| | Event type
Foil, Individual, Women
| Date | 21 September 2000 — 9:30 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Sydney Exhibition Centre, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney, New South Wales / Sydney Exhibition Centre, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney, New South Wales | |
| Participants | 40 from 21 countries | |
| Format | Single-elimination tournament. | |
Valentina Vezzali, the reigning World Champion, survived a scare against Zsofia Szabo of Romania in the quarter-finals but was otherwise a class apart from her opposition. Two former champions in the women’s foil reached the semi-finals in Sydney, the champion from Atlanta Laura Cârlescu-Badea and Giovanna Trillini from the Barcelona Games. As expected Vezzali beat Cârlescu-Badea but Trillini was upset by outsider Rita König from Germany. König did not repeat her heroics from her two previous bouts and fell to a heavy defeat at the sword of Vezzali. In the battle for bronze between former champions, Trillini emerged triumphant.
| Pos | Seed | Competitor | NOC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Valentina Vezzali |  ITA | Gold | ||
| 2 | 18 | Rita König |  GER | Silver | ||
| 3 | 3 | Giovanna Trillini | ITA | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 4 | Laura Cârlescu-Badea |  ROU | |||
| 5 | 5 | Xiao Aihua |  CHN | |||
| 6 | 6 | Diana Bianchedi | ITA | |||
| 7 | 8 | Aida Mohamed |  HUN | |||
| 8 | 9 | Reka Szabo | ROU | |||
| 9 | 2 | Sabine Bau | GER | |||
| 10 | 10 | Monika Weber | GER | |||
| 11 | 13 | Iris Zimmermann |  USA | |||
| 12 | 14 | Meng Jie | CHN | |||
| 13 | 16 | Sylwia Gruchała |  POL | |||
| 14 | 21 | Magdalena Mroczkiewicz | POL | |||
| 15 | 22 | Ayelet Ohayon |  ISR | |||
| 16 | 25 | Ann Marsh | USA | |||
| 17 | 7 | Yekaterina Yusheva |  RUS | |||
| 18 | 11 | Adeline Wuillème |  FRA | |||
| 19 | 12 | Svetlana Boyko | RUS | |||
| 20 | 15 | Felicia Zimmermann | USA | |||
| 21 | 17 | Edina Knapek | HUN | |||
| 22 | 19 | Anna Rybicka | POL | |||
| 23 | 20 | Olga Sharkova-Sidorova | RUS | |||
| 24 | 23 | Gabriella Lantos | HUN | |||
| 25 | 24 | Julie Mahoney |  CAN | |||
| 26 | 26 | Yuko Arai |  JPN | |||
| 27 | 27 | Yuan Li | CHN | |||
| 28 | 29 | Eloise Smith |  GBR | |||
| 29 | 31 | Olena Koltsova |  UKR | |||
| 30 | 33 | Seo Mi-Jeong |  KOR | |||
| 31 | 35 | Migsey Dussú |  CUB | |||
| 32 | 37 | Alejandra Carbone |  ARG | |||
| 33 | 28 | Miwako Shimada | JPN | |||
| 34 | 30 | Liudmyla Vasylieva | UKR | |||
| 35 | 32 | Jujie Luan | CAN | |||
| 36 | 34 | Olha Leleiko | UKR | |||
| 37 | 36 | Jo Halls |  AUS | |||
| 38 | 38 | Nelya Sevostiyanova |  KAZ | |||
| 39 | 39 | Wassila Rédouane |  ALG | |||
| 40 | 40 | Shaimaa El-Gammal |  EGY |
Round One
| Date | 21 September 2000 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to round two. |
Round Two
| Date | 21 September 2000 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to round three. |
Round Three
| Date | 21 September 2000 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to quarter-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout #1 | 21 Sep | Piste Blue | Valentina Vezzali (1) | ITA | 15 – 8 | Sylwia Gruchała (16) | POL | |
| Bout #2 | 21 Sep | Piste Blue | Reka Szabo (9) | ROU | 15 – 7 | Ann Marsh (25) | USA | |
| Bout #3 | 21 Sep | Piste Green | Diana Bianchedi (6) | ITA | 15 – 12 | Ayelet Ohayon (22) | ISR | |
| Bout #4 | 21 Sep | Piste Green | Laura Cârlescu-Badea (4) | ROU | 15 – 7 | Meng Jie (14) | CHN | |
| Bout #5 | 21 Sep | Piste Red | Giovanna Trillini (3) | ITA | 15 – 4 | Iris Zimmermann (13) | USA | |
| Bout #6 | 21 Sep | Piste Red | Xiao Aihua (5) | CHN | 15 – 13 | Magdalena Mroczkiewicz (21) | POL | |
| Bout #7 | 21 Sep | Piste Yellow | Aida Mohamed (8) | HUN | 15 – 10 | Monika Weber (10) | GER | |
| Bout #8 | 21 Sep | Piste Yellow | Rita König (18) | GER | 15 – 11 | Sabine Bau (2) | GER |
Quarter-Finals
| Date | 21 September 2000 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to semi-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout #1 | 21 Sep | Piste Blue | Valentina Vezzali (1) | ITA | 9 – 8 | Reka Szabo (9) | ROU | |
| Bout #2 | 21 Sep | Piste Green | Laura Cârlescu-Badea (4) | ROU | 15 – 4 | Diana Bianchedi (6) | ITA | |
| Bout #3 | 21 Sep | Piste Red | Giovanna Trillini (3) | ITA | 9 – 8 | Xiao Aihua (5) | CHN | |
| Bout #4 | 21 Sep | Piste Yellow | Rita König (18) | GER | 15 – 8 | Aida Mohamed (8) | HUN |
Semi-Finals
| Date | 21 September 2000 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to final. |
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout #1 | 21 Sep | Piste Final | Valentina Vezzali (1) | ITA | 15 – 8 | Laura Cârlescu-Badea (4) | ROU | |
| Bout #2 | 21 Sep | Piste Final | Rita König (18) | GER | 10 – 15 | Giovanna Trillini (3) | ITA |
Final Round
| Date | 21 September 2000 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | Result | Competitor (Seed) | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bout 1/2 | 21 Sep | Piste Final | Valentina Vezzali (1) | ITA | 15 – 5 | Rita König (18) | GER | |
| Bout 3/4 | 21 Sep | Piste Final | Giovanna Trillini (3) | ITA | 15 – 9 | Laura Cârlescu-Badea (4) | ROU |