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The Paris 2024 fencing competition will give 212 athletes the chance to make their Olympic dreams come true. Find out everything you need to know about how athletes can secure their quotas, the stars to watch and the pathway to qualification below.
Fencing has been part of the Olympic programme since the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. Since that edition, on the strength of the age-old tradition of its specialities - sabre, foil and épée - it has become one of the most iconic Olympic sports. 100 years before the next Olympic Games in Paris, the French capital also hosted the first-ever women’s competition in 1924.
At Tokyo 2020, 200 elite fencers from 42 NOCs contested 12 medal events. Find out about the changes that will be in effect for Paris 2024, including the number of athletes and the pathway they will take to the Grand Palais strip at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
A total of 212 fencers will compete at Paris 2024, including 102 men and 102 women, plus six host country quotas (three per gender) and two Universality Places (one per gender).
There will be a maximum of 18 athletes per NOC (nine per gender), including a team of three athletes per gender for team events. For the Specific Event Quota, a team of three athletes per gender or one athlete per gender is considered.
Quota places for individual events vary from a minimum of 34 (per weapon) to a maximum of 37, while quota places for team events vary from a minimum of eight to a maximum of nine.
The variable quota refers to the host country, France, which can decide whether or not to field its own trio of athletes. Each team will consist of three fencers.
READ MORE: Paris 2024: The quest for Olympic qualification begins.
Quota places are allocated to athletes by name in the following individual events:
Quota places are allocated to NOCs in the following events/scenarios:
This list is established according to the number of points accumulated from 3 April 2023 to 1 April 2024 at the following events:
The Team Ranking will be determined by counting the points obtained in these events, for a total of 48 teams, and consequently, 144 athletes will qualify for the individual competitions (three per NOC).
The four highest-ranked NOCs in each weapon and per gender will qualify for the Games, irrespective of their zone of origin.
The best-placed team in each weapon and per gender from each of the four zones (Africa, America, Asia-Oceania, Europe) ranked between 5th and 16th place in the rankings will also qualify for Paris 2024.
If a zone is not represented in the above-mentioned ranking positions, the next ranked team from that zone will qualify.
The individual ranking will be defined by the points earned between 3 April 2023 and 1 April 2024 in the individual competitions of:
This ranking will then be adjusted to define the AOR, removing the names of athletes per NOC and weapon who have already qualified through the Team competition. For other NOCs, only the highest-placed athletes per NOC, zone and weapon will remain in the ranking.
These quota places will be reserved for NOC that did not qualify any athletes through the Team qualifications.
The highest four athletes will qualify for Paris 2024, one per NOC and one per zone (Europe, Asia-Oceania, America, Africa).
Only NOCs that have not already qualified athletes in one or more weapons by the two previous methods will be allowed to participate in these events.
These NOCs may only participate with one athlete per weapon. In any case, no NOC may qualify more than three athletes per weapon at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The fencing events of Paris 2024, will take place between 27 July and 4 August 2024.
There will be 12 medal events, and the same weapons will be used by each gender:
The venue of the fencing competition will be the iconic Paris Grand Palais.
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With the upcoming Olympic Games taking place on home soil, French fencers will be aiming to shine at Paris 2024. Among them, Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Romain Cannone will be aiming to defend his title from Tokyo 2020 after he not only claimed the world title but also guided the French men's épée team to gold at the 2022 FIE World Fencing Championships in Cairo, Egypt.
However, the French men’s épée team will need to overcome the challenges of traditional favourites Italy, as well as the reigning Olympic champions, Japan.
In foil, the current world no. 1 Tommaso Marini of Italy will be hoping to win gold after his compatriot Daniele Garozzo was defeated by Cheung Ka Long of Hong Kong, China in the final at Tokyo 2020.
Republic of Korea will be aiming for a third gold in men’s team sabre when they compete at Paris 2024, after successfully claiming their fourth consecutive world title this year in Cairo.
In the women’s foil competition, France’s Ysaora Thibus added world gold to her Tokyo 2020 team foil silver at the 2022 World Championships. The 31-year-old will be aiming for the top step on the podium at her home Olympic Games.
The 2022 women’s team épée champions, Republic of Korea, will also have their eyes on the gold medal at the Grand Palais, however they will face stiff competition from Olympic bronze medallists Italy, who currently sit second in the world rankings.
Find out more about the qualification system for other sports that will feature at Paris 2024.
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