| | Event type
Sabre, Individual, Men
| Date | 21 July 1996 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia | |
| Participants | 43 from 20 countries | |
| Format | Single-elimination tournament. | |
Russian hopes seemed to have taken a big hit with the exit of top seed and reigning World Champion Grigory Kiriyenko at the hands of Poland’s Rafał Sznajder in round 3. However the other members of the Russian team, Stanislav Pozdnyakov and Sergey Sharikov, rose to the occasion spectacularly and faced off against each other for the gold medal. Pozdnyakov opened up a big lead, Sharikov fought back to 13-12 but Pozdnyakov killed off his hopes by scoring two more hits to win the gold medal. All three Russians were amongst the top five seeds in the competition. There was an upset in the bronze medal match where Damien Touya of France beat the higher ranked Hungarian József Navarrete.
| Pos | Seed | Competitor | NOC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Stanislav Pozdnyakov |  RUS | Gold | ||
| 2 | 5 | Sergey Sharikov | RUS | Silver | ||
| 3 | 9 | Damien Touya |  FRA | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 3 | József Navarrete |  HUN | |||
| 5 | 6 | Felix Becker |  GER | |||
| 6 | 10 | Vadym Huttsait |  UKR | |||
| 7 | 16 | Rafał Sznajder |  POL | |||
| 8 | 20 | Steffen Wiesinger | GER | |||
| 9 | 1 | Grigory Kiriyenko | RUS | |||
| 10 | 4 | Tonhi Terenzi |  ITA | |||
| 11 | 7 | Luigi Tarantino | ITA | |||
| 12 | 8 | Jean-Philippe Daurelle | FRA | |||
| 13 | 11 | Franck Ducheix | FRA | |||
| 14 | 14 | Norbert Jaskot | POL | |||
| 15 | 18 | Fernando Medina |  ESP | |||
| 16 | 21 | Vilmoș Szabo |  ROU | |||
| 17 | 12 | Bence Szabó | HUN | |||
| 18 | 13 | Csaba Köves | HUN | |||
| 19 | 15 | Raffaello Caserta | ITA | |||
| 20 | 17 | Florin Lupeică | ROU | |||
| 21 | 19 | Frank Bleckmann | GER | |||
| 22 | 22 | Janusz Olech | POL | |||
| 23 | 23 | Raúl Peinador | ESP | |||
| 24 | 24 | Volodymyr Kaliuzhnyi | UKR | |||
| 25 | 26 | Mihai Covaliu | ROU | |||
| 26 | 25 | Antonio García | ESP | |||
| 27 | 28 | James Williams |  GBR | |||
| 28 | 27 | Peter Cox, Jr. |  USA | |||
| 29 | 29 | Jean-Paul Banos |  CAN | |||
| 30 | 30 | Tony Plourde | CAN | |||
| 31 | 32 | Jean-Marie Banos | CAN | |||
| 32 | 34 | Yu Sang-Ju |  KOR | |||
| 33 | 31 | Seo Seong-Jun | KOR | |||
| 34 | 33 | Tom Strzalkowski | USA | |||
| 35 | 35 | Yan Xiandong |  CHN | |||
| 36 | 36 | Archil Lortkipanidze |  GEO | |||
| 37 | 37 | Peter Westbrook | USA | |||
| 38 | 38 | Lee Hyo-Geun | KOR | |||
| 39 | 40 | Carlos Bravo |  VEN | |||
| =40 | 41 | Elxan Məmmədov |  AZE | |||
| =40 | 43 | Bruno Cornet |  PAR | |||
| =40 | 42 | Miguel Robles |  BOL | |||
| =40 | 39 | Raouf Salim Bernaoui |  ALG |
Round One
| Date | 21 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to round two. |
Round Two
| Date | 21 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to round three. |
Round Three
| Date | 21 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to quarter-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout #1 | 21 Jul | Piste 1 | Rafał Sznajder (16) | POL | 15 – 13 | Grigory Kiriyenko (1) | RUS | |
| Bout #2 | 21 Jul | Piste 3 | Damien Touya (9) | FRA | 15 – 7 | Jean-Philippe Daurelle (8) | FRA | |
| Bout #3 | 21 Jul | Piste 4 | Sergey Sharikov (5) | RUS | 15 – 8 | Vilmoș Szabo (21) | ROU | |
| Bout #4 | 21 Jul | Piste 6 | Steffen Wiesinger (20) | GER | 15 – 8 | Tonhi Terenzi (4) | ITA | |
| Bout #5 | 21 Jul | Piste 1 | József Navarrete (3) | HUN | 15 – 8 | Norbert Jaskot (14) | POL | |
| Bout #6 | 21 Jul | Piste 3 | Felix Becker (6) | GER | 15 – 8 | Franck Ducheix (11) | FRA | |
| Bout #7 | 21 Jul | Piste 4 | Vadym Huttsait (10) | UKR | 15 – 9 | Luigi Tarantino (7) | ITA | |
| Bout #8 | 21 Jul | Piste 6 | Stanislav Pozdnyakov (2) | RUS | 15 – 11 | Fernando Medina (18) | ESP |
Quarter-Finals
| Date | 21 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to semi-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout #1 | 21 Jul | Piste 1 | Damien Touya (9) | FRA | 15 – 12 | Rafał Sznajder (16) | POL | |
| Bout #2 | 21 Jul | Piste 3 | Sergey Sharikov (5) | RUS | 15 – 6 | Steffen Wiesinger (20) | GER | |
| Bout #3 | 21 Jul | Piste 4 | József Navarrete (3) | HUN | 15 – 7 | Felix Becker (6) | GER | |
| Bout #4 | 21 Jul | Piste 5 | Stanislav Pozdnyakov (2) | RUS | 15 – 14 | Vadym Huttsait (10) | UKR |
Semi-Finals
| Date | 21 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to final. |
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout #1 | 21 Jul | Piste 1 | Sergey Sharikov (5) | RUS | 15 – 14 | Damien Touya (9) | FRA | |
| Bout #2 | 21 Jul | Piste 1 | Stanislav Pozdnyakov (2) | RUS | 15 – 7 | József Navarrete (3) | HUN |
Final Round
| Date | 21 July 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout 1/2 | 21 Jul | Piste 1 | Stanislav Pozdnyakov (2) | RUS | 15 – 12 | Sergey Sharikov (5) | RUS | |
| Bout 3/4 | 21 Jul | Piste 1 | Damien Touya (9) | FRA | 15 – 7 | József Navarrete (3) | HUN |