Foil, Individual, Women

Top seeded Arianna Errigo of Italy, the silver (individual) and gold (team) medalist in London, seven times world champion since 2009, and one of the heavy favorites, fell victim to 16th seeded Canadian Eleanor Harvey in the round of the last 16. This result may have been the major surprise in the early rounds of the women’s individual foil tournament but was not the only upset for some other top ten athletes. The two best US fencers, Lee Kiefer and Nzingha Prescod, also went out in the same round and Korea’s Nam Hyeon-Hui lost her first bout (round of 32) against Shiho Nishioka, whose previous best result was finishing 21st at the 2013 World Championships. France lost its two competitors, Ysaora Thibus and Astrid Guyart, each to Russian opponents in the quarter-finals. That left two Russians in the semi-finals, along with Italy’s 2012 gold medalist Elisa Di Francisca and Tunisia’s Ines Boubakri who, despite winning a bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships, was the least expected member of the last four. But Boubakri had already eliminated the surprise winners Harvey and Nishioka on her way to the semi-final.

In the semi-finals, Inna Deriglazova outclassed compatriot Aida Shanayeva 15–3 in an all-Russian bout. Di Francisca had more trouble outscoring Boubakri 12–9. In the final, Di Francisca took an early three-point before Deriglazova enjoyed an impressive 7–0 rally in the second period. With only half a minute to go, the Russian led 12–7 but Di Francisca desperately came back with four consecutive points, but the Russian held on for a narrow 12–11 victory. Deriglazova, eight years younger than Di Francisca destroyed the Italian’s dream of repeating her 2012 triumph. Ines Boubakri, however, took home the first Olympic medal won by an African female fencer by beating Shanayeva 15-11 in the bronze medal bout.