An NOC may enter up to 3 athletes per weapon (épée, foil, or sabre) for the weapons in which there is a team event and up to 2 athletes per weapon for other weapons.

For each team event there will be 8 qualified teams plus a team from the Host Nation if applicable. The teams will qualify as follows:

• Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) Official Team Ranking as of March 31, 2008 (best 4 teams)
• Highest ranked team from each zone (America, Europe, Asia/Oceania, Africa) outside top 4 in FIE Team Ranking (4 teams)

For each individual event (weapons which have a team event) there will be 39 qualified athletes as follows:

• All athletes qualified for team competition (24 athletes)
• The 3 highest ranked athletes in the FIE Individual adjusted official ranking (AOR) (3 athletes)
• The 7 highest ranked athletes from FIE Individual AOR by zone (Europe 2, America 2, Asia/Oceania 2, Africa 1) – 1 per NOC
• The 5 highest ranked athletes from zonal qualifying events (Europe 2, America 1, Asia/Oceania 1, Africa 1) – 1 per NOC

For the remaining individual events there will be 24 qualified athletes as follows:

• The first 8 from the FIE Individual Ranking
• The first 8 from the FIE Individual AOR by zone (Europe 3, America 2, Asia/Oceania 2, Africa 1) – 1 athlete per country
• The first 8 from zonal qualifying events (Europe 3, America 2, Asia/Oceania 2, Africa 1) – 1 per NOC, open only for NOCs not qualified as mentioned above

• Qualifications for the 2008 OG
• Federation Internationale D'Escrime