| Event: | Men's team épée |
| Games: | 1948 Summer |
| Venue: | Wembley Palace of Engineering, London |
| Dates: | 5–6 August |
| Competitors: | 113 |
| Nations: | 21 |
| Gold: | Henri Guérin Henri Lepage Marcel Desprets Michel Pécheux Édouard Artigas Maurice Huet |
| Goldnoc: | FRA |
| Silver: | Edoardo Mangiarotti Carlo Agostoni Dario Mangiarotti Gino Cantone Marco Antonio Mandruzzato Fiorenzo Marini |
| Silvernoc: | ITA |
| Bronze: | Sven Thofelt Per Carleson Frank Cervell Carl Forssell Bengt Ljungquist Arne Tollbom |
| Bronzenoc: | SWE |
| Prev: | 1936 |
| Next: | 1952 |
The men's team épée was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eighth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 5 August 1948 to 6 August 1948. 113 fencers from 21 nations competed.[1]
The competition format continued the pool play round-robin from prior years. Each of the four fencers from one team would face each of the four from the other, for a total of 16 bouts per match. Bouts were to three touches. The team that won more bouts won the match, with competition potentially stopping when one team reached 9 points out of the possible 16 (this did not always occur and matches sometimes continued). If the bouts were 8–8, touches received was used to determine the winning team. (Because double-loss bouts were possible, these victory conditions were adjusted where necessary.) Pool matches unnecessary to the result were not played.[2]
The top two teams in each pool advanced to round 2.[2]
Argentina beat Poland 10–6, Poland beat Cuba 8–6, and Argentina beat Cuba 9–5.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 11 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 16 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 17 |
Belgium defeated Mexico 10–6, Denmark beat Canada 13–2, Belgium beat Canada 12–1, and Denmark defeated Mexico 9–2.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 4 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 7 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 17 | |||
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 25 |
The United States (9–5) and Luxembourg (8–6) each defeated Finland.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 5 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 17 |
Chile withdrew before competition, leaving France and Norway to advance.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew |
Italy (14–2) and Great Britain (8–6) each defeated Brazil.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 2 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 22 |
Egypt (10–5) and Switzerland (8–6) each defeated Portugal.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 18 |
Sweden (16–0) and Hungary (9–1) each defeated Greece.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 25 |
The top two teams in each pool advanced to the semifinals.[3]
Italy beat Poland 14–1, Hungary beat Norway 7–7 (34–35 touches against), Italy beat Norway 12–2, and Hungary beat Poland 10–6.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 13 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 19 | |||
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 24 |
France defeated Denmark 12–4, Egypt beat Great Britain 11–5, France beat Great Britain 12–3, Denmark beat Egypt 8–6, France defeated Egypt 8–5, and Denmark defeated Great Britain 8–4.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 0 | 32 | 12 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 22 | |||
| 3 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 21 | |||
| 4 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 31 |
Switzerland (11–3) and Sweden (9–3) each defeated Argentina.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 20 |
Belgium (9–5) and Luxembourg (8–6) each defeated the United States.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 5 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 17 |
The top two teams in each pool advanced to the final.[4]
This semifinal was one of the more chaotic of the tournament, as Belgium defeated the heavy favorite France but also lost to the last-place Switzerland.
Denmark beat Poland 7–6, France beat Switzerland 12–3, Belgium defeated France 10–5, Denmark beat Switzerland 12–3, Switzerland beat Belgium 7–7 (33–39 touches against), and France beat Denmark 7–5.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 24 | 16 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 18 | |||
| 3 | 1 | 2 | 23 | 19 | |||
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 33 |
Sweden defeated Hungary 15–0, Italy beat Luxembourg 11–4, Sweden beat Luxembourg 11–3, and Italy defeated Hungary 8–1.
| Rank | Nation | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 5 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 22 | |||
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
In the first pairings, France defeated Sweden 11–4 and Italy beat Denmark 12–4. The second pairings saw the favorites again win, with France 9–1 over Denmark and Italy 8–6 over Sweden. The Sweden-Denmark match was thus a de facto bronze medal match, with Sweden winning 8–7. France defeated Italy 11–5 to take the gold medal.
| Rank | Nation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 0 | 31 | 10 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 25 | 21 | |||
| 1 | 2 | 18 | 26 | |||
| 4 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 29 |