The extraordinary venue made for a spectacular showcase for fencing in the City of Light.
The Paris 2024 Olympics drew to a close on Sunday 11th August 2024, with the fencing competition finishing on August 4th.
Much praise and TV time was lavished on the spectacular Grand Palais venue, which was also used for the 2010 World Fencing Championships. The theatrics of the presentation and the sheer noise and energy generated were remarked upon by almost everyone who visited.
The same venue was also used for the taekwondo competition, and will be used for the same sports at the Paralympic Games. The wheelchair fencing competition starts on the 3rd September.
In the Olympic competition, the USA’s Lee Kiefer defended her Tokyo 2020 title in women’s foil and led the USA to gold in the women’s foil team event.
Kiefer accomplished both feats while introducing her teammate Lauren Scruggs to international fencing fame. Scruggs, a 21-year-old philosophy major at Harvard University, claimed individual silver and anchored the USA in their 45-39 team victory over top-ranked Italy in the gold-medal match.
The Paris 2024 fencing competition also featured championship performances from established Asian stars including Kong Man Wai Vivian (Hong Kong), Kano Koki (Japan) and Cheung Ka Long (Hong Kong). Kong (gold in women’s epee), Kano (gold in men’s epee, silver in men’s epee team) and Cheung (gold in men’s foil) all performed under the pressure of intense expectation at the Grand Palais.
Olga Kharlan won Ukraine’s first medal at Paris 2024 with bronze in women’s sabre. Led by Kharlan, Ukraine’s women then collected their country’s first gold of the Games by beating Republic of Korea 45-42 in the sabre team event.
Japan finished the Paris 2024 fencing competition top of the medal table with five medals: two golds, one silver and two bronzes including the men’s team foil title. Previously, Japan had only won three Olympic fencing medals in their history.
Buoyed by an adoring (and noisy) home crowd, France collected a impressive seven medals (one gold, four silvers, two bronzes).
Great Britain did not have any fencers competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics, after none of our athletes quite made it through the extremely competitive qualification process, despite coming very close. The focus for BF’s Performance pathway is now turned to the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
Great Britain has four wheelchair fencing athletes competing at the Paralympic Games starting on the 3rd September. GBR won five Paralympic medals in wheelchair fencing at Tokyo 2020.
More reporting from the FIE here.
Results here: Fencing at the 2024 Summer Olympics
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