Fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's sabre

The men's sabre was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eleventh appearance of the event. The competition was held from 12 August 1948 to 13 August 1948. 60 fencers from 24 nations competed.[1] Nations were limited to three fencers each. The event was won by Aladár Gerevich, the fifth of nine straight Games in which a Hungarian would win the event. Gerevich became the third man to win multiple medals in the individual sabre, adding to his 1936 bronze. Vincenzo Pinton of Italy took silver and Pál Kovács of Hungary took bronze; it was the third straight Games where the sabre podium was Hungary-Italy-Hungary.

Men's sabre
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Aladár Gerevich (1952)
VenueWembley Palace of Engineering, London
Dates12 – 13 August
Competitors60 from 24 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Aladár Gerevich  Hungary
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Vincenzo Pinton  Italy
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Pál Kovács  Hungary
← 1936
1952 →

Background

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This was the 11th appearance of the event, which is the only fencing event to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three of the nine finalists from 1936 returned after the 12-year break: bronze medalist Aladár Gerevich of Hungary, fifth-place finisher Vincenzo Pinton of Italy, and seventh-place finisher Antoni Sobik of Poland. Hungary, dominant in the event since the 1908 Games, was expected to perform well again, led by Gerevich and 1937 world champion Pál Kovács. Aldo Montano of Italy had won the 1938 and 1947 world championships (1939 through 1946 had been cancelled due to World War II) and would have been a favorite, but he did not compete in the individual event, leaving Pinton as the greatest challenger to the Hungarians.[2]

Finland and Peru each made their debut in the men's sabre. Italy and Denmark each made their ninth appearance in the event, tied for most of any nation, each having missed two of the first three events but having appeared every Games since 1908.

Competition format

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The competition format was pool play round-robin, with bouts to five touches. Not all bouts were played in some pools if not necessary to determine advancement. Ties were broken through fence-off bouts ("barrages") in early rounds if necessary for determining advancement, but by touches received in final rounds (and for non-advancement-necessary placing in earlier rounds).[3] The fencers from the top four teams in the team sabre event received a bye in the first round.

  • Round 1: There 8 pools of between 6 and 7 fencers each. The top 3 fencers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals.
  • Quarterfinals: There were 4 pools of 8 or 9 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. (The format was designed for 9 fencers in each pool, but Belgium—which received byes to the quarterfinals—had no individual fencers, so the three pools which would have had Belgian fencers had 8 fencers instead of 9.)
  • Semifinals: There were 2 pools of 8 fencers each. The top 4 fencers in each semifinal advanced to the final.
  • Final: The final pool had 8 fencers.

Schedule

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All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Thursday, 12 August 1948 Round 1
Friday, 13 August 1948 Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final

Results

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Round 1

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The top 3 finishers in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals.[3]

Fencers from the four teams that advanced to the final of the men's team sabre event received byes through round 1, though Belgium had no individual competitors:

Pool 1

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Salah Dessouki   Egypt 4 1 Q
2 Antonio Haro   Mexico 4 2 Q
3 Svatopluk Skýva   Czechoslovakia 4 1 Q
4 Roberto Mañalich   Cuba 3 3
5 Arthur Pilbrow   Great Britain 3 3
6 Rıza Arseven   Turkey 1 4
7 Kauko Jalkanen   Finland 0 5

Pool 2

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Jacques Lefèvre   France 4 0 Q
2 Willem van den Berg   Netherlands 3 0 Q
3 Robin Brook   Great Britain 3 2 Q
4 Benito Ramos   Mexico 1 3
5 Sabri Tezcan   Turkey 1 3
6 Erkki Kerttula   Finland 0 4

Pool 3

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Hubert Loisel   Austria 5 0 Q
2 Jean Levavasseur   France 4 2 Q
3 Ahmed Abou-Shadi   Egypt 4 2 Q
4 Jaroslav Starý   Czechoslovakia 3 3
5 Ivan Osiier   Denmark 2 3
6 Nils Sjöblom   Finland 1 5
7 Fidel Luña   Mexico 0 4

Pool 4

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Alois Sokol   Czechoslovakia 6 0 Q
2 Heinz Putzl   Austria 4 2 Q
3 Juan Paladino   Uruguay 4 2 Q
4 Ivan Ruben   Denmark 2 3
5 Andrés Neubauer   Chile 2 4
6 Merih Sezen   Turkey 1 4
7 Ioannis Karamazakis   Greece 1 5

Pool 5

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Eddy Kuijpers   Netherlands 4 1 Q
2 Fernando Huergo   Argentina 3 2 Q
3 Aage Leidersdorff   Denmark 3 2 Q
4 Werner Plattner   Austria 2 3
5 Otto Greter   Switzerland 2 3
6 Nikolaos Khristogiannopoulos   Greece 1 4

Pool 6

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Edgardo Pomini   Argentina 5 0 Q
2 Antoni Sobik   Poland 4 1 Q
3 Frans Mosman   Netherlands 3 2 Q
4 Walter Widemann   Switzerland 2 3
5 Roland Asselin   Canada 1 4
6 Juan Antonio Martínez   Cuba 0 5

Pool 7

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Gramain and Zulficar defeated Zaczyk in a three-way barrage for second and third place.

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Jorge Cermesoni   Argentina 4 1 Q
2 Maurice Gramain   France 3 2 Q
3 Mohamed Zulficar   Egypt 3 2 Q
4 Teodor Zaczyk   Poland 3 2
5 Ignacio Goldstein   Chile 2 3
6 Athanasios Nanopoulos   Greece 0 5

Pool 8

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Sarria defeated Eriksson in a barrage for third place.

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Roger Tredgold   Great Britain 4 1 Q
2 Etienne Molnar   Brazil 4 1 Q
3 Jorge Sarria   Peru 3 2 Q
4 Bo Eriksson   Sweden 3 2
5 Bolesław Banaś   Poland 1 4
6 Alphonse Ruckstuhl   Switzerland 0 5

Quarterfinals

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The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.[4]

Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Jean Levavasseur   France 6 0 Q
2 Tibor Berczelly   Hungary 5 1 Q
3 Dean Cetrulo   United States 4 3 Q
4 Hubert Loisel   Austria 4 2 Q
5 Frans Mosman   Netherlands 2 4
6 Ahmed Abou-Shadi   Egypt 2 4
7 Jorge Sarria   Peru 1 5
8 Jorge Cermesoni   Argentina 1 6

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Gastone Darè   Italy 5 1 Q
2 Jacques Lefèvre   France 5 1 Q
3 George Worth   United States 4 2 Q
4 Antoni Sobik   Poland 4 3 Q
5 Willem van den Berg   Netherlands 3 4
6 Fernando Huergo   Argentina 2 4
7 Etienne Molnar   Brazil 2 5
8 Heinz Putzl   Austria 0 5

Quarterfinal 3

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Haro defeated Tredgold and Kuijpers in a three-way barrage for fourth place.

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Aladár Gerevich   Hungary 7 0 Q
2 Vincenzo Pinton   Italy 5 2 Q
3 Salah Dessouki   Egypt 4 3 Q
4 Antonio Haro   Mexico 3 4 Q
5 Roger Tredgold   Great Britain 3 4
6 Eddy Kuijpers   Netherlands 3 4
7 Juan Paladino   Uruguay 2 5
8 Svatopluk Skýva   Czechoslovakia 1 6

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Pál Kovács   Hungary 6 0 Q
2 Tibor Nyilas   United States 5 1 Q
3 Aage Leidersdorff   Denmark 5 2 Q
4 Carlo Turcato   Italy 5 3 Q
5 Robin Brook   Great Britain 3 4
Edgardo Pomini   Argentina 3 4
Alois Sokol   Czechoslovakia 3 5
8 Maurice Gramain   France 2 5
9 Mohamed Zulficar   Egypt 0 8

Semifinals

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The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to the final.[4]

Semifinal 1

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Pál Kovács   Hungary 6 0 Q
2 George Worth   United States 5 1 Q
3 Vincenzo Pinton   Italy 5 2 Q
4 Tibor Nyilas   United States 4 3 Q
5 Jean Levavasseur   France 3 4
6 Carlo Turcato   Italy 2 4
7 Salah Dessouki   Egypt 1 5
8 Aage Leidersdorff   Denmark 0 7

Semifinal 2

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes
1 Jacques Lefèvre   France 6 1 Q
2 Aladár Gerevich   Hungary 5 1 Q
2 Gastone Darè   Italy 5 1 Q
4 Antonio Haro   Mexico 4 3 Q
5 Tibor Berczelly   Hungary 4 3
6 Dean Cetrulo   United States 1 5
Antoni Sobik   Poland 1 5
8 Hubert Loisel   Austria 0 7

Final

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TS TR
  Aladár Gerevich   Hungary 7 0 35 18
  Vincenzo Pinton   Italy 5 2 32 23
  Pál Kovács   Hungary 5 2 33 24
4 Jacques Lefèvre   France 4 3 27 26
5 George Worth   United States 2 5 26 27
6 Gastone Darè   Italy 2 5 25 30
7 Tibor Nyilas   United States 2 5 20 31
8 Antonio Haro   Mexico 1 6 15 34

References

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  1. ^ "Fencing: 1948 Olympic Results - Men's sabre". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  2. ^ "Sabre, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b Official Report, p. 376.
  4. ^ a b Official Report, p. 377.