| | Event type
Foil, Individual, Women
| Date | 22 July 1996 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia | |
| Participants | 40 from 17 countries | |
| Format | Single-elimination tournament. | |
In contrast to many of the men’s events in Atlanta, the women’s foil went along with expectations and the three medals were won by the three top ranked women in the world. Italy supplied the top two seeds in Valentina Vezzali and Barcelona Games winner Giovanna Trillini but they were thwarted by world #3, and the reigning World Champion, Laura Badea of Romania. Badea ousted Trillini in a classic semi-final where the Italian fought back from a seemingly impossible position to draw level at 14-14 before the Romania forced the decisive hit. Badea’s win over Vezzali was much more straightforward. This was Romania’s first gold in fencing since 1968.
| Pos | Seed | Competitor | NOC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Laura Badea |  ROU | Gold | ||
| 2 | 1 | Valentina Vezzali |  ITA | Silver | ||
| 3 | 2 | Giovanna Trillini | ITA | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 13 | Laurence Modaine-Cessac |  FRA | |||
| 5 | 5 | Monika Weber-Koszto |  GER | |||
| 6 | 10 | Xiao Aihua |  CHN | |||
| 7 | 9 | Ann Marsh |  USA | |||
| 8 | 11 | Aida Mohamed |  HUN | |||
| 9 | 4 | Diana Bianchedi | ITA | |||
| 10 | 6 | Anja Fichtel-Mauritz | GER | |||
| 11 | 7 | Zsuzsa Jánosi-Németh | HUN | |||
| 12 | 8 | Sabine Bau | GER | |||
| 13 | 12 | Lydia Czuckermann-Hatuel |  ISR | |||
| 14 | 14 | Adeline Wuillème | FRA | |||
| 15 | 18 | Roxana Scarlat | ROU | |||
| 16 | 17 | Olga Velichko |  RUS | |||
| 17 | 16 | Gabriella Lantos | HUN | |||
| 18 | 15 | Svetlana Boyko | RUS | |||
| 19 | 19 | Reka Szabo | ROU | |||
| 20 | 20 | Olga Sharkova | RUS | |||
| 21 | 21 | Felicia Zimmermann | USA | |||
| 22 | 22 | Anna Rybicka |  POL | |||
| 23 | 24 | Clothilde Magnan | FRA | |||
| 24 | 23 | Anna Angelova |  BUL | |||
| 25 | 26 | Barbara Wolnicka-Szewczyk | POL | |||
| 26 | 25 | Ayelet Ohayon | ISR | |||
| 27 | 27 | Liang Jun | CHN | |||
| 28 | 28 | Katarzyna Felusiak | POL | |||
| 29 | 29 | Wang Huifeng | CHN | |||
| 30 | 30 | Lilach Parisky | ISR | |||
| 31 | 31 | Ivana Georgieva | BUL | |||
| 32 | 33 | Jeon Mi-Gyeong |  KOR | |||
| 33 | 32 | Suzie Paxton | USA | |||
| 34 | 34 | Fiona McIntosh |  GBR | |||
| 35 | 35 | Yanina Iannuzzi |  ARG | |||
| 36 | 36 | Alejandra Carbone | ARG | |||
| =37 | 38 | Ferial Salhi |  ALG | |||
| =37 | 39 | Dolores Pampin | ARG | |||
| =37 | 37 | Henda Zaouali |  TUN | |||
| =37 | 40 | Carmen Rodríguez |  GUA |
Round One
| Date | 22 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to round two. |
Round Two
| Date | 22 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to round three. |
Round Three
| Date | 22 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to quarter-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout #1 | 22 Jul | Piste 1 | Valentina Vezzali (1) | ITA | 15 – 13 | Olga Velichko (17) | RUS | |
| Bout #2 | 22 Jul | Piste 3 | Ann Marsh (9) | USA | 15 – 8 | Sabine Bau (8) | GER | |
| Bout #3 | 22 Jul | Piste 4 | Monika Weber-Koszto (5) | GER | 15 – 13 | Lydia Czuckermann-Hatuel (12) | ISR | |
| Bout #4 | 22 Jul | Piste 6 | Laurence Modaine-Cessac (13) | FRA | 15 – 0 | Diana Bianchedi (4) | ITA | |
| Bout #5 | 22 Jul | Piste 1 | Laura Badea (3) | ROU | 15 – 6 | Adeline Wuillème (14) | FRA | |
| Bout #6 | 22 Jul | Piste 3 | Aida Mohamed (11) | HUN | 15 – 14 | Anja Fichtel-Mauritz (6) | GER | |
| Bout #7 | 22 Jul | Piste 4 | Xiao Aihua (10) | CHN | 15 – 7 | Zsuzsa Jánosi-Németh (7) | HUN | |
| Bout #8 | 22 Jul | Piste 6 | Giovanna Trillini (2) | ITA | 15 – 11 | Roxana Scarlat (18) | ROU |
Quarter-Finals
| Date | 22 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to semi-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout #1 | 22 Jul | Piste 1 | Valentina Vezzali (1) | ITA | 15 – 10 | Ann Marsh (9) | USA | |
| Bout #2 | 22 Jul | Piste 3 | Laurence Modaine-Cessac (13) | FRA | 15 – 14 | Monika Weber-Koszto (5) | GER | |
| Bout #3 | 22 Jul | Piste 4 | Laura Badea (3) | ROU | 15 – 8 | Aida Mohamed (11) | HUN | |
| Bout #4 | 22 Jul | Piste 6 | Giovanna Trillini (2) | ITA | 15 – 7 | Xiao Aihua (10) | CHN |
Semi-Finals
| Date | 22 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to final. |
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout #1 | 22 Jul | Piste 1 | Valentina Vezzali (1) | ITA | 15 – 7 | Laurence Modaine-Cessac (13) | FRA | |
| Bout #2 | 22 Jul | Piste 1 | Laura Badea (3) | ROU | 15 – 14 | Giovanna Trillini (2) | ITA |
Final Round
| Date | 22 July 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout 1/2 | 22 Jul | Piste 1 | Laura Badea (3) | ROU | 15 – 10 | Valentina Vezzali (1) | ITA | |
| Bout 3/4 | 22 Jul | Piste 1 | Giovanna Trillini (2) | ITA | 15 – 9 | Laurence Modaine-Cessac (13) | FRA |