Fencing at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's épée

The men's épée was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1992 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twenty-first appearance of the event. The competition was held on 1 August 1992. 70 fencers from 30 nations competed.[1] Each nation was limited to three fencers. The event was won by Éric Srecki of France, the nation's fifth victory in the event (second-most behind Italy's six). France also took bronze, with Jean-Michel Henry winning the bronze medal match. France's podium streak in the event extended to four Games. Pavel Kolobkov of the Unified Team took silver.

Men's épée
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Fencing pictogram
VenuePalace of Metallurgy
Dates1 August 1992
Competitors70 from 30 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)Éric Srecki
 France
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Pavel Kolobkov
 Unified Team
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)Jean-Michel Henry
 France
← 1988
1996 →

Background

This was the 21st 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.[2]

Three of the eight quarterfinalists from 1988 returned: gold medalist Arnd Schmitt of West Germany (now competing for united Germany), bronze medalist Andrey Shuvalov of the Soviet Union (now competing for the Unified Team), and fourth-place finisher Sandro Cuomo of Italy. Shuvalov was the reigning (1991) World Champion. Manuel Pereira of Spain was another World Champion (1989) competing in Barcelona.[2]

Estonia and Singapore each made their debut in the event. Some former Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team. France, Great Britain, Sweden, and the United States each appeared for the 19th time, tied for most among nations.

Competition format

The 1992 tournament used a three-phase format roughly similar to prior years in consisting of a group phase, a double-elimination phase, and a single-elimination phase, but each phase was very different from previous formats.

The first phase was a single round (vs. 3 rounds in 1988) round-robin pool play format; each fencer in a pool faced each other fencer in that pool once. There were 10 pools with 7 fencers each. The fencers' ranks within the pool were ignored; the overall winning percentage (with touch differential and then touches against used as tie-breakers) were used to rank the fencers. The top 52 advanced to the second phase, while the other fencers were eliminated.

The second phase was a modified, truncated double-elimination tournament. 12 fencers received a bye to the second round (round of 32), while the 40 fencers ranked 13–52 played in the round of 64. Fencers losing in the round of 64 were eliminated, while the remaining rounds were double elimination via repechages. The repechages (but not the main brackets) used a complicated reseeding mechanism. Ultimately, the 4 fencers remaining undefeated after the round of 8 advanced to the quarterfinals along with 4 fencers who advanced through the repechages after one loss.

The final phase was a single elimination tournament with quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final and bronze medal match.

All bouts were to 5 touches. In the second and third phases, matches were best-of-three bouts.

Schedule

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

DateTimeRound
Saturday, 1 August 1992Group round
Elimination round
Final round

Results

Group round

Fencers were ranked by win percent, then touch differential, then touches against. This ranking, with adjustments to ensure that no two fencers of the same nation were in the same bracket (noted in parentheses), was used to seed the elimination round brackets.

RankFencerNationPoolRankWinsLossesWin %TFTATF - TANotes
1Elmar Borrmann  Germany61601.000301416Q
2Angelo Mazzoni  Italy11601.000301515Q
3Mauricio Rivas  Colombia51601.000301812Q
4Krisztián Kulcsár  Hungary41601.000301911Q
5Éric Srecki  France2151.833301317Q
6Iván Kovács  Hungary9151.833281315Q
7Jean-Michel Henry  France8151.833281513Q
8Adrian Pop  Romania5251.833291712Q
9 (10)Robert Felisiak  Germany4251.833291811Q
10 (9)Péter Vánky  Sweden3151.833291811Q
11Sandro Cuomo  Italy7151.83330219Q
12Laurie Shong  Canada1242.667271512Q
13Kaido Kaaberma  Estonia9242.66725178Q
14Olivier Lenglet  France6242.66725178Q
15Kim Jeong-Gwan  South Korea8242.66726188Q
16Andrey Shuvalov  Unified Team3242.66726188Q
17Maurizio Randazzo  Italy5342.66726197Q
18Pavel Kolobkov  Unified Team10142.66727207Q
19Michael O'Brien  Ireland4342.66728217Q
20Lee Sang-Gi  South Korea6342.66725196Q
21Aleš Depta  Czechoslovakia1342.66726215Q
22Roman Ječmínek  Czechoslovakia6442.66728235Q
23Danek Nowosielski  Canada7242.66724204Q
24 (26)Thomas Lundblad  Sweden10242.66725214Q
25 (27)Serhiy Kravchuk  Unified Team2242.66727234Q
26 (24)Robert Davidson  Australia9342.66725232Q
27 (25)Roberto Lazzarini  Brazil2342.6672123-2Q
28 (31)Jiří Douba  Czechoslovakia2433.50026206Q
29 (30)Jean-Marc Chouinard  Canada8333.50026206Q
30 (28)Arnd Schmitt  Germany10333.50025205Q
31 (29)Fernando de la Peña  Spain7333.50026215Q
32Jang Tae-Seok  South Korea9433.50024213Q
33 (34)Gabriel Pantelimon  Romania7433.50026233Q
34 (33)Maciej Ciszewski  Poland3333.50024222Q
35Raúl Maroto  Spain3433.50023221Q
36 (38)Viktor Zuikov  Estonia10433.50024231Q
37 (36)André Kuhn  Switzerland8433.50026251Q
38 (37)Rafael di Tella  Argentina10533.50022220Q
39Ferenc Hegedűs  Hungary7533.50022220Q
40Jon Normile  United States9533.5002022-2Q
41Juan Miguel Paz  Colombia1433.5002123-2Q
42Gavin McLean  New Zealand5433.5002123-2Q
43Robert Marx  United States4433.5001923-4Q
44Ulf Sandegren  Sweden8533.5002125-4Q
45Mohamed Al-Hamar  Kuwait3533.5001725-8Q
46Olivier Jacquet  Switzerland5524.33325232Q
47Manuel Pereira  Spain4524.3332527-2Q
48 (51)Cornel Milan  Romania3624.3332427-3Q
49 (50)Sławomir Nawrocki  Poland8624.3332126-5Q
50 (48)Wong James  Singapore10624.3331825-7Q
51 (49)Norikazu Tanabe  Japan7624.3332128-7Q
52Handry Lenzun  Indonesia1524.3331725-8Q
53Steven Paul  Great Britain2524.3331827-9
54Scott Arnold  Australia6524.3331526-11
55Chris O'Loughlin  United States2615.1671926-7
56Witold Gadomski  Poland9615.1671826-8
57Daniel Lang  Switzerland1615.1671927-8
58Zahi El-Khoury  Lebanon6615.1672028-8
59Lucas Zakaria  Indonesia2715.1671827-9
60Rui Frazão  Portugal10715.1671626-10
61Luciano Finardi  Brazil3715.1671728-11
José Bandeira  Portugal4615.1671728-11
63Francisco Papaiano  Brazil1715.1671327-14
64Michel Youssef  Lebanon5615.1671126-15
65Tan Ronald  Singapore9715.1671129-18
66José Marcelo Álvarez  Paraguay4706.0001830-12
67Dario Torrente  South Africa7706.0001730-13
68Enzo da Ponte  Paraguay5706.0001430-16
Trevor Strydom  South Africa6706.0001430-16
70Hein van Garderen  South Africa8706.0001130-19

Elimination rounds

Main brackets

Main bracket 1

Ciszewski, Wong, Tanabe, Paz, and Normile were eliminated after the round of 64. The losers in the round of 32 faced off, with Randazzo beating Jang and Davidson beating Pop to advance to the repechage. The losers of the round of 16, Shuvalov and Lazzarini, advanced directly to the first round of the repechage. Vánky, having lost in the round of 8, went to the third round of the repechage. Borrmann won the bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Round of 64Round of 32Round of 16Round of 8
1  Elmar Borrmann (GER)55
33  Maciej Ciszewski (POL)4532  Jang Tae-Seok (KOR)23
32  Jang Tae-Seok (KOR)661  Elmar Borrmann (GER)66
17  Maurizio Randazzo (ITA)5516  Andrey Shuvalov (EUN)55
48  Wong James (SIN)2317  Maurizio Randazzo (ITA)51
49  Norikazu Tanabe (JPN)0416  Andrey Shuvalov (EUN)65
16  Andrey Shuvalov (EUN)561  Elmar Borrmann (GER)545
9  Péter Vánky (SWE)262
9  Péter Vánky (SWE)355
41  Juan Miguel Paz (COL)5324  Robert Davidson (AUS)523
24  Robert Davidson (AUS)639  Péter Vánky (SWE)355
25  Roberto Lazzarini (BRA)35525  Roberto Lazzarini (BRA)533
40  Jon Normile (USA)52225  Roberto Lazzarini (BRA)55
8  Adrian Pop (ROU)33
Repechage qualifiers 1
Repechage qualifier
     
32  Jang Tae-Seok (KOR)522
17  Maurizio Randazzo (ITA)355
Repechage qualifier
     
24  Robert Davidson (AUS)535
8  Adrian Pop (ROU)152
Main bracket 2

Sandegren, di Tella, Lenzun, Al-Hamar, and Kuhn were eliminated after the round of 64. The losers in the round of 32 faced off, with Depta beating Schmitt and Kulcsár beating Lee to advance to the repechage. The losers of the round of 16, Shong and de la Peña, advanced directly to the first round of the repechage. Srecki, having lost in the round of 8, went to the third round of the repechage. Kaaberma won the bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Round of 64Round of 32Round of 16Round of 8
5  Éric Srecki (FRA)66
37  Rafael di Tella (ARG)2028  Arnd Schmitt (GER)54
28  Arnd Schmitt (GER)555  Éric Srecki (FRA)55
21  Aleš Depta (TCH)6512  Laurie Shong (CAN)20
44  Ulf Sandegren (SWE)4221  Aleš Depta (TCH)42
12  Laurie Shong (CAN)65
5  Éric Srecki (FRA)355
13  Kaido Kaaberma (EST)51513  Kaido Kaaberma (EST)536
52  Handry Lenzun (INA)15313  Kaido Kaaberma (EST)55
45  Mohamed Al-Hamar (KUW)16520  Lee Sang-Gi (KOR)23
20  Lee Sang-Gi (KOR)54613  Kaido Kaaberma (EST)66
29  Fernando de la Peña (ESP)36629  Fernando de la Peña (ESP)45
36  André Kuhn (SUI)54429  Fernando de la Peña (ESP)656
4  Krisztián Kulcsár (HUN)565
Repechage qualifiers 2
Repechage qualifier
     
28  Arnd Schmitt (GER)54
21  Aleš Depta (TCH)66
Repechage qualifier
     
20  Lee Sang-Gi (KOR)43
4  Krisztián Kulcsár (HUN)65
Main bracket 3

Maroto, O'Brien, Milan, Ječmínek, and Zuikov were eliminated after the round of 64. The losers in the round of 32 faced off, with Chouinard beating Jacquet and Kravchuk beating Cuomo to advance to the repechage. The losers of the round of 16, Lenglet and Marx, advanced directly to the first round of the repechage. Rivas, having lost in the round of 8, went to the third round of the repechage. Kovács won the bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Round of 64Round of 32Round of 16Round of 8
3  Mauricio Rivas (COL)566
35  Raúl Maroto (ESP)5330  Jean-Marc Chouinard (CAN)655
30  Jean-Marc Chouinard (CAN)653  Mauricio Rivas (COL)565
19  Michael O'Brien (IRL)3214  Olivier Lenglet (FRA)652
46  Olivier Jacquet (SUI)5546  Olivier Jacquet (SUI)55
51  Cornel Milan (ROU)3114  Olivier Lenglet (FRA)65
14  Olivier Lenglet (FRA)553  Mauricio Rivas (COL)33
6  Iván Kovács (HUN)55
11  Sandro Cuomo (ITA)33
43  Robert Marx (USA)6543  Robert Marx (USA)55
22  Roman Ječmínek (TCH)4243  Robert Marx (USA)31
27  Serhiy Kravchuk (EUN)666  Iván Kovács (HUN)55
36  Viktor Zuikov (EST)5427  Serhiy Kravchuk (EUN)03
6  Iván Kovács (HUN)55
Repechage qualifiers 3
Repechage qualifier
     
30  Jean-Marc Chouinard (CAN)65
46  Olivier Jacquet (SUI)42
Repechage qualifier
     
11  Sandro Cuomo (ITA)23
27  Serhiy Kravchuk (EUN)55
Main bracket 4

Hegedűs, McLean, Kim, Pereira, and Pantelimon were eliminated after the round of 64. The losers in the round of 32 faced off, with Nowosielski beating Lundblad and Mazzoni beating Nawrocki to advance to the repechage. The losers of the round of 16, Henry and Douba, advanced directly to the first round of the repechage. Felisiak, having lost in the round of 8, went to the third round of the repechage. Kolobkov won the bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Round of 64Round of 32Round of 16Round of 8
7  Jean-Michel Henry (FRA)55
39  Ferenc Hegedűs (HUN)5326  Thomas Lundblad (SWE)11
26  Thomas Lundblad (SWE)657  Jean-Michel Henry (FRA)553
23  Danek Nowosielski (CAN)15510  Robert Felisiak (GER)365
42  Gavin McLean (NZL)53123  Danek Nowosielski (CAN)04
10  Robert Felisiak (GER)56
10  Robert Felisiak (GER)23
15  Kim Jeong-Gwan (KOR)1218  Pavel Kolobkov (EUN)55
50  Sławomir Nawrocki (POL)5550  Sławomir Nawrocki (POL)622
47  Manuel Pereira (ESP)16118  Pavel Kolobkov (EUN)455
18  Pavel Kolobkov (EUN)55518  Pavel Kolobkov (EUN)56
31  Jiří Douba (TCH)15531  Jiří Douba (TCH)25
34  Gabriel Pantelimon (ROU)52231  Jiří Douba (TCH)55
2  Angelo Mazzoni (ITA)22
Repechage qualifiers 4
Repechage qualifier
     
26  Thomas Lundblad (SWE)365
23  Danek Nowosielski (CAN)546
Repechage qualifier
     
50  Sławomir Nawrocki (POL)23
2  Angelo Mazzoni (ITA)55

Repechage rounds 1 and 2

The fencers were reseeded: the eight fencers who had lost in the round of 16 were reseeded as 1–8 while the eight fencers who had lost in the round of 32 but won the repechage qualifiers were reseeded as 9–16. Rematches of main bracket matches were avoided. For example, original seed #2 Mazzoni would have been reseeded as #9 because he was the top-seeded fencer who had advanced through the repechage qualifiers. That would have placed original #4 Kulcsár as (new) #10, setting up a rematch against (new) #7 de la Peña; Kulcsár and Mazzoni were swapped to #9 and #10, respectively. Original seeds are shown in parentheses in the brackets.

R1 seedO seedFencerNation
From round of 16
17Jean-Michel Henry  France
212Laurie Shong  Canada
314Olivier Lenglet  France
416Andrey Shuvalov  Unified Team
525Roberto Lazzarini  Brazil
631Jiří Douba  Czechoslovakia
729Fernando de la Peña  Spain
843Robert Marx  United States
From round of 32 and qualifiers
94Krisztián Kulcsár  Hungary
102Angelo Mazzoni  Italy
1117Maurizio Randazzo  Italy
1221Aleš Depta  Czechoslovakia
1323Danek Nowosielski  Canada
1427Serhiy Kravchuk  Unified Team
1524Robert Davidson  Australia
1630Jean-Marc Chouinard  Canada
Repechage rounds 1 and 2 bracket 1
Repechage round 1Repechage round 2
1 (7)  Jean-Michel Henry (FRA)55
16 (30)  Jean-Marc Chouinard (CAN)331 (7)  Jean-Michel Henry (FRA)525
9 (4)  Krisztián Kulcsár (HUN)5369 (4)  Krisztián Kulcsár (HUN)252
8 (43)  Robert Marx (USA)255
Repechage rounds 1 and 2 bracket 2
Repechage round 1Repechage round 2
5 (25)  Roberto Lazzarini (BRA)12
12 (21)  Aleš Depta (TCH)5512 (21)  Aleš Depta (TCH)12
13 (23)  Danek Nowosielski (CAN)114 (16)  Andrey Shuvalov (EUN)55
4 (16)  Andrey Shuvalov (EUN)55
Repechage rounds 1 and 2 bracket 3
Repechage round 1Repechage round 2
3 (14)  Olivier Lenglet (FRA)364
14 (27)  Serhiy Kravchuk (EUN)55614 (27)  Serhiy Kravchuk (EUN)555
11 (17)  Maurizio Randazzo (ITA)6611 (17)  Maurizio Randazzo (ITA)261
6 (31)  Jiří Douba (TCH)55
Repechage rounds 1 and 2 bracket 4
Repechage round 1Repechage round 2
7 (29)  Fernando de la Peña (ESP)523
10 (2)  Angelo Mazzoni (ITA)15510 (2)  Angelo Mazzoni (ITA)65
15 (24)  Robert Davidson (AUS)6532 (12)  Laurie Shong (CAN)43
2 (12)  Laurie Shong (CAN)565

Repechage round 3

The fencers were reseeded again. Seeds 1–4 were given to round 8 losers, based on their original seeds (Vánky and Felisiak, who had been swapped to avoid having two German fencers in main bracket 1, were reseeded as if they had not been swapped). Seeds 5–8 were given to the winners of the second round of the repechage, based on their original seeds—except that Henry was moved from #6 to #5 to avoid a rematch with Felisiak.

R3 seedR1 seedO seedFencerNation
From round of 8
13Mauricio Rivas  Colombia
25Éric Srecki  France
310Robert Felisiak  Germany
49Péter Vánky  Sweden
From repechage round 2
517Jean-Michel Henry  France
6102Angelo Mazzoni  Italy
7416Andrey Shuvalov  Unified Team
81427Serhiy Kravchuk  Unified Team
Repechage round 3 bracket 1
Repechage round 3
     
1 (3)  Mauricio Rivas (COL)56
8 (27)  Serhiy Kravchuk (EUN)24
Repechage round 3 bracket 2
Repechage round 3
     
5 (7)  Jean-Michel Henry (FRA)56
4 (10)  Péter Vánky (SWE)34
Repechage round 3 bracket 3
Repechage round 3
     
3 (10)  Robert Felisiak (GER)43
6 (2)  Angelo Mazzoni (ITA)65
Repechage round 3 bracket 4
Repechage round 3
     
7 (16)  Andrey Shuvalov (EUN)32
2 (5)  Éric Srecki (FRA)55

Final rounds

The fencers were reseeded a final time. Seeds 1–4 were given to the round of 8 winners, based on their original seeds. Seeds 5–8 were given to the winners of the third round of the repechage, based on their original seeds.

F seedR3 seedR1 seedO seedFencerNation
From round of 8
11Elmar Borrmann  Germany
26Iván Kovács  Hungary
313Kaido Kaaberma  Estonia
418Pavel Kolobkov  Unified Team
From repechage round 3
56102Angelo Mazzoni  Italy
613Mauricio Rivas  Colombia
725Éric Srecki  France
8517Jean-Michel Henry  France
QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
               
1 (1)  Elmar Borrmann (GER)540
8 (7)  Jean-Michel Henry (FRA)265
8 (7)  Jean-Michel Henry (FRA)355
4 (18)  Pavel Kolobkov (EUN)526
5 (2)  Angelo Mazzoni (ITA)502
4 (18)  Pavel Kolobkov (EUN)055
4 (18)  Pavel Kolobkov (EUN)52
7 (5)  Éric Srecki (FRA)65
3 (13)  Kaido Kaaberma (EST)55
6 (3)  Mauricio Rivas (COL)33
3 (13)  Kaido Kaaberma (EST)23Bronze match
7 (5)  Éric Srecki (FRA)55
7 (5)  Éric Srecki (FRA)5458 (7)  Jean-Michel Henry (FRA)255
2 (6)  Iván Kovács (HUN)3613 (13)  Kaido Kaaberma (EST)523

Final classification

FencerNation
Éric Srecki  France
Pavel Kolobkov  Unified Team
Jean-Michel Henry  France
Kaido Kaaberma  Estonia
Elmar Borrmann  Germany
Angelo Mazzoni  Italy
Mauricio Rivas  Colombia
Iván Kovács  Hungary
Robert Felisiak  Germany
Péter Vánky  Sweden
Andrey Shuvalov  Unified Team
Serhiy Kravchuk  Unified Team
Krisztián Kulcsár  Hungary
Laurie Shong  Canada
Maurizio Randazzo  Italy
Aleš Depta  Czechoslovakia
Olivier Lenglet  France
Danek Nowosielski  Canada
Robert Davidson  Australia
Roberto Lazzarini  Brazil
Jiří Douba  Czechoslovakia
Jean-Marc Chouinard  Canada
Fernando de la Peña  Spain
Robert Marx  United States
Adrian Pop  Romania
Sandro Cuomo  Italy
Lee Sang-Gi  South Korea
Thomas Lundblad  Sweden
Arnd Schmitt  Germany
Jang Tae-Seok  South Korea
Olivier Jacquet  Switzerland
Sławomir Nawrocki  Poland
Kim Jeong-Gwan  South Korea
Michael O'Brien  Ireland
Roman Ječmínek  Czechoslovakia
Gabriel Pantelimon  Romania
Maciej Ciszewski  Poland
Raúl Maroto  Spain
Viktor Zuikov  Estonia
André Kuhn  Switzerland
Rafael di Tella  Argentina
Ferenc Hegedűs  Hungary
Jon Normile  United States
Juan Miguel Paz  Colombia
Gavin McLean  New Zealand
Ulf Sandegren  Sweden
Mohamed Al-Hamar  Kuwait
Manuel Pereira  Spain
Cornel Milan  Romania
Wong James  Singapore
Norikazu Tanabe  Japan
Handry Lenzun  Indonesia
Steven Paul  Great Britain
Scott Arnold  Australia
Chris O'Loughlin  United States
Witold Gadomski  Poland
Daniel Lang  Switzerland
Zahi El-Khoury  Lebanon
Lucas Zakaria  Indonesia
Rui Frazão  Portugal
Luciano Finardi  Brazil
José Bandeira  Portugal
Francisco Papaiano  Brazil
Michel Youssef  Lebanon
Tan Ronald  Singapore
José Marcelo Álvarez  Paraguay
Dario Torrente  South Africa
Enzo da Ponte  Paraguay
Trevor Strydom  South Africa
Hein van Garderen  South Africa

References