| Event: | Men's sabre |
| Games: | 1960 Summer |
| Venue: | Palazzo dei Congressi |
| Dates: | 7–8 September |
| Competitors: | 70 |
| Nations: | 29 |
| Gold: | Rudolf Kárpáti |
| Goldnoc: | HUN |
| Silver: | Zoltán Horváth |
| Silvernoc: | HUN |
| Bronze: | Wladimiro Calarese |
| Bronzenoc: | ITA |
| Prev: | 1956 |
| Next: | 1964 |
The men's sabre was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1960 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 7 to 8 September 1960. 70 fencers from 29 nations competed.[1] Nations had been limited to three fencers each since 1928. The event was won by Rudolf Kárpáti, the eighth of nine straight Games in which a Hungarian would win the event. Kárpáti was the second man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the men's sabre (Jenő Fuchs in 1908 and 1912) and fifth to win multiple medals of any color. His teammate Zoltán Horváth took silver while Wladimiro Calarese of Italy finished with the bronze.
This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Five of the eight finalists from 1956 returned: gold medalist Rudolf Kárpáti of Hungary, silver medalist Jerzy Pawłowski of Poland (who, in 1968, would finally break the Hungarian run of nine straight gold medals in the event), fourth-place finisher Jacques Lefèvre of France, fifth-place finisher (and three-time medalist, with bronze in 1936, gold in 1948, and silver in 1952) Aladár Gerevich of Hungary, and sixth-place finisher Wojciech Zabłocki of Poland. The three world champions since the last Olympics were Pawłowski (1957), Yakov Rylsky of the Soviet Union (1958), and Kárpáti (1959).[2]
Israel, Morocco, New Zealand, Tunisia, and Vietnam each made their debut in the men's sabre. Italy made its 12th appearance in the event, most of any nation, having missed the inaugural 1896 event and the 1904 Olympics.
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. 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. The competition involved 5 rounds:[3]
All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, 7 September 1960 | 8:30 15:00 | Round 1 Round 2 | |
| Thursday, 8 August 1960 | 8:30 13:00 15:00 | Quarterfinals Semifinals Final |
The top three fencers in each pool advanced.
Menendez of Cuba was entered in this pool, but did not start.
Schwende of Canada was entered in this pool but did not start.
A four-way tie for second place required a barrage to determine the silver and bronze medals (as well as 4th and 5th place). The tie for 7th and 8th place was broken based on touches received.
| Rank | Fencer | Nation | Round 1 | Round 2 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rudolf Kárpáti | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Zoltán Horváth | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Wladimiro Calarese | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 4 | Claude Arabo | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| 5 | Wojciech Zabłocki | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| 6 | Jerzy Pawłowski | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| 7 | David Tyshler | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 | |
| 8 | Yakov Rylsky | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | |
| 9 | Roberto Ferrari | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | Did not advance | |
| Aladár Gerevich | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | Did not advance | ||
| 11 | Ladislau Rohony | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | Did not advance | |
| Jacques Roulot | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | Did not advance | ||
| 13 | Asen Dyakovski | 3 | 4 | 4 | did not advance | ||
| Ryszard Zub | 2 | 1 | 4 | did not advance | |||
| Teodoro Goliardi | 2 | 3 | 4 | did not advance | |||
| Jacques Lefèvre | 3 | 1 | 4 | did not advance | |||
| 17 | Jürgen Theuerkauff | 1 | 3 | 5 | did not advance | ||
| Marcel Van Der Auwera | 3 | 4 | 5 | did not advance | |||
| Nugzar Asatiani | 2 | 4 | 5 | did not advance | |||
| Michael D'Asaro, Sr. | 2 | 3 | 5 | did not advance | |||
| 21 | Allan Kwartler | 1 | 3 | 6 | did not advance | ||
| Alfonso Morales | 3 | 4 | 6 | did not advance | |||
| Walter Köstner | 2 | 3 | 6 | did not advance | |||
| Wilfried Wöhler | 2 | 4 | 6 | did not advance | |||
| 25 | Juan Paladino | 2 | 5 | did not advance | |||
| José Van Baelen | 2 | 5 | did not advance | ||||
| Helmuth Resch | 2 | 5 | did not advance | ||||
| Aleksandar Vasin | 3 | 5 | did not advance | ||||
| Daniel Sande | 3 | 5 | did not advance | ||||
| Pierluigi Chicca | 3 | 5 | did not advance | ||||
| 31 | Günther Ulrich | 3 | 6 | did not advance | |||
| Boris Stavrev | 3 | 6 | did not advance | ||||
| Emeric Arus | 3 | 6 | did not advance | ||||
| Dumitru Mustață | 2 | 6 | did not advance | ||||
| Sandy Leckie | 3 | 6 | did not advance | ||||
| Josef Wanetschek | 3 | 6 | did not advance | ||||
| 37 | Augusto Gutiérrez | 4 | did not advance | ||||
| Michael Sichel | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Tsugeo Ozawa | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Benito Ramos | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Juan Larrea | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Ramón Martínez | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Gustavo Vassallo | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Ralph Cooperman | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Gustave Ballister | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Joaquim Rodrigues | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Jushar Haschja | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| Mitsuyuki Funamizu | 4 | did not advance | |||||
| 49 | Orlando Azinhais | 5 | did not advance | ||||
| Pablo Ordejón | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| Jacques Ben Gualid | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| César de Diego | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| William Fajardo | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| Sonosuke Fujimaki | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| Palle Frey | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| Raoul Barouch | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| Michael Ron | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| Keith Hackshall | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| Michael Amberg | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| Trần Văn Xuan | 5 | did not advance | |||||
| 61 | Jean Khayat | 6 | did not advance | ||||
| Abderrahman Sebti | 6 | did not advance | |||||
| Luis García | 6 | did not advance | |||||
| Jaime Duque | 6 | did not advance | |||||
| António Marquilhas | 6 | did not advance | |||||
| Ali Annabi | 6 | did not advance | |||||
| Emilio Echeverry | 6 | did not advance | |||||
| Mohamed Ben Joullon | 6 | did not advance | |||||
| Brian Pickworth | 6 | did not advance | |||||
| David van Gelder | 6 | did not advance | |||||