Fencing at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's team épée explained

Event:Men's team épée
Games:1936 Summer
Venue:Imperial Sports Field, Berlin
Dates:7–8 August
Competitors:108
Nations:21
Gold:Edoardo Mangiarotti
Giancarlo Cornaggia-Medici
Saverio Ragno
Franco Riccardi
Giancarlo Brusati
Alfredo Pezzana
Goldnoc:ITA
Silver:Hans Granfelt
Gösta Almgren
Hans Drakenberg
Birger Cederin
Silvernoc:SWE
Bronze:Philippe Cattiau
Bernard Schmetz
Georges Buchard
Michel Pécheux
Henri Dulieux
Paul Wormser
Bronzenoc:FRA
Prev:1932
Next:1948

The men's team épée was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event. The competition was held from 7 August 1936 to 8 August 1936. 108 fencers from 21 nations competed.[1] [2] Each team could have a maximum of six fencers, with four participating in any given match.[3]

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. Individual bouts were to 3 touches. Individual bouts awarded 2 points to the victor's team, or 1 point to each team if the individual bout was a 3–3 tie. The team with more points won the match, with competition potentially stopping when one team reached 17 points out of the possible 32, if further competition was not necessary to determine tie-breakers for advancement. If the points were tied at 16, touches received was used to determine the winning team. Pool matches unnecessary to the result were not played.[4]

Rosters

Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
Egypt
France
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Sweden
Switzerland
United States

Results

Round 1

The top two teams in each pool advanced to round 2.[5]

Pool 1

Poland defeated Portugal, 18 points to 14 (9–7). Switzerland defeated Poland on touches received, 32–35, after the points were tied at 16–16 with bouts won 8–8. Portugal defeated Switzerland 9–7 (18–14 on points). Switzerland was eliminated.[6]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 2 1 1 17 15 0
2 2 1 1 16 16 0
3 2 1 1 15 17 0

Pool 2

The Netherlands defeated Denmark, 18 points to 14, with an 8–6–2 individual bout result. The United States–Denmark match was stopped after 12 of 16 bouts when the Americans reached 18 points, 9–3. The United States did not play the Netherlands, as both advanced while Denmark was eliminated.[7]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 2 1 0 9 3 0
2 2 1 0 8 6 2
3 0 0 2 9 17 2

Pool 3

Great Britain defeated Chile, 26 points to 6, with a 12–2–2 individual bout result. The France–Chile match was stopped after 9 of 16 bouts when the French team reached 17 points, 8–0–1. France did not play Great Britain, as both advanced while Chile was eliminated.[7]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 2 1 0 12 2 2
2 2 1 0 8 0 1
3 0 0 2 2 20 3

Pool 4

Egypt defeated Austria, 18 points to 14, with a 9–7 individual bout result. The Sweden–Austria match was stopped after 10 of 16 bouts when the Swedes reached 18 points, 9–1. Sweden did not play Egypt, as both advanced while Austria was eliminated.[8]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 2 1 0 9 1 0
2 2 1 0 9 7 0
3 0 0 2 8 18 0

Pool 5

Argentina defeated Greece, 26 points to 6, with an 11–1–4 individual bout result. The Belgium–Greece match was stopped after 11 of 16 bouts when the Belgians reached 17 points, 8–2–1. Belgium did not play Argentina, as both advanced while Greece was eliminated.[8]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 2 1 0 11 1 4
2 2 1 0 8 2 1
3 0 0 2 3 19 5

Pool 6

Czechoslovakia defeated Hungary, 17 points to 15, with an 8–7–1 individual bout result. The Italy–Hungary match was stopped after 11 of 16 bouts when the Italians reached 17 points, 8–2–1. Italy did not play Czechoslovakia, as both advanced while Hungary was eliminated.[9]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 2 1 0 8 2 1
2 2 1 0 8 7 1
3 0 0 2 9 16 2

Pool 7

Germany defeated Canada, 22 points to 10, with an 11–5 individual bout result. Canada then defeated Brazil, 17–15 points (8–7–1 bouts). The Germany–Brazil match resulted in a German win, 19–13 on points (9–6–1 bouts). This put Germany in first place at 2–0, Canada second at 1–1, and Brazil eliminated in third place at 0–2.[10]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 4 2 0 20 11 1
2 2 1 1 13 18 1
3 0 0 2 13 17 2

Round 2

The top two teams in each pool advanced to the semifinals.[11]

Pool 1

The United States defeated Czechoslovakia, 20 points to 12 (10–6). Italy also defeated Czechoslovakia, with the match stopped when Italy reached 17 points as it was then clear that Czechoslovakia was eliminated and the other two teams advanced.[11]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 2 1 0 8 3 1
2 2 1 0 10 6 0
3 0 0 2 9 18 1

Pool 2

Sweden and Egypt were from the same first-round pool, but had not played each other yet. Both of those teams won their first matches, over the Netherlands and Germany, respectively (with Egypt winning on touches received 34–36 in a very close match). Both teams then lost their second matches, with the Sweden–Germany match also very close (Germany winning this time, 17 points to 15 in an 8–7–1 result). This left all four teams at 1–1, with the Sweden–Egypt and Netherlands–Germany matches both being winner-advances. Egypt was unable to win a single bout, with Sweden prevailing at 8–0–1; Germany defeated Netherlands with 9 wins in the first 13 bouts.[12]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 4 2 1 24 15 2
2 4 2 1 25 19 1
3 2 1 2 22 22 1
4 2 1 2 12 27 2

Pool 3

Belgium and Argentina advanced from the same first-round pool, but had not yet faced each other. They did so in the first match of this round, with Belgium prevailing on touches received (34–35) after the individual bouts were 8–8. Argentina then lost to Portugal, with the match stopped when Portugal reached 18 points (9–5).[13]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 2 1 1 9 5 0
2 2 1 0 8 8 0
3 2 1 0 13 17 0

Pool 4

The Poland–Canada match came down to touches received after the bouts were 8–8, which Poland won 35–36. France defeated Great Britain 19 points to 13 (9–6–1). The victors in the first matches also won the second matches, with Poland beating Great Britain 18 points to 8 (13 bouts, 8–3–2) and France prevailing over Canada 26 points to 6 (13–3).[14]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 4 2 0 22 9 1
2 4 2 0 16 11 2
3 0 0 2 9 17 3
4 0 0 2 11 21 0

Semifinals

The top two teams in each pool advanced to the final.[15]

Semifinal 1

France and Poland advanced from the same second-round pool, but had not faced each other. France beat Germany and Belgium beat Poland in the first pair of matches. Germany defeated Belgium while France beat Poland in the second pair, putting France at 2–0, Germany and Belgium at 1–1, and Poland at 0–2. Poland's best hope was for a three-way tie for second at 1–2, but was unable to defeat Germany (falling 17 points to 5). France defeated Belgium, eliminating the latter team as well.[16]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 6 3 0 33 12 0
2 4 2 1 20 21 2
3 2 1 0 25 19 1
4 0 0 3 8 34 1

Pool 2

Italy and the United States were from the same second-round pool, but had not played each other yet. Italy won in the match between them in the first pairing, with Sweden prevailing over Portugal in the other first pairing. Sweden then defeated the United States and Italy beat Portugal. This left Italy and Sweden at 2–0 while Portugal and the United States were at 0–2, so the third set of matches was not played as unnecessary to determine advancement.[17]

Rank Country Points Notes
1 4 2 0 20 6 0
2 4 2 0 17 14 1
3 0 0 2 9 17 0
4 0 0 2 11 20 1

Final

France defeated Germany again, while Italy faced Sweden for the first time and won. In the second set of pairings, Sweden defeated Germany and Italy beat France. This put Italy at 2–0, Sweden and France at 1–1, and Germany at 0–2 (and out of contention for the gold medal). In the final matches, Italy bested Germany without much difficulty (17 points to 4) to give the former the gold medal and the latter fourth place. The match between Sweden and France then became a silver/bronze match. It was as close as could be, with the individual bouts finishing 8–8. Sweden just barely prevailed on touches received, however, winning 31–32 to take silver and give France bronze.[18]

Rank Country Points
6 3 0 26 11 6
4 2 1 21 22 5
2 1 2 21 23 4
4 0 0 3 11 23 9

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Fencing: 1936 Olympic Results - Men's team épée . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417162610/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/FEN/mens-epee-team.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 3 May 2010 . sports-reference.com.
  2. http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936v2sum.pdf Official Olympic Report
  3. Official Report, p. 755.
  4. Official Report, p. 756.
  5. Official Report, p. 782.
  6. Official Report, p. 783.
  7. Official Report, p. 784.
  8. Official Report, p. 785.
  9. Official Report, p. 786.
  10. Official Report, p. 787.
  11. Official Report, p. 788.
  12. Official Report, pp. 789–90.
  13. Official Report, p. 790
  14. Official Report, p. 791.
  15. Official Report, p. 794.
  16. Official Report, pp. 792–94.
  17. Official Report, pp. 794–95.
  18. Official Report, pp. 795–96.