4 2 5 0 14 18
8 František Vohryzek   Czechoslovakia 4 2 5 0 12 19
9 Douglas Dexter   Great Britain 2 1 6 0 12 19

Pool 4

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Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Raymond Stasse   Belgium 12 6 1 0 19 8 Q
2 Paulo Leal   Portugal 11 5 1 1 19 11 Q
3 Ian Campbell-Gray   Great Britain 10 5 2 0 17 12 Q
4 Saverio Ragno   Italy 10 5 3 0 18 15 Q
5 Rezső von Bartha   Hungary 10 5 3 0 19 16 Q
6 Josef Kunt   Czechoslovakia 6 3 4 0 14 17
7 Denis Dolecsko   Romania 4 2 5 0 9 16
8 Roman Fischer   Austria 3 1 6 1 15 21
9 Ernest Dalton   Canada 0 0 7 0 7 21

Pool 5

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Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Franco Riccardi   Italy 14 7 0 0 21 8 Q
2 Siegfried Lerdon   Germany 8 4 1 0 13 6 Q
3 Aage Leidersdorff   Denmark 8 4 2 0 13 10 Q
4 Cornelis Weber   Netherlands 6 3 2 0 13 8 Q
5 Ioan Miclescu-Prăjescu   Romania 6 3 3 0 13 12 Q
6 Ricardo Romero   Chile 4 2 5 0 10 18
7 Ivan Vladimir Mažuranić   Yugoslavia 2 1 5 0 8 16
8 Moacyr Dunham   Brazil 0 0 6 0 5 18

Pool 6

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Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Antonio Haro   Mexico 9 4 1 1 17 7 Q
2 Charles Debeur   Belgium 8 4 2 0 15 13 Q
3 Gustavo Carinhas   Portugal 6 3 2 0 11 10 Q
4 Tomas Barraza   Chile 6 3 2 0 10 12 Q
5 George Tully   Canada 5 2 3 1 14 14 Q
6 Frank Righeimer   United States 4 2 4 0 11 13
7 Dimitar Vasilev   Bulgaria 2 1 5 0 6 15

Pool 7

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In the three-way tie for fourth, Martínez came last to da Silveira and Guthe, with the latter two advancing.[6]

Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Frédéric Fitting   Switzerland 12 6 2 0 21 12 Q
2 Willem Driebergen   Netherlands 11 5 2 1 21 15 Q
3 Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici   Italy 11 5 2 1 22 16 Q
4 Henrique da Silveira   Portugal 10 5 3 0 19 14 Q
5 Thorstein Guthe   Norway 10 5 3 0 20 17 Q
6 José Martínez   Mexico 10 5 3 0 18 18
7 Ennio de Oliveira   Brazil 4 2 6 0 13 19
8 Mauris Shamil   Egypt 2 1 7 0 11 22
9 Rudolf Weber   Austria 0 1 7 0 11 23

Pool 8

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In the three-way tie for fourth, Martínez came last to da Silveira and Guthe, with the latter two advancing.[6]

Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Frederick Weber   United States 12 6 0 0 18 8 Q
2 Michel Pécheux   France 10 5 1 0 15 9 Q
3 Jean Hauert   Switzerland 8 4 2 0 15 9 Q
4 Erik Hammer Sørensen   Denmark 7 3 3 1 15 18 Q
5 Raúl Saucedo   Argentina 6 3 4 0 16 13 Q
6 Ernst Röthig   Germany 6 2 3 2 16 17
7 Konstantinos Bembis   Greece 2 1 6 0 7 20
8 Krešo Tretinjak   Yugoslavia 1 0 5 1 10 18

Quarterfinals

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The top five finishers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.[7]

Quarterfinal 1

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In the four-way tie for third place, Knutzen finished last in the play-off with Debeur, da Silveira, and Granfelt, with the latter three advancing.[7]

Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Michel Pécheux   France 12 6 3 0 21 19 Q
2 Charles Debeur   Belgium 11 5 2 1 20 16 Q
3 Henrique da Silveira   Portugal 10 5 4 0 18 16 Q
4 Hans Granfelt   Sweden 10 5 4 0 21 18 Q
5 Jean Hauert   Switzerland 10 5 4 0 20 19 Q
6 Egill Knutzen   Norway 10 5 4 0 24 21
7 Frederick Weber   United States 9 4 4 1 20 20
8 George Tully   Canada 6 3 6 0 18 21
9 Pál Dunay   Hungary 5 1 5 3 20 26
10 Aage Leidersdorff   Denmark 3 1 6 1 15 21

Quarterfinal 2

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Campbell-Gray defeated Miclescu-Prăjescu in a play-off bout to break to the tie for fifth and last advancement spot. The official report lists Weber 9th and Duret 8th, though the scoring system would put Weber in 8th with fewer touches received.[7]

Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Hans Drakenberg   Sweden 15 7 1 1 26 13 Q
2 Roman Kantor   Poland 14 7 2 0 23 12 Q
3 Raymond Stasse   Belgium 14 7 2 0 23 15 Q
4 Saverio Ragno   Italy 12 6 2 0 21 12 Q
5 Ian Campbell-Gray   Great Britain 8 4 5 0 19 18 Q
6 Ioan Miclescu-Prăjescu   Romania 8 3 4 2 21 21
7 Preben Christiansen   Denmark 4 2 6 0 7 21
8 Cornelis Weber   Netherlands 4 1 5 2 13 22
9 François Duret   Switzerland 4 1 6 2 17 26
10 Thorstein Guthe   Norway 3 1 5 1 13 23

Quarterfinal 3

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It is unclear why Villamil did not face Barraza, Driebergen did not face Leal, and Boulad did not face Bay. In general, bouts unnecessary to advancement were not played, but each of the three men eliminated in 6th through 8th place were within 2 points of the 5th-place finisher Zalokostas and could have caught him with an additional win (or even tie for Villamil), though Zalokostas himself had an unplayed bout against Hammer Sørensen and could have added to his point total.[7]

Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Franco Riccardi   Italy 12 6 1 0 20 9 Q
2 Béla Bay   Hungary 11 5 2 1 21 14 Q
3 Paulo Leal   Portugal 10 5 2 0 16 11 Q
4 Frédéric Fitting   Switzerland 10 5 3 0 22 13 Q
5 Khristos Zalokostas   Greece 8 4 2 2 20 19 Q
6 Antonio Villamil   Argentina 7 3 4 1 17 17
7 Willem Driebergen   Netherlands 6 3 5 0 14 16
8 Marcel Boulad   Egypt 6 3 5 0 15 21
9 Erik Hammer Sørensen   Denmark 2 1 6 0 8 19
10 Tomas Barraza   Chile 0 0 7 0 7 21

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Antonio Haro   Mexico 12 6 2 0 20 11 Q
2 Siegfried Lerdon   Germany 10 5 2 0 17 9 Q
3 Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici   Italy 10 5 3 0 21 14 Q
4 Henrique de Aguilar   Brazil 10 5 3 0 18 14 Q
5 Hervé, Count du Monceau de Bergendael   Belgium 10 5 4 0 21 20 Q
6 Raúl Saucedo   Argentina 6 3 5 0 15 19
6 Gustavo Carinhas   Portugal 6 3 5 0 14 19
6 Rezső von Bartha   Hungary 6 3 5 0 12 19
9 Nicolae Marinescu   Romania 6 3 5 0 12 21
10 Gustaf Dyrssen   Sweden 4 2 6 0 15 19

Semifinals

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The top five finishers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.[8]

Semifinal 1

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In the four-way tie for third place, Pécheux finished last in the play-off with Debeur, Zalokostas, and Cornaggia-Medici, with the latter three advancing.[8]

Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Ian Campbell-Gray   Great Britain 18 9 0 0 27 9 Q
2 Saverio Ragno   Italy 12 6 3 0 20 20 Q
3 Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici   Italy 10 5 4 0 19 13 Q
4 Khristos Zalokostas   Greece 10 5 4 0 19 19 Q
5 Charles Debeur   Belgium 10 5 4 0 23 22 Q
6 Michel Pécheux   France 10 5 4 0 23 19
7 Hans Granfelt   Sweden 8 4 5 0 20 21
8 Antonio Haro   Mexico 5 2 6 1 15 24
9 Paulo Leal   Portugal 5 2 6 1 15 25
10 Jean Hauert   Switzerland 2 1 8 0 15 26

Semifinal 2

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In the four-way tie for fifth place, Drakenberg won the play-off pool against Kantor, Fitting, and Lerdon.[8]

Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR Notes
1 Raymond Stasse   Belgium 15 7 1 1 26 13 Q
2 Franco Riccardi   Italy 13 6 1 1 23 13 Q
3 Henrique da Silveira   Portugal 10 5 3 0 18 11 Q
4 Béla Bay   Hungary 10 5 4 0 20 16 Q
5 Hans Drakenberg   Sweden 8 3 4 2 19 22 Q
6 Roman Kantor   Poland 8 4 5 0 17 22
7 Frédéric Fitting   Switzerland 8 4 5 0 19 23
7 Siegfried Lerdon   Germany 8 3 4 2 20 23
9 Hervé, Count du Monceau de Bergendael   Belgium 4 2 7 0 15 22
10 Henrique de Aguilar   Brazil 4 2 7 0 13 25

Final

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The Italian fencers swept the medals. Ties in the final were broken by touches received, including Ragno taking silver to Cornaggia-Medici's bronze by a touches received score of 15–16 (Ragno had beaten Cornaggia-Medici head-to-head in the final after losing to him in the semifinal). Riccardi beat both of his countrymen in their bouts, ultimately taking gold with 1 point more than either despite winning 1 fewer bout due to his 3 ties.[8]

Rank Fencer Nation Points Wins Losses Ties TS TR
  Franco Riccardi   Italy 13 5 1 3 25 18
  Saverio Ragno   Italy 12 6 3 0 24 15
  Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici   Italy 12 6 3 0 22 16
4 Hans Drakenberg   Sweden 10 4 3 2 20 20
5 Charles Debeur   Belgium 9 4 4 1 21 21
6 Henrique da Silveira   Portugal 8 4 5 0 18 19
7 Raymond Stasse   Belgium 8 3 4 2 21 21
8 Ian Campbell-Gray   Great Britain 8 3 4 2 18 24
9 Béla Bay   Hungary 7 3 5 1 18 22
10 Khristos Zalokostas   Greece 3 1 7 1 15 26

References

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  1. ^ "Fencing: 1936 Olympic Results - Men's épée". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  2. ^ Official Olympic Report, la84.org. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Épée, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  4. ^ Official Report, p. 756.
  5. ^ a b Official Report, p. 778.
  6. ^ a b Official Report, p. 779.
  7. ^ a b c d Official Report, p. 780.
  8. ^ a b c d Official Report, p. 781.