An Olympic sport since Athens 1896,
fencing is one of only four sports that has been featured at every modern Olympic Games.
Fencing provides high levels of physical and mental stimulus, with a
great sense of satisfaction from the development of dexterity and the use of tactics to
outwit the opponent.
There's no swashbuckling, swinging from chandeliers and kicking over
tables in the Olympics, rather the two rivals take up positions opposite each other on a
long, thin mat; to feint, lunge, parry and riposte until one of them scores the required
number of hits to win.
There are three types of fencing weapon used at the Olympic Games:
the foil, épée and sabre.
Bouts are held on a 14-metre by 1.5-metre playing area, with the
fencers wired up to an electronic scoring system that indicates if a hit has been scored.
Each competition runs on a single-elimination format.
In the team events, three fencers duel each member of the opposing
Gerevich is the only athlete in any sport to win the same Olympic event six times and
the only athlete to win gold medals in six different Olympics.
Considering all of this spanned over the two missed Olympics, due to
World War II, and we can really appreciate how Aladar Gerevich was a master at his sport
for almost 30 years.
The Hungarian helped the men's sabre team to gold medals in Los Angeles 1932, Berlin
1936, London 1948, Helsinki
1952, Melbourne 1956 and Rome 1960;at the age of 50. As well as winning another gold, a
silver and two bronze medals in individual events, Gerevich's wife, son and father-in-law
were also Olympic medalists.
of Hungary, was one of only two champions from the Berlin
1936 Olympic Games to successfully defend their title in London
1948; after the war years meant a 12 year absence from Olympic competition. Ilona won
her second gold medal in the individual (foil) and returned to the Olympics again, at the
age of 45, to win a silver medal in Helsinki 1952.
Av. Mon-Repos 24, Case Postale 128, 1000 Lausanne 5, Switzerland.
The Fédération Internationale d'Escrime is the organisation which governs the sport of
fencing all over the world. Based in Lausanne, the Olympic Capital, the FIE accounts for
some 114 member federations.
Australian Fencing Federation:
In Australia, fencing is widely practised in clubs, universities and increasingly in
schools; with strong participation bases in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and
South Australia and developing participation bases in Western Australia, Tasmania and the
Australian Capital Territory.
1 Baron's Gate, 33-35 Rothschild Road, London.
The CFF aim to enriching fencing through excellence at all levels, improve Canada's
standing among fencing's respected nations through performance and success and prepare
tomorrow's champions through commitment and integrity.
Danish Fencing Federation.
German Fencing Federation.
Bulgarian Fencing Federation.
Fédération Française d'Escrime:
French Fencing Federation.
Federazione Italiana Scherma:
Italian Fencing Federation.
Fencing New Zealand:
Keep up to date with latest news from the fencing community in New Zealand.
Koninklijke Nederlandse Algemene
Österreichischer Fechtverband ÖFV:
Official website of the United States Fencing Association.
The Sport of Fencing
Directory of links related to the sport of fencing.
World-wide fencing community featuring online training resources for competing in foil,
épée, and sabre, chats and discussions.