Fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's foil

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Women's foil
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
VenueSt Kilda Town Hall
Dates29 November
Competitors23 from 11 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Gillian Sheen  Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Olga Orban-Szabo
 Romania
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Renée Garilhe  France
← 1952
1960 →

The women's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event. The competition was held on 29 November 1956. 23 fencers from 11 nations competed.[1]

Competition format

The competition used a pool play format, with each fencer facing the other fencers in the pool in a round robin. Bouts were to 4 touches. Barrages were used to break ties necessary for advancement (touches against were the first tie-breaker used to give ranks when the rank did not matter). 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.[2]

Results

Round 1

The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.

Pool 1

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Maxine Mitchell  United States 5 1 21 15 Qualified for semifinals
2 Emma Yefimova  Soviet Union 4 2 21 10 Qualified for semifinals
3 Lídia Sákovicsné Dömölky  Hungary 4 2 19 14 Qualified for semifinals
4 Catherine Delbarre  France 3 3 17 14 Qualified for semifinals
Won barrage vs. Cesari 4–2
5 Velleda Cesari  Italy 3 3 17 17 Lost barrage vs. Delbarre 2–4
6 Mary Glen-Haig  Great Britain 2 4 12 21
7 Denise O'Brien  Australia 0 6 8 24

Pool 2

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1
Jan York-Romary
 United States 5 2 23 17 Qualified for semifinals
2
Ellen Müller-Preis
 Austria 5 2 22 19 Qualified for semifinals
3 Bruna Colombetti-Peroncini  Italy 4 3 25 19 Qualified for semifinals
4 Pilar Roldán  Mexico 4 3 22 23 Qualified for semifinals
5 Ecaterina Orb-Lazăr  Romania 3 4 18 18
6 Nadezhda Shitikova  Soviet Union 3 4 21 22
7 Régine Veronnet  France 3 4 22 23
8 Lois Joseph  Australia 1 6 18 29

Pool 3

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Gillian Sheen  Great Britain 6 1 27 10 Qualified for semifinals
2
Olga Orban-Szabo
 Romania 5 1 21 17 Qualified for semifinals
3 Renée Garilhe  France 5 2 24 19 Qualified for semifinals
4 Karen Lachmann  Denmark 4 3 20 21 Qualified for semifinals
5 Valentina Rastvorova  Soviet Union 3 4 22 21
6 Judy Goodrich  United States 3 4 17 24
7
Magda Nyári-Kovács
 Hungary 1 5 15 20
8 Joy Hardon  Australia 0 7 12 28

Semifinals

The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Bruna Colombetti-Peroncini  Italy 4 0 16 2 Qualified for final
2 Karen Lachmann  Denmark 4 0 16 6 Qualified for final
3 Renée Garilhe  France 3 2 17 14 Qualified for final
4
Ellen Müller-Preis
 Austria 2 3 14 12 Qualified for final
5 Emma Yefimova  Soviet Union 1 4 9 17
6 Maxine Mitchell  United States 0 5 2 20

Semifinal 2

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Catherine Delbarre  France 4 1 18 11 Qualified for final
2
Jan York-Romary
 United States 3 2 15 13 Qualified for final
3
Olga Orban-Szabo
 Romania 3 2 15 14 Qualified for final
4 Gillian Sheen  Great Britain 2 3 13 13 Qualified for final
Won barrage vs. Sákovicsné Dömölky 4–2
5 Lídia Sákovicsné Dömölky  Hungary 2 3 15 14 Lost barrage vs. Sheen 2–4
6 Pilar Roldán  Mexico 1 4 8 19

Final

Orban-Szabo defeated Sheen in the round-robin, but had to face her again in a barrage after finishing tied at 6–1 (Orban-Szabo had lost to Garilhe). In the barrage, Sheen was the victor to win the gold medal.

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Gillian Sheen  Great Britain 6 1 26 20 Won barrage vs. Orban-Szabo 4–2
2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Olga Orban-Szabo
 Romania 6 1 27 17 Lost barrage vs. Sheen 2–4
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Renée Garilhe  France 5 2 26 14
4
Jan York-Romary
 United States 4 3 21 23
5 Catherine Delbarre  France 3 4 20 25
6 Karen Lachmann  Denmark 2 5 17 20
7
Ellen Müller-Preis
 Austria 1 6 20 25
8 Bruna Colombetti-Peroncini  Italy 1 6 14 27

References

  1. ^ "Fencing: 1956 Olympic Results - Women's foil". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  2. ^ Official Report, p. 454.