Fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's sabre

Men's sabre
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Rudolf Kárpáti (1960)
VenueSt Kilda Town Hall
Dates5 December
Competitors35 from 17 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Rudolf Kárpáti  Hungary
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Jerzy Pawłowski  Poland
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Lev Kuznetsov  Soviet Union
← 1952
1960 →

The men's sabre was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the thirteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 5 December 1956. 35 fencers from 17 nations competed.[1] Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Rudolf Kárpáti, the seventh of nine straight Games in which a Hungarian would win the event. Jerzy Pawłowski of Poland took silver and Lev Kuznetsov of the Soviet Union took bronze, the first medals in the event for each nation and the first time since 1924 that any nation other than Hungary and Italy earned a medal in the men's sabre.

Background

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This was the 13th appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four of the nine finalists from 1952 returned: gold medalist (and 1948 bronze medalist) Pál Kovács of Hungary, silver medalist (and 1948 gold and 1936 bronze medalist) Aladár Gerevich of Hungary, fourth-place finisher Gastone Darè of Italy, and sixth-place finisher Jacques Lefèvre of France. The last three world champions were on the heavily favored Hungarian team: 1953 champion Kovács (who had also won in 1937), 1954 champion Rudolf Kárpáti, and 1955 champion Gerevich (also in 1935 and 1951).[2]

Colombia, Indonesia, and Luxembourg each made their debut in the men's sabre; East and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany. Italy made its 11th appearance in the event, most of any nation (surpassing Denmark, which missed the men's sabre event for the first time since competing in 1908), having missed the inaugural 1896 event and the 1904 St. Louis Games.

Competition format

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The competition used a pool play format, with each fencer facing the other fencers in the pool in a round robin. Bouts were to 5 touches. Barrages were used to break ties necessary for advancement (touches against were the first tie-breaker used to give ranks when the rank did not matter). However, only as much fencing was done as was necessary to determine advancement, so some bouts never occurred if the fencers advancing from the pool could be determined.[3] The 12 fencers from the top four teams in the team sabre event received a bye in the first round.

  • Round 1: There 4 pools of between 5 and 6 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals.
  • Quarterfinals: There were 4 pools of 7 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals.
  • Semifinals: There were 2 pools of 8 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each semifinal advanced to the final.
  • Final: The final pool had 8 fencers.

Schedule

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All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Wednesday, 5 December 1956 8:00
15:00
 
 
Round 1
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final

Results

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Round 1

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The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. Fencers from the four teams that advanced to the final of the men's team sabre event received byes through round 1:

Pool 1

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Luigi Narduzzi  Italy 5 0 25 8 Q
2 Teodoro Goliardi  Uruguay 3 1 19 10 Q
3 George Worth  United States 3 1 16 10 Q
4 Benito Ramos  Mexico 1 4 9 23 B
Masayuki Sano  Japan 1 4 10 22 B
Sandor Szoke  Australia 1 4 18 24 B
Barrage
Pos Fencer W L TF TA Notes BR MS SS
4  Benito Ramos (MEX) 2 0 10 2 Q 5–1 5–1
5  Masayuki Sano (JPN) 1 1 6 7 1–5 5–2
6  Sandor Szoke (AUS) 0 2 3 10 1–5 2–5
Source: Official Report, p. 452.

Pool 2

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Roberto Ferrari  Italy 3 1 18 10 Q
2 Olgierd Porebski  Great Britain 3 0 15 6 Q
3 Allan Kwartler  United States 2 1 12 13 Q
4 Graham McKenzie  Australia 1 3 12 17 Q
5 Alfredo Yanguas  Colombia 0 4 8 20

Pool 3

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Gastone Darè  Italy 5 0 25 8 Q
2 Bill Hoskyns  Great Britain 3 2 18 17 Q
3 Leslie Fadgyas  Australia 3 2 21 18 Q
4 Marcel Van Der Auwera  Belgium 2 3 20 18 B
Roland Asselin  Canada 2 3 16 18 B
6 José del Carmen  Colombia 0 5 10 25
Barrage
Pos Fencer W L TF TA Notes MVDA RA
4  Marcel Van Der Auwera (BEL) 1 0 5 3 Q 5–3
5  Roland Asselin (CAN) 0 1 3 5 3–5
Source: Official Report, p. 452.

Pool 4

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Tibor Nyilas  United States 5 0 25 13 Q
2 Günter Stratmann  United Team of Germany 3 2 22 17 Q
3 Emilio Echeverry  Colombia 3 2 21 21 Q
4 Ralph Cooperman  Great Britain 2 3 20 18 B
Roger Theisen  Luxembourg 2 3 19 20 B
6 Siha Sukarno  Indonesia 0 5 7 25
Barrage
Pos Fencer W L TF TA Notes RC RT
4  Ralph Cooperman (GBR) 1 0 5 1 Q 5–1
5  Roger Theisen (LUX) 0 1 1 5 1–5
Source: Official Report, p. 452.

Quarterfinals

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The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Roberto Ferrari  Italy 5 0 25 14 Q
2 Pál Kovács  Hungary 4 1 23 10 Q
3 Jacques Lefèvre  France 3 2 19 13 Q
4 Allan Kwartler  United States 3 2 18 17 Q
5 Yakov Rylsky  Soviet Union 2 4 18 26
6 Teodoro Goliardi  Uruguay 1 4 14 23
7 Benito Ramos  Mexico 0 5 12 25

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Aladár Gerevich  Hungary 5 1 29 17 Q
2 Luigi Narduzzi  Italy 4 2 28 21 Q
3 Yevhen Cherepovsky  Soviet Union 3 3 25 20 B
Marcel Van Der Auwera  Belgium 3 3 23 22 B
Olgierd Porebski  Great Britain 3 3 20 23 B
6 Marian Kuszewski  Poland 2 4 19 24
7 Emilio Echeverry  Colombia 1 5 10 29
Barrage
Pos Fencer W L TF TA Notes YC MVDA OP
3  Yevhen Cherepovsky (URS) 1 1 6 6 Q 1–5 5–0
4  Marcel Van Der Auwera (BEL) 1 1 7 6 5–1 2–5
5  Olgierd Porebski (GBR) 1 1 5 7 0–5 5–2
Source: Official Report, p. 452.

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Rudolf Kárpáti  Hungary 5 0 25 8 Q
2 Jacques Roulot  France 4 1 24 14 Q
3 Wojciech Zabłocki  Poland 4 2 25 21 Q
4 Günter Stratmann  United Team of Germany 3 3 24 20 Q
5 Tibor Nyilas  United States 2 4 19 25
6 Bill Hoskyns  Great Britain 2 4 19 25
7 Graham McKenzie  Australia 0 6 7 30

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Jerzy Pawłowski  Poland 5 0 25 9 Q
2 Gastone Darè  Italy 4 1 23 16 Q
3 George Worth  United States 3 3 21 21 B
Lev Kuznetsov  Soviet Union 3 3 23 22 B
Ralph Cooperman  Great Britain 3 3 26 24 B
6 Claude Gamot  France 2 4 21 23
7 Leslie Fadgyas  Australia 0 6 6 30
Barrage
Pos Fencer W L TF TA Notes GW LK RC
3  George Worth (USA) 1 1 9 6 Q 4–5 5–1
4  Lev Kuznetsov (URS) 1 0 5 4 5–4
5  Ralph Cooperman (GBR) 0 1 1 5 1–5
Source: Official Report, p. 453.

Semifinals

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The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Rudolf Kárpáti  Hungary 7 0 35 22 Q
2 Jerzy Pawłowski  Poland 5 2 32 25 Q
3 Jacques Lefèvre  France 4 3 28 24 Q
4 Luigi Narduzzi  Italy 4 3 31 27 Q
5 Yevhen Cherepovsky  Soviet Union 3 4 27 30
6 Günter Stratmann  United Team of Germany 3 4 26 31
7 Allan Kwartler  United States 2 5 24 31
8 Gastone Darè  Italy 0 7 22 35

Semifinal 2

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Pál Kovács  Hungary 6 1 30 13 Q
2 Aladár Gerevich  Hungary 5 2 30 25 Q
3 Lev Kuznetsov  Soviet Union 4 3 30 23 Q
4 Wojciech Zabłocki  Poland 4 3 28 27 Q
5 Roberto Ferrari  Italy 3 4 28 29
6 Jacques Roulot  France 2 5 19 30
7 George Worth  United States 2 5 22 32
8 Marcel Van Der Auwera  Belgium 1 6 19 32

Final

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Rudolf Kárpáti  Hungary 6 1 32 19
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Jerzy Pawłowski  Poland 5 2 30 22
3 Lev Kuznetsov  Soviet Union 4 3 29 24 B
Jacques Lefèvre  France 4 3 27 25 B
5 Aladár Gerevich  Hungary 3 4 40 31
6 Wojciech Zabłocki  Poland 2 5 17 29
7 Pál Kovács  Hungary 2 5 25 30
8 Luigi Narduzzi  Italy 2 5 21 31
Barrage
Pos Fencer W L TF TA LK JL
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Lev Kuznetsov (URS) 1 1 9 6 5–2
4  Jacques Lefèvre (FRA) 1 0 5 4 2–5
Source: Official Report, p. 453.

References

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  1. ^ "Fencing: 1956 Olympic Results - Men's sabre". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  2. ^ "Sabre, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 451.