Sabre, Team, Men

Hungary’s Olympic championship streak which had started in 1928 came briefly under threat from a greatly improved USSR team. In a politically charged match set against the backdrop of the crushing of the Hungarian Uprising by Soviet troops, the Soviet team only narrowly lost to the Hungarians by a 9-7 margin. Hungary’s other matches were more straightforward victories and guaranteed their sixth successive gold medal in the event. Poland took silver after a 9-7 win over the USSR who had to settle for a bronze, the nation’s first ever in fencing.

The victorious Hungarian team broke up immediately after the Games ended. Aladár Gerevich, Rudolf Kárpáti and Pál Kovács returned to Hungary, continued their fencing careers and all three returned for one final, victorious, appearance at the Rome Olympics. Attila Keresztes, Jenő Hámori and Dániel Magay all fled to the United States and eventually settled there and took up US citizenship. Keresztes and Hámori would return to Olympic competition under the American flag in 1964 at Tokyo.