The men's épée was one of ten fencing events on the fencing at the 2000 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twenty-third appearance of the event. The competition was held on 16 September 2000. 42 fencers from 22 nations competed. Each nation was limited to three fencers. The event was won by Pavel Kolobkov of Russia, the nation's second consecutive victory in the men's individual épée (Aleksandr Beketov had won in 1996). Russia joined a five-way tie for third-most gold medals in the event at two (behind Italy at six and France at five). Kolobkov, who had a silver medal in 1992 representing the Unified Team, was the 11th man to win multiple medals in the event. France's Hugues Obry took silver in Sydney, returning France to the podium after a one-Games absence snapped a four-Games medal streak. Lee Sang-ki earned South Korea's first medal in the event with his bronze.
Background
This was the 23rd appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Games in 1896 (with only foil and sabre events held) but has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1900.
Three of the eight quarterfinalists from 1996 returned: silver medalist Iván Trevejo of Cuba, fourth-place finisher Iván Kovács of Hungary, and seventh-place finisher Kaido Kaaberma of Estonia. Also returning were 1992 gold medalist Éric Srecki of France and silver medalist Pavel Kolobkov of the Unified Team (representing Russia since 1996), both of whom had been defeated in the Round of 16 in 1996, as well as 1988 gold medalist Arnd Schmitt of West Germany (now Germany). Schmitt was the reigning World Champion, having won in 1999. Srecki had won both World Championships before (1995) and after (1997) his Olympic victory. Hugues Obry (1998) and Kolobkov (1993 and 1994) joined them, with the Sydney field including the last four World Champions having won the last six World Championships.
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine each made their debut in the event. France, Sweden, and the United States each appeared for the 21st time, tied for most among nations.
Competition format
The competition continued to use the entirely single-elimination (with bronze medal match) format introduced in 1996. All bouts were to 15 touches.
Schedule
All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)
Date Time Round Saturday, 16 September 2000 9:3017:30 Round of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsBronze medal matchFinal
Results
Preliminary round
As there were more than 32 entrants in this event, ten first round matches were held to reduce the field to 32 fencers.
Meelis Loit 15–7 Wang Weixin Aleksandr Poddubny 15–13 Andrus Kajak Michael Switak 14–13 Sergey Shabalin Oleksandr Horbachuk 15–14 Nelson Loyola Mauricio Rivas 15–10 Nick Heffernan Vladimir Pchenikin 15–11 Jonathan Peña Gerry Adams 15–13 Carlos Pedroso Laurie Shong 15–8 David Nathan Zhao Gang 15–12 Muhannad Saif El-Din Tamir Bloom 8–4 Andrey Murashko
Main tournament bracket
The remaining field of 32 fencers competed in a single-elimination tournament to determine the medal winners. Semifinal losers proceeded to a bronze medal match.
Results summary
Rank Fencer Nation Pavel Kolobkov Hugues Obry Lee Sang-Gi 4 Marcel Fischer 5 Péter Vánky 6 Iván Trevejo 7 Éric Srecki 8 Zhao Gang 9 Arnd Schmitt 10 Alfredo Rota 11 Attila Fekete 12 Lee Sang-Yeop 13 Paolo Milanoli 14 Mauricio Rivas 15 Gerry Adams 16 Oleksandr Horbachuk 17 Kaido Kaaberma 18 Jörg Fiedler 19 Iván Kovács 20 Oliver Kayser 21 Jean-François Di Martino 22 Marc-Konstantin Steifensand 23 Angelo Mazzoni 24 Vitaly Zakharov 25 Yang Noe-Seong 26 Christoph Marik 27 Michael Switak 28 Laurie Shong 29 Tamir Bloom 30 Meelis Loit 31 Vladimir Pchenikin 32 Aleksandr Poddubny 33 Andrus Kajak 34 Carlos Pedroso 35 Nelson Loyola 36 Jonathan Peña 37 Wang Weixin 38 Andrey Murashko 39 Nick Heffernan 40 Sergey Shabalin 41 David Nathan 42 Muhannad Saif El-Din
References