Fencing at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Women's foil explained

Event:	Women's foil
Games:	1936 Summer
Venue:	Imperial Sports Field, Berlin
Dates:	4 – 5 August
Competitors:	41
Nations:	17
Gold:	Ilona Elek-Schacherer
Goldnoc:	HUN
Silver:	Helene Mayer
Silvernoc:	GER
Bronze:	Ellen Müller-Preis
Bronzenoc:	AUT
Prev:	1932
Next:	1948

The women's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 4 August 1936 to 5 August 1936. 41 fencers from 17 nations competed, with one additional fencer entered but withdrawing. Nations were limited to three fencers.^{[1] [2]}

The competition format was pool play round-robin, with bouts to five touches. Not all bouts were played in some pools if not necessary to determine advancement. Two points were awarded for each bout won. Ties were broken through fence-off bouts in early rounds if necessary for determining advancement, but by touches received in final rounds (and for non-advancement-necessary placement in earlier rounds).^[3]

Results

Round 1

The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to round 2.^[4]

Pool 1

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			8	4	0	20	5
2			8	4	1	24	13
3			8	4	1	21	15
4			6	3	2	16	15
5			2	1	4	15	21
6			2	1	4	15	23
7			0	0	5	6	25

Pool 2

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			12	6	0	30	6
2			10	5	1	27	18
3			8	4	2	25	21
4			6	3	3	19	20
5			4	2	4	20	26
6			0	0	5	12	25
6			0	0	5	8	25

Pool 3

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			8	4	1	21	11
2			6	3	2	19	15
3			6	3	2	19	17
4			6	3	2	20	18
5			4	2	3	14	20
6			0	0	5	13	25

Pool 4

Scheel won the play-off between herself, Aşani, and Thomas. It is unclear why Aşani did not face Vargha; in general, matches unnecessary to determine qualification were not played (and this reason is given in the official report, but Aşani would have advanced without the need for a play-off pool had she had the opportunity to, and successfully did, beat Vargha.^[4]

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			12	6	0	30	5
2			8	4	1	21	11
3			6	3	1	17	9
4			4	2	4	14	24
5			4	2	3	16	18
6			4	2	4	20	28
7			0	0	6	7	30

Pool 5

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			10	5	0	25	7
2			6	3	1	19	12
3			6	3	1	17	12
4			6	3	1	17	15
5			2	1	4	13	21
6			4	2	4	18	28
7			0	0	5	10	25

Pool 6

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			10	5	0	25	9
2			8	4	1	24	14
3			6	3	3	22	23
4			6	3	3	22	24
5			4	2	4	22	24
6			4	2	4	15	24
7			2	1	5	16	27

Round 2

The top 3 finishers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.^[5]

Pool 1

Locke defeated Bogen-Bogáti in the tie-breaker bout, repeating the result of the pool bout between the two.^[5]

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			10	5	0	25	15
2			8	4	1	24	14
3			4	2	3	20	20
4			4	2	3	19	21
5			2	1	4	16	24
5			2	1	4	14	24

Pool 2

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			10	5	0	25	11
2			8	4	1	24	19
3			6	3	2	23	16
4			4	2	3	19	22
5			2	1	4	13	22
6			0	0	5	11	25

Pool 3

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			8	4	0	20	2
2			6	3	1	16	12
3			6	3	1	18	15
4			2	1	3	10	15
5			2	1	3	13	16
6			0	0	5	11	25

Pool 4

Elek-Schacherer won the play-off against van der Klaauw. The bout between Elek-Schacherer and Kramer-Scholer is shown in the official report as a 5–5 bout with neither given credit for a win; this score is generally not possible under the competition format in use but the official report contains no explanation of the result.^[5]

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			10	5	0	25	6
2			8	4	1	21	9
3			4	2	3	20	19
4			4	2	3	15	23
5			2	1	4	15	21
6			0	0	5	7	25

Semifinals

The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to the final.^[6]

Semifinal 1

Locke defeated Bogen-Bogáti in the tie-breaker bout, repeating the result of the pool bout between the two.^[5]

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			6	3	1	18	10
2			6	3	1	19	13
2			6	3	1	17	13
4			4	2	2	16	16
5			2	1	4	19	20
6			2	1	4	7	24

Semifinal 2

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses			Notes
1			10	5	0	25	10
2			8	4	1	21	11
3			4	2	3	19	17
3			4	2	3	17	17
5			2	1	4	8	21
6			2	1	4	10	24

Final

The final eight fencers competed in a round-robin. Ties, including the three-way tie for second, were broken by touches received in this round rather than play-off bouts as in previous rounds.^[6]

Rank	Fencer	Nation	Points	Wins	Losses
			12	6	1	33	17
			10	5	2	33	19
			10	5	2	32	20
4			10	5	2	30	23
5			6	3	4	23	24
6			4	2	5	18	28
7			4	2	5	17	31
8			0	0	7	11	35

Notes and References

1. Web site: Fencing: 1936 Olympic Results - Women's foil . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417230955/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/FEN/womens-foil-individual.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 5 May 2010 . sports-reference.com.
2. http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936v2sum.pdf Official Olympic Report
3. Official Report, p. 756.
4. Official Report, p. 757.
5. Official Report, p. 758.
6. Official Report, p. 759.