Foil, Individual, Men

The foil competition in Atlanta was a wild ride. Both the 1993 and 1995 World Champions fell at their first hurdle. Alexander Koch of Germany was eliminated by Ye Chong of China whilst reigning World Champion Dmitry Shevchenko of Russia was the victim of an enormous upset at the hands of the unheralded Korean Kim Yeong-Ho. The drama continued in the round of 16 where a bout between reigning Olympic champion Philippe Omnès and Cuban Elvis Gregory dissolved into acrimony. With the scores level at 14-14 Omnès was alleged to have insulted his opponent. After the Frenchman sealed victory the two men, their teammates and entourages became involved in an altercation that was eventually separated by security personnel. Omnès was eliminated by a teammate in the next round.

The two men who survived the carnage to reach the final were Italy’s Alessandro Puccini, whose successes had mostly been in team competitions, and Frenchman Lionel Plumenail. Puccini won by a score of 15-12 to record what would be the only major individual win of his career. France claimed another medal when Franck Boidin won the bronze medal.