The son of a sugar refiner, Sydney Martineau was educated at Marlborough College. An excellent fencer, he went on to enjoy a long career. At the British Épée Championship in 1920 he was runner-up to Robert Doyne and, also that year, finished third in the Épée Club competition at Hurlingham. Those successes resulted in him being named in the British Olympic squad for the 1920 Antwerpen Games. He never made the final six, however, in either the team foil or epee events. Martineau did have one Olympic medal to his credit, as a result of finishing second in the team épée event in 1912. He had previously competed at London in 1908.
Martineau never won a British title and, in addition to his 1920 runner-up position, he also finished tied second in 1910, and tied third the previous year. He regularly represented Great Britain in the annual Coupe Internationale d’Épée in Paris. He later became a fencing judge.
Great Britain