Fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's team épée

Men's team épée at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Venue	St Kilda Town Hall
Dates	28 November
Competitors	55 from 11 nations
Medalists
Edoardo Mangiarotti Giuseppe Delfino Carlo Pavesi Franco Bertinetti Giorgio Anglesio Alberto Pellegrino  Italy József Sákovics Béla Rerrich Lajos Balthazár Ambrus Nagy József Marosi Barnabás Berzsenyi  Hungary Armand Mouyal Claude Nigon Daniel Dagallier Yves Dreyfus René Queyroux  France
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Fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Épée	men
Team épée	men
Foil	men	women
Team foil	men
Sabre	men
Team sabre	men
v t e

The men's team épée was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the tenth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 28 November 1956. 55 fencers from 11 nations competed.^[1]

Competition format

The competition used a pool play format, with each team facing the other teams in the pool in a round robin. Each match consisted of 16 bouts, with 4 fencers on one team facing each of the 4 fencers on the other team. Bouts were to 5 touches. Total touches against were the tie-breaker if a match was tied 8 bouts to 8. However, only as much fencing was done as was necessary to determine advancement, so some matches never occurred and some matches were stopped before the full 16 bouts were fenced if the teams advancing from the pool could be determined.^[2]

Rosters

Results

Round 1

The top two nations in each pool advanced to the semifinals.

Pool 1

In the first set of pairings, Italy defeated Australia 11–5 and Great Britain defeated the United States 9–7. Italy and the United States split the bouts in their match 8–8, with Italy prevailing on touches against (63–65). When Great Britain took a 9–3 lead in its match against Australia, the pool was declared finished as Great Britain and Italy were both guaranteed advancement at 2–0 compared to the other two teams at 0–2.

Rank	Nation	Wins	Losses	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost
1	Great Britain	2	0	18	10
2	Italy	2	0	17	13
3	United States	0	2	15	17
4	Australia	0	2	8	20

Pool 2

In the first set of pairings, Hungary defeated Colombia 14–2 and the Soviet Union defeated Sweden 9–7. The Soviet Union defeated Colombia 15–1. When Hungary took a 9–5 lead in its match against Sweden, the pool was declared finished as Hungary and the Soviet Union were both guaranteed advancement at 2–0 compared to the other two teams at 0–2.

Rank	Nation	Wins	Losses	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost	Notes
1	Hungary	2	0	23	7	Qualified for semifinals
2	Soviet Union	2	0	24	8	Qualified for semifinals
3	Sweden	0	2	12	18
4	Colombia	0	2	3	29

Pool 3

Belgium defeated Luxembourg 11–5. The match between France and Luxembourg was stopped at 9–6 because Luxembourg was then guaranteed to finish 0–2 and be eliminated.

Rank	Nation	Wins	Losses	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost	Notes
1	Belgium	1	0	11	5	Qualified for semifinals
2	France	1	0	9	6	Qualified for semifinals
3	Luxembourg	0	2	11	20

Semifinals

The top two nations in each pool advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Hungary defeated Belgium 11–5 in the first match. Belgium and Italy split the bouts 8–8 in the second, with Belgium taking the match win on touches against, 63–67. This put Belgium in the position of watching the final match, needing either a Hungary win or an Italy victory by blowout (14–2 or better) to advance. When the Italy–Hungary match reached 9 bouts to 3 in Italy's favor, neither outcome was possible and Belgium was mathematically eliminated—ending the pool.

Rank	Nation	Wins	Losses	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost	Notes
1	Italy	1	1	17	11	Qualified for final
2	Hungary	1	1	14	14	Qualified for final
3	Belgium	1	1	13	19

Semifinal 2

Great Britain (10–6) and then France (9–7) each defeated the Soviet Union, eliminating the latter team.

Rank	Nation	Wins	Losses	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost	Notes
1	Great Britain	1	0	10	6	Qualified for final
2	France	1	0	9	7	Qualified for final
3	Soviet Union	0	2	13	19

Final

The first two pairings saw Hungary defeat France (9–7) and Italy beat Great Britain (10–6). Hungary and Italy each won again in the second pairings, this time Hungary over Great Britain (10–6) and Italy against France (15–1). With two 2–0 teams and two 0–2 teams, the third set of pairings in the round-robin were effectively a gold medal match and a bronze medal match. France defeated Great Britain 9–3 to take the bronze medal, while Italy prevailed over Hungary 9–3 for the gold.

Rank	Nation	Wins	Losses	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost	Notes
	Italy	3	0	34	10
	Hungary	2	1	22	22
	France	1	2	17	27
4	Great Britain	0	3	15	29

References