Qualifying Criteria
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.
Contents
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:
For each individual event (weapons which have a team event) there will be 39 qualified athletes as follows:
For the remaining individual events there will be 24 qualified athletes as follows:
Épée
Team Competition:
The first four teams in the FIE team ranking:
The highest-ranked team from each zone:
Invitational:
^ China received two additional places for team event.
Sabre
Team Competition:
The first four teams in the FIE team ranking:
The highest-ranked team from each zone:
Foil
Team Competition:
The first four teams in the FIE team ranking:
The highest-ranked team from each zone:
Sabre
Team Competition:
The first four teams in the FIE team ranking:
The highest-ranked team from each zone:
* The host country will have the right to enter 8 fencers, to be distributed between team and individual events as it sees fit: thus, it could enter teams, or have no team and select for only the individual events. Any places unused by the host country of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will be reallocated by the Tripartite Commission (IOC, NOC, FIE)