Épée, Individual, Men

Épée was the only weapon at the 1983 World Championships where no medallist came from a country that would go on to boycott the Los Angeles Olympics. Those individual medallists from 1983 were not the ones to prosper in LA and all three exited before the semi-final phase. The two finalists were an unlikely pairing in the form of Philippe Boisse, a Frenchman who had found success as a member of the French team but who had not yet scaled the heights in major global competition and Björne Väggö, a Swede who was ranked outside the world’s top 40. Väggö had reached the gold medal match on the back of a run of upset victories but met his match in Boisse, who won their encounter on a 10-5 score. Bronze went to Philippe Riboud of France who won the same medal in 1980. Boisse added the 1985 World title to his collection before retiring from competition to further his career as a radiologist. His son Eric followed in the father’s footsteps and was a member of the French épée team at the Athina Olympics.