EPEE | STIFF SWORD. TIP SCORING, ENTIRE BODY IS TARGET AREA
DEFINED. Epee is the largest and heaviest of the three fencing weapons. Like in foil, points are only scored by making contact with the tip. However, rather than using a lamé, the target area includes the opponent’s entire body.
TOKYO 2020. Gold medalists include: CHN Sun Yiwen (indv-women), FRA Romain Cannone (indv-men), EST Estonia (team-women), JPN Japan (team-men).
MEN. France leads the epee medal count with 40 overall – however, France and Italy are neck-and-neck when it comes to gold. Each has topped the podium 15-times, though Italy leads individual gold with 7 to France’s 6. Both nations have swept individual épée medals in the same year twice (winning gold, silver, bronze). Other than Cuba’s Ramon Fonst, who captured the first two épée individual gold medals in 1900 and 1904, no other man has won individual gold more than once. In Tokyo, Romain Cannone became the first French individual épée gold medalist since 1992.
WOMEN. Before 1996, foil was the only women’s fencing event at the Summer Games. In Atlanta, French fencer Laura Flessel-Colovic starred in épée’s debut, winning both individual and team gold. In fact, she remains the only woman to accomplish the feat in épée. Over the past 7 Games – Hungary, France, Russia (ROC) and China have become the go-to épée medaling nations. Hungary is the only nation to win multiple individual épée gold medals (3), while Russia remains the only nation to top the team podium twice. Hungary’s Timea Nagy stands alone as the only talent who has won 2 individual gold medals (2000, 2004).
ÉPÉE SCHEDULE.
27 JUL | Paris 2024. Épée Individual Women
28 JUL | Paris 2024. Épée Individual Men
30 JUL | Paris 2024. Épée Team Women
02 AUG | Paris 2024. Épée Team Men
