The women's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 31 July 1948 to 2 August 1948. 39 fencers from 15 nations competed.
The competition format was pool play round-robin, with bouts to four touches. Not all bouts were played in some pools if not necessary to determine advancement. Ties were broken through fence-off bouts ("barrages") in early rounds if necessary for determining advancement, but by touches received in final rounds (and for non-advancement-necessary placing in earlier rounds).Official Report, p. 379.
Results
Round 1
The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to round 2.
Pool 1
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Maria Cerra 5 1 2 Anna Klüpfel 4 2 3 Éva Kun 4 2 4 Grete Olsen 3 2 5 Mary Meyer-van der Sluis 2 4 6 Irena Nawrocka 2 4 7 Dorothy Dermody 0 6
Pool 2
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Karen Lachmann 6 0 2 Renée Garilhe 5 1 3 Irene Camber-Corno 3 3 4 Fritzi Wenisch-Filz 3 3 5 Anja Secrève 2 4 6 Nadia Haro Oliva 2 4 7 Emilie Schwindt 0 6
Pool 3
Minton defeated Martin and Fullone in a three-way barrage for fourth place.
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Ilona Elek-Schacherer 5 0 2 Jan York-Romary 4 1 3 Jenny Addams 3 2 4 Gytte Minton 1 4 5 Rhoda Martin 1 4 6 Nélida Fullone 1 4
Pool 4
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Gabriele Zeilinger 4 1 2 Françoise Gouny 3 2 3 Kate Mahaut 3 2 4 Velleda Cesari 3 2 5 Enriqueta Mayora 2 3 6 Betty Hamilton 0 5
Pool 5
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Margit Elek 4 1 2 Louisette Malherbaud 3 1 3 Elena Libera 3 1 4 Elsa Irigoyen 2 3 5 Betty Carnegy-Arbuthnott 1 4 6 Victoria Hagemann 1 4
Pool 6
Dow defeated Rieder in a barrage for fourth place.
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Ellen Müller-Preis 5 1 2 Mary Glen-Haig 5 1 3 Irma de Antequeda 4 2 4 Helena Dow 3 3 5 Hedwig Rieder 3 3 6 Adèle Christiaens 1 5 7 Emma Ruíz 0 6
Round 2
The top 3 finishers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.Official Report, p. 380.
Pool 1
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Maria Cerra 4 1 2 Jenny Addams 4 1 3 Gytte Minton 3 2 4 Irma de Antequeda 2 3 5 Louisette Malherbaud 2 3 6 Gabriele Zeilinger 0 5
Pool 2
Elek-Schacherer and Wenisch-Filz defeated Garilhe in a three-way barrage for second and third place.
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Mary Glen-Haig 5 0 2 Ilona Elek-Schacherer 3 2 3 Fritzi Wenisch-Filz 3 2 4 Renée Garilhe 3 2 5 Elena Libera 0 4 5 Kate Mahaut 0 4
Pool 3
Minton defeated Martin and Fullone in a three-way barrage for fourth place.
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Ellen Müller-Preis 4 1 2 Margit Elek 4 1 3 Irene Camber-Corno 3 2 4 Grete Olsen 2 3 5 Françoise Gouny 1 4 6 Helena Dow 1 4
Pool 4
Cesari defeated York-Romary in a barrage for third place.
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Karen Lachmann 4 1 2 Éva Kun 4 1 3 Velleda Cesari 3 2 4 Jan York-Romary 3 2 5 Elsa Irigoyen 1 4 6 Anna Klüpfel 0 5
Semifinals
The top 4 finishers in each pool advanced to the final.
Semifinal 1
Wenisch-Filz defeated Camber-Corno in a barrage for fourth place.
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Ilona Elek-Schacherer 5 0 2 Karen Lachmann 3 2 3 Mary Glen-Haig 3 2 4 Fritzi Wenisch-Filz 2 3 5 Irene Camber-Corno 2 3 6 Éva Kun 0 5
Semifinal 2
Elek-Schacherer and Wenisch-Filz defeated Garilhe in a three-way barrage for second and third place.
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Notes 1 Ellen Müller-Preis 4 1 2 Maria Cerra 3 2 2 Velleda Cesari 3 2 4 Margit Elek 3 2 5 Jenny Addams 2 3 6 Gytte Minton 0 5
Final
The final resulted in two different three-way ties in the standings: second, third, and fourth place at 5–2 and sixth, seventh, and eighth place at 1–6. Elek-Schacherer took gold with a 6–1 final record, losing only to fifth-place finished Wenisch-Filz. Lachmann took silver, with only 11 touches received compared to 16 each for Müller-Preis and Cerra. Müller-Preis then took bronze, on the strength of one more touch scored (24 to Cerra's 23). The other tie was broken similarly; Elek finished sixth with 26 touches received to Cesari and Glen-Haig's 27 apiece, while Cesari prevailed over Glen-Haig due to her 15 touches scored to the latter's 10.
Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses Ilona Elek-Schacherer 6 1 27 15 Karen Lachmann 5 2 24 11 Ellen Müller-Preis 5 2 24 16 4 Maria Cerra 5 2 23 16 5 Fritzi Wenisch-Filz 4 3 20 21 6 Margit Elek 1 6 16 26 7 Velleda Cesari 1 6 15 27 8 Mary Glen-Haig 1 6 10 27
References