Olympic Summer Games 1900 / Fencing

Fencing at the II Olympic Games
information
venue	Paris
Competition venue	Tuileries Garden
Nations	19th
Athletes	276 (276 men)
date	May 14 - June 27, 1900
decisions	7th
← Athens 1896 St. Louis 1904 →

In the French capital Paris during the World Fair ( Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Paris ) discharged international competitions for Physical Education and Sport (Concours Internationaux d'Exercices physiques et de Sports) included competitions in fencing , which are part of the Olympic Games 1900 (Games of the II. Olympiad) were.

The competitions in fencing also consisted of competitions by professional fencing masters. According to the requirements of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), professionals were not actually admitted to an Olympic competition, but fencing masters were an exception. Their profession was considered an honorable craft, because they taught fencing at universities and academies, a skill that was part of an appropriate education for noble pupils and in higher social circles.

The IOC assigned all seven fencing competitions to the Olympic program of the Games of the II Olympiad. Fencing was the sport with the largest field of participants and the most participating nations. 276 athletes took part, 264 of whom are known by name. There is now historical evidence that the participants had 19 nationalities. However, some participants are still listed as French in various lists because they had a residence in Paris for a long time and lived there.

All competitions in foil and saber took place in the large ballroom of the exhibition in the Tuileries , those in the sword on a terrace in front of it. They were held between May 14th and June 27th. The French won five of the seven competitions and took three quarters of all medal placements.

Medal table

space	country			Third	total
1	France	5	5	5	15th
2	Italy	1	1	-	2
	Cuba	1	1	-	2
4th	Austria	-	-	2	2

Results

Foil for amateurs

space	country	athlete	Victories
1	FRA	Émile Coste	6: 1
2	FRA	Henri Masson	5: 2
3	FRA	Marcel Boulenger	4: 3
4th	FRA	Félix Debax	4: 3
5	FRA	Pierre d'Hugues	3: 4
6th	FRA	Prospère Sénat	3: 4
7th	FRA	Georges Dillon-Cavanagh	2: 5
8th	AUT	Rudolf Brosch	1: 6

Date: May 14-21, 1900
54 participants from 9 countries

In several preliminary fights and qualifying rounds, the participants determined the eight best fencers who competed against each other in a final round. The winner was the athlete who won the most battles. The maximum duration of a battle was seven minutes.

Foil for fencing masters

space	country	athlete	Victories
1	FRA	Lucien Mérignac	6: 1
2	FRA	Alphonse Kirchhoffer	6: 1
3	FRA	Jean-Baptiste Mimiague	4: 3
4th	ITA	Antonio Conte	4: 3
5	FRA	Jules Rossignol	3: 4
6th	FRA	Léopold Ramus	2: 5
7th	ITA	Italo Santelli	0: 7
8th	FRA	Adolphe Rouleau	3: 4

Date: May 22-29, 1900
60 participants from 8 countries

In several preliminary fights and qualifying rounds, the participants determined the eight best fencers who competed against each other in a final round. The winner was the athlete who won the most battles. The maximum duration of a battle was seven minutes. The first and third place had to be decided by a playoff.

The fencing master Léon Thiércelin lived and worked in Paris and took part in competitions for foil and epee . He had always been listed as French on all lists, but various sources have since indicated that Thiércelin was born in Haiti . However, the IOC continues to view the athlete as French.

Adolphe Rouleau was moved back to eighth place because he had not finished the last stand.

Epee for amateurs

space	country	athlete	Victories
1	CUB	Ramón Fonst	4: 2
2	FRA	Louis Perrée	4: 1
3	FRA	Léon Sée	3: 2
4th	FRA	Georges de la Falaise	3: 3
5	ARG	Eduardo Camet	2: 3
6th	FRA	Edmond Wallace	3: 3
7th	FRA	Gaston Alibert	2: 3
8th	FRA	Léon Thiébaut	2: 4
9	FRA	Plommet	0: 6

Date: June 1st to 14th,
104 participants from 9 countries

In several preliminary fights and qualifying rounds, the participants determined the nine best fencers who had to fight at least five fights in a final round. The winner was the athlete who won the most battles. The maximum duration of a battle was five minutes. A playoff between Ramón Fonst and Louis Perrée had to decide the victory.

Participants also included Freydoun Malkom and Eduardo Camet , both of whom lived in Paris. They had always been listed as French on all lists, but various sources have since indicated that Malkom was an Iranian citizen and that Camet was an Argentinian . However, the IOC continues to view the two athletes as French. Camet made it to the final battle and finished fifth.

Sword for fencing masters

space	country	athlete	Victories
1	FRA	Albert Ayat	k. A.
2	FRA	Gilbert Bougnol	k. A.
3	FRA	Henri Laurent	k. A.
4th	FRA	Hippolyte-Jacques Hyvernaud	k. A.
5	FRA	Marie-Louis Damotte	k. A.
6th	FRA	Brassart	k. A.
7th	FRA	Lézard	k. A.
8th	FRA	Georges Jourdan	k. A.
9	FRA	Bézy	k. A.

Date: June 11-14, 1900
54 participants from 6 countries

In several preliminary fights and qualifying rounds, the participants determined the nine best fencers who had to fight at least five fights in a final round. The winner was the athlete who won the most battles. The maximum duration of a battle was five minutes.

The fencing master Léon Thiércelin lived and worked in Paris and took part in competitions for foil and epee . He had always been listed as French on all lists, but various sources have since indicated that Thiércelin was born in Haiti . However, the IOC still regards the athlete as French.

Epee for amateurs and fencing masters

space	country	athlete	Victories
1	FRA	Albert Ayat (Fm)	7-0
2	CUB	Ramón Fonst (Am)	6: 1
3	FRA	Léon Sée (Am)	4: 3
4th	FRA	Georges de la Falaise (Am)	3: 4
5	FRA	Louis Perrée (Am)	2: 5
	FRA	Gilbert Bougnol (Fm)
	FRA	Henri Laurent (Fm)
	FRA	Hippolyte-Jacques Hyvernaud (Fm)

Albert Ayat

Date: June 15, 1900
8 participants from 2 countries

The open class was a joint competition for amateurs (Am) and fencing masters (Fm), in which only the first four of the two epee competitions were allowed to compete against each other. The winner was the athlete who won the most battles. The maximum duration of a battle was five minutes.

The fact that Ramón Fonst , the winner of the amateurs and runner-up in the open class, was a pupil of the fencing master and winner of the open class Albert Ayat is to be regarded as curious .

Sabers for amateurs

space	country	athlete	Victories
1	FRA	Georges de la Falaise	6: 1
2	FRA	Léon Thiébaut	5: 2
3	AUT	Siegfried Flesch	4: 3
4th	AUT	Amon from Gregurich	4: 3
5	AUT	Gyula Iványi	3: 4
6th	FRA	Clement de Boissière	3: 4
7th	AUT	Heinrich von Tenner	2: 5
8th	AUT	Camillo Müller	1: 6

Date: June
19-25 , 23 participants from 7 countries

In several preliminary fights and qualifying rounds, the participants determined the eight best fencers who competed against each other in a final round. The winner was the athlete who won the most battles. The maximum duration of a battle was seven minutes.

Saber for fencing masters

space	country	athlete	Victories
1	ITA	Antonio Conte	7-0
2	ITA	Italo Santelli	6: 1
3	AUT	Milan Neralic	4: 3
4th	FRA	François Delibes	3: 4
5	RUS	Julian Michaux	3: 4
6th	FRA	Xavier Anchetti	2: 5
7th	RUS	Pyotr Sakorovot	2: 5
8th	BEL	Hébrant	1: 6

Italo Santelli

Date: June 23-27, 1900
29 participants from 7 countries

In several preliminary fights and qualifying rounds, the participants determined the eight best fencers who competed against each other in a final round. The winner was the athlete who won the most battles. The maximum duration of a battle was seven minutes.

Italo Santelli was born in Italy. In 1896 he moved to Budapest , where he took over fencing training at an officers' school. Santelli stayed in Hungary until his death . The IOC always regarded him as a Hungarian and therefore attributed his medal placement in the medal table to Hungary for several decades. Only in 2007 was the rating officially changed and the placement transferred to Italy.

literature

• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle I. Athens 1896 - Berlin 1936. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-328-00715-6 .
• Karl Lennartz , Walter Teutenberg: II. Olympic Games 1900 in Paris. Presentation and sources. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1995, ISBN 3-928562-20-7 .
• Bill Mallon : The 1900 Olympic Games . McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina 1998, CIP 97-36094.

Web links

• Fencing at the 1900 Olympic Games in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Official report (French, PDF, 3 parts in total; 8.10 MB)
• Page about all Olympic participants by Herman de Wael (English)