Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's foil

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 was awarded third place as he had the best record (2-1) of the remaining fencers in actual bouts. Vouros's second win came from a forfeit by Komninos-Miliotis.

Men's foil
at the Games of the I Olympiad
A picture of two fencers performing The Grand Salute
VenueZappeion
DateApril 7
Competitors8 from 2 nations
Medalists
Eugène-Henri Gravelotte
 France
Henri Callot
 France
Perikles Pierrakos-Mavromichalis
 Greece
Fencing at the
1896 Summer Olympics
Foilmen
Masters foilmen
Sabremen

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]

Schedule

The fencing began at 10 a.m. on the second day of events.

Date Time Round
Gregorian Julian
Tuesday, 7 April 1896Tuesday, 26 March 189610:00Semifinals
Final

Results

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.[3][1][4]

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
Source: Olympedia

Semifinal B

The match between Vouros and Komninos-Miliotis was forfeited by Komninos-Miliotis, sometimes credited as a 3–0 win for Vouros.

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
2  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
Source: Olympedia

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
Source: Olympedia

Final classification

The IOC website provides a full classification of the eight fencers.[4] Pierrakos-Mavromichalis is assigned bronze apparently based on one of Vouros's wins being by walkover. 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.

RankFencerNation
Eugène-Henri Gravelotte France
Henri Callot France
Perikles Pierrakos-Mavromichalis Greece
4Athanasios Vouros Greece
5Henri de Laborde France
6Konstantinos Komninos-Miliotis Greece
7Georgios Balakakis Greece
8Ioannis Poulos Greece

References
  1. "Foil, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  2. Official Report, p. 65.
  3. Official Report, p. 67.
  4. "Athens 1896 foil individual men". IOC. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
  • Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J.; Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at )
  • Mallon, Bill; Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9. (Excerpt available at )
  • Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.
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