Quick Facts Men's masters foil at the Games of the II Olympiad, Venue ...

Men's masters foil at the Games of the II Olympiad
Lucien Mérignac
Venue	Tuileries Garden
Date	22–29 May
Competitors	61 from 7 nations
Medalists
Lucien Mérignac  France Alphonse Kirchhoffer  France Jean-Baptiste Mimiague  France
← 1896

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The foil event for professionals involved 61 fencers from 7 nations.^[1] It was held from 22 to 29 May. The event as won by Lucien Mérignac, as France swept the top three places. Alphonse Kirchhoffer and Jean-Baptiste Mimiague were second and third, respectively.

This was the second and final appearance of the event. Fencing masters were an exception to the amateurs-only nature of the early Olympics. Masters fencing was held as an Olympic event in 1896 (men's foil only) and 1900 (all three weapons for men, as well as a special event in épée that pitted the top professionals against the top amateurs). By 1904, only amateur events were conducted.^[2]

The event used a five-round format (four main rounds and a repechage). For the first three rounds (round 1, quarterfinals, repechage) the round consisted of the fencers being paired and fighting a single bout; jury evaluations of skill rather than the match results were used to determine advancement. The last two rounds (semifinals and finals) used round-robin pool play with actual results counting toward placement. Standard foil rules were used, including that touches had to be made with the tip of the foil, the target area was limited to the torso, and priority determined the winner of double touches.^[2]

• Round 1: The 61 fencers paired off and faced a single opponent in one bout. The jury selected 45 fencers to advance to the quarterfinals.
• Quarterfinals: The 45 fencers were paired off again. The jury selected 10 fencers for the semifinals. All the rest went to the repchage.
• Repechage: The 35 fencers were paired. The jury selected 6 of them to advance.
• Semifinals: The 16 fencers from the quarterfinals and repechage were divided into two pools of 8 fencers each. Each pool played a round robin. The top four fencers in each semifinal pool advanced to the final, while the bottom four fencers went to a classification 9–16 final.
• Finals: There was a main final (top 4 from each semifinal) and a classification 9–16 final (bottom 4 from each semifinal). Each was conducted as a round-robin.