Fencing has been an Olympic sport since the first modern Olympics with the women’s events starting in 1924.  The events have expanded from three in the first Olympic games to ten, as there has been since 1996.  Five of the events are in men’s fencing, with five in women’s. Now with three disciplines and individual and team events in each there should be 12 events, but the Olympics are limited to ten and so all six individual events are held with two team events being skipped each cycle. This time it’s the women’s team foil and the men’s team sabre that are not being held. Fencing will be held in the Carioca Arena, a new facility in the Barra zone. Qualifying for the Olympics was based on the FIE rankings on April 4th with a zonal qualifier two weeks later the last chance for US athletes and teams to qualify. There were no fencing trials for the US Olympic spots.

The Team:

This year’s team is made up of 14 athletes, six men and eight women. The US did not qualify a men’s epee team, only one individual. Only four of the athletes are first time Olympians as the bulk of the team was in London and three were in Beijing as well. Mariel Zagunis is the veteran of the group at 31 while Eli Dershwitz won’t turn 21 until next month.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

USA Fencing
Men:
Jason Pryor – Individual Épée
Miles Chamley-Watson* – Individual and Team Foil
Alexander Massialas* – Individual and Team Foil
Gerek Meinhardt** – Individual and Team Foil
Eli Dershwitz – Individual Sabre
Daryl Homer* – Individual Sabre

Women:
Katharine Holmes – Individual and Team Épée
Courtney Hurley* – Individual and Team Épée
Kelley Hurley** – Individual and Team Épée
Lee Kiefer* – Individual Foil
Nzingha Prescod* – Individual Foil
Ibtihaj Muhammad – Individual and Team Sabre
Dagmara Wozniak* – Individual and Team Sabre
Mariel Zagunis*** – Individual and Team Sabre
* – Was on team in 2012 – London
** – Was on team in 2012 and 2008 (Beijing)
*** – Was on team in 2012, 2008, and 2004 (Athens)

Format:

All the fencing events are knockout style. In team events there are three fencers per team who will face the three fencers on the other team. Scores are summed up and the team with the most points at the end wins. Each fight is limited to three minutes. The first fight ends at three minutes or when a team reaches five points. The second fight ends at three minutes or when a team reaches ten points… and so on until the end. In the individual events it’s first to 15 unless the three rounds of three minutes each expire first.

Schedule:

All Times ET
Saturday, August 6th
9:45 AM – Women’s Individual Epee – Round of 32 – Katharine Holmes vs. Erika Kirpu
9:45 AM – Women’s Individual Epee – Round of 32 – Courtney Hurley vs. Yana Shemyakina
10:15 AM – Women’s Individual Epee – Round of 32 – Kelley Hurley vs. Nathalie Moellhausen
11:30 AM – Women’s Individual Epee – Round of 16
12:45 PM – Women’s Individual Epee – Quaterfinals
3 PM – Women’s Individual Epee – Semifinals
4:15 PM – Women’s Individual Epee – Finals

Sunday, August 7th
9 AM – Men’s Individual Foil – Round of 32 – Gerek Meinhardt vs. TBD
10 AM – Men’s Individual Foil – Round of 32 – Miles Chamley-Watson vs. Artur Akhmatkhuzin
10:30 AM – Men’s Individual Foil – Round of 32 – Alexander Massialas vs. TBD
11:30 AM – Men’s Individual Foil – Round of 16
12:45 PM – Men’s Individual Foil – Quarterfinals
3 PM – Men’s Individual Foil – Semifinals
4:15 PM – Men’s Individual Foil – Finals

Monday, August 8th
9 AM – Women’s Individual Sabre – Round of 32 – Mariel Zagunis vs. TBD
9:40 AM – Women’s Individual Sabre – Round of 32 – Dagmara Wozniak vs. Vassiliki Vougiouka
10 AM – Women’s Individual Sabre – Round of 32 – Ibtihaj Muhammad vs. Olena Kravatska
10:35 AM – Women’s Individual Sabre – Round of 16
11:40 AM – Women’s Individual Sabre – Quarterfinals
3 PM – Women’s Individual Sabre – Semifinals
4:15 PM – Women’s Individual Sabre – Finals

Tuesday, August 9th
9:45 AM – Men’s Individual Épée – Round of 32 – Jason Pryor vs. Benjamin Steffen
11:30 AM – Men’s Individual Épée – Round of 16
12:45 PM – Men’s Individual Épée – Quarterfinals
3 PM – Men’s Individual Épée – Semifinals
4:15 PM – Men’s Individual Épée – Finals

Wednesday, August 10th
8:10 AM – Women’s Individual Foil – Round of 32 – Nzingha Prescod vs. Nataly Michel
9:25 AM – Women’s Individual Foil – Round of 32 – Lee Kiefer vs. Mona Shaito
10 AM – Women’s Individual Foil – Round of 16
11 AM – Women’s Individual Foil – Quarterfinals
12:05 PM – Men’s Individual Sabre – Round of 32 – Eli Dershwitz vs. Seppe Van Holsbeke
12:05 PM – Men’s Individual Sabre – Round of 32 – Daryl Homer vs. Ilya Mokretcov
1:35 PM – Men’s Individual Sabre – Round of 16
2:40 PM – Men’s Individual Sabre – Quarterfinals
4:30 PM – Women’s Individual Foil – Semifinals
5:30 PM – Men’s Individual Sabre – Semifinals
6:20 PM – Women’s Individual Foil – Final
6:50 PM – Men’s Individual Sabre – Final

Thursday, August 11th
9:30 AM – Women’s Team Epee – Quarterfinals – USA vs. Romania
11 AM – Women’s Team Epee – Semifinals
1:30 PM – Women’s Team Epee – Placement 5-8
4 PM – Women’s Team Epee – Finals

Friday, August 12th
8 AM – Men’s Team Foil – Quarterfinals – USA vs. Egypt
9:30 AM – Men’s Team Foil – Semifinals
12:15 PM – Men’s Team Foil – Placement 5-8
4 PM – Men’s Team Foil – Finals

Saturday, August 13th
8 AM – Women’s Team Sabre – Quarterfinals – USA vs. Poland
9:15 AM – Women’s Team Sabre – Semifinals
11:45 AM – Women’s Team Sabre – Placement 5-8
4 PM – Women’s Team Sabre – Finals

Past Results:

The US has only won 21 medals in fencing at the Olympics, a far smaller number than the 121 of Italy and 115 of France. The US only has two gold medals, both in women’s individual sabre in 2008 and 2004 by current team member Zagunis. She won a team medal with the US as well in 2012.