Dates July 17–24 | Competitors 76 from 11 nations | |
Venue Franco-British Exhibition fencing grounds | ||
The men's sabre was one of four fencing events on the Fencing at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. The top two places were won by Hungarian fencers, who also took the gold medal in the team sabre event.
Contents
First round
The first round was conducted in round-robin format, to three touches. Pool sizes ranged from 4 to 8 fencers. The three contestants who had lost the fewest bouts advanced.
Pool B
The three-way tie for the two remaining places resulted in the British fencer being eliminated.
Pool C
Renaud lost both his playoff matches, eliminating him and allowing Grade and Jack to advance.
Pool D
The playoff resulted in two losses for Lichtenfels.
Pool E
The fifth pool was small, with only 4 fencers. This meant only one, Langevin, was eliminated.
Pool F
Petri defeated van Tomme in the playoff for third place after having lost to the Belgian in the main pool.
Pool G
Badman defeated van Minden again in the playoff for third place.
Pool J
The tenth pool was the largest, at fully twice the size of the fifth. Five of the eight fencers were eliminated. The Bohemian fencer, von Lobsdorf, defeated each of his seven opponents for a decisive first place in the pool. There was no match between Sarzano and Stohr.
Pool L
Chapuis was eliminated in the three-way playoff for second and third.
Pool M
The final pool was one of the larger pools, with 7 fencers.
Second round
There were eight second round pools, ranging in size from 4 to 6.
Pool 1
Notley's pair of victories in the playoff gave him second in the pool, allowing him to advance.
Pool 7
Doorman, who had lost to Petri in the main pool, defeated the German in the playoff for second place.
Semifinals
There were two semifinals, each of 8 fencers. The top 4 in each advanced to the final.
Semifinal 2
Four fencers tied at 5-2 records, all advancing to the finals. Ceccherini gave up after his first four bouts, giving Tóth, van der Voodt, and Doorman wins by walkover.
Final
Fuchs and de Lobsdorf did not finish within the time limit, resulting in a loss for both of them.
The playoff match for the gold medal was won by Fuchs, with the one-touch bout decided by a parry and riposte to his fellow Hungarian's head.