Fencing at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's épée explained

Event:Men's épée
Games:1980 Summer
Venue:CSKA Sports Complex
Dates:27–28 July 1980
Competitors:42
Nations:16
Longnames:yes
Gold:Johan Harmenberg
Goldnoc:SWE
Silver:Ernő Kolczonay
Silvernoc:HUN
Bronze:Philippe Riboud
Bronzenoc:FRA
Prev:1976
Next:1984

The men's épée was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1980 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eighteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 27 to 28 July 1980. 42 fencers from 16 nations competed.[1] Each nation was limited to 3 fencers. The event was won by Johan Harmenberg of Sweden, the nation's first victory in the event and first medal of any color in the men's individual épée since 1924. Silver went to Ernő Kolczonay of Hungary, extending the nation's podium streak to four Games despite the retirement of three-time medalist Győző Kulcsár. Philippe Riboud of France took bronze. Sweden's Rolf Edling, a two-time World Champion, made his third final in the event, but once again missed the podium.

Background

This was the 18th 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]

With West Germany boycotting the Games and Győző Kulcsár retiring, none of the 1976 medalists returned. Two of the other three finalists did, however: fourth-place finisher István Osztrics of Hungary and sixth-place finisher (as well as 1972 finalist) Rolf Edling of Sweden. Philippe Riboud of France was the reigning (1979) World Champion; Sweden's Johan Harmenberg had won in 1977 and Edling had been World Champion in 1973 and 1974. (The 1975 and 1978 World Champion and 1976 Olympic champion, Alexander Pusch, was from the boycotting West Germany.)[2]

Kuwait made its debut in the event. Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Sweden each appeared for the 16th time, tying the absent United States for most among nations.

Competition format

The 1980 tournament continued to use the mix of pool and knockout rounds used in 1968 and 1976. The competition included two pool rounds, followed by a double-elimination knockout round, finishing with a final pool round. In each pool round, the fencers competed in a round-robin.

Bouts in the round-robin pools were to 5 touches; bouts in the double-elimination round were to 10 touches. No barrages were held.

Schedule

All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)

DateTimeRound
Sunday, 27 July 1980 Round 1
Monday, 28 July 1980 Round 2
Elimination rounds
Final

Results

Round 1

Round 1 Pool H

Round 2

Round 2 Pool D

Double elimination rounds

Winners brackets

Winners group 4

Losers brackets

Losers group 2

Final round

Final classification

Fencer Nation
Johan Harmenberg
Ernő Kolczonay
Philippe Riboud
Rolf Edling
Aleksandr Mozhayev
Ioan Popa
Jaroslav Jurka
Boris Lukomsky
Hans Jacobson
István Osztrics
Aleksandr Abushakhmetov
Philippe Boisse
László Pető
Steven Paul
Andrzej Lis
Stefano Bellone
Greg Benko
Efigenio Favier
Anton Pongratz
Patrick Picot
Oldřich Kubišta
Piotr Jabłkowski
Stéphane Ganeff
John Llewellyn
Leszek Swornowski
Octavian Zidaru
Heikki Hulkkonen
Marco Falcone
Angelo Mazzoni
Mikko Salminen
Jiří Douba
Neal Mallett
José Pérez
Kazem Hasan
Mohamed Al-Thuwani
Peder Planting
Guillermo Betancourt
Heriberto González
Thierry Soumagne
Osama Al-Khurafi
Dany Haddad
Hassan Hamze

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Fencing: 1980 Olympic Results - Men's épée . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417200805/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1980/FEN/mens-epee-individual.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 17 April 2011 . sports-reference.com.
  2. Web site: Épée, Individual, Men . Olympedia . 24 March 2021.