| | Event type

Sabre, Team, Men

Date	3 – 4 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Fechthalle 1, Messegelände (Halle 11 & 12), München / Fechthalle 2, Messegelände (Halle 20), München
Participants	63 from 13 countries

There was little doubt that the USSR would triumph in Mexico. The Soviets had by then won five successive titles at the World and Olympic level and, in addition, their team contained two of the medallists in the individual event. All went smoothly and they duly reached their designated place in the final where their opponents would be an Italian team they had already defeated in the group stages. This is where reality took a divergent course from what was expected to happen.

Led by an inspired performance from reigning World Champion Michele Maffei, Italy upset the Soviets by a surprisingly wide 9-5 margin. The scale of the Italian achievement is best demonstrated by the fact that while they had been nearly unbeaten in the recent past, Italy had not won a medal at any of the intervening World Championships since they had won silver in Mexico.

Hungary beat Romania for the bronze medal.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC
1	Italy	ITA	Gold
	Michele Maffei • Rolando Rigoli • Cesare Salvadori • Mario Aldo Montano • Mario Tullio Montano
2	Soviet Union	URS	Silver
	Mark Rakita • Viktor Sidyak • Vladimir Nazlymov • Eduard Vinokurov • Viktor Bazhenov
3	Hungary	HUN	Bronze
	Tibor Pézsa • Péter Marót • Péter Bakonyi • Tamás Kovács • Pál Gerevich
4	Romania	ROU
	Dan Irimiciuc • Iosif Budahazi • Gheorghe Culcea • Constantin Nicolae • Octavian Vintilă
5	Poland	POL
	Józef Nowara • Krzysztof Grzegorek • Zygmunt Kawecki • Jerzy Pawłowski • Janusz Majewski
6	Cuba	CUB
	Hilario Hipólito • Guzmán Salazar • Francisco de la Torre • Manuel Ortiz • Manuel Suárez
=7	France	FRA
	Régis Bonnissent • Bernard Dumont • Bernard Vallée • Philippe Bena • Serge Panizza
=7	West Germany	FRG
	Walter Convents • Volker Duschner • Knut Höhne • Dieter Wellmann • Paul Wischeidt
9	Austria	AUT
	Hans Brandstätter • Bernd Brodar • Fritz Prause • Günther Ulrich • Erwin Baumgartner (DNS)
10	Switzerland	SUI
	Alain Barudoni • Sandor Gombay • Istvan Kulcsar • Janos Mohos • Toni Reber
11	United States	USA
	Paul Apostol • Bob Dow • Alfonso Morales • Alex Orban
=12	Bulgaria	BUL
	Hristo Hristov • Stoyko Lipchev • Anani Mihaylov • Valentin Nikolov • Boris Stavrev
=12	Great Britain	GBR
	David Acfield • Richard Cohen • Rodney Craig • John Deanfield • Richard Oldcorn
DNS	Argentina	ARG
	Daniel Feraud • Fernando Lúpiz • Guillermo Saucedo • Omar Vergara
DNS	Mexico	MEX
	Roberto Alva • Carlos Calderón • Vicente Calderón • Hermilo Leal

Round One (3 September 1972 — 8:00)

Top eight teams, based on percentage of wins/losses and bouts won/bouts lost, advanced to quarter-finals.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	MW	MT	ML	MW%%%	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost	BWM
1	Poland	POL	3	0	0	1.000	35	13	22	Q

2	Hungary	HUN	2	0	0	1.000	21	7	14	Q

3	France	FRA	2	0	0	1.000	20	10	10	Q

4	Soviet Union	URS	2	0	0	1.000	19	13	6	Q

5	Italy	ITA	1	0	1	0.500	20	12	8	Q

6	West Germany	FRG	1	1	1	0.500	25	23	2	Q

7	Romania	ROU	1	0	1	0.500	14	14	0	Q

8	Cuba	CUB	1	0	1	0.500	14	16	-2	Q

9	Austria	AUT	0	2	1	0.333	20	28	-8

10	Switzerland	SUI	0	1	2	0.167	16	32	-16

11	United States	USA	0	0	2	0.000	12	20	-8

=12	Bulgaria	BUL	0	0	2	0.000	9	23	-14

=12	Great Britain	GBR	0	0	2	0.000	9	23	-14

Pool 1

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	MW	ML	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost
1	Hungary	HUN	2	0	21	7
	Tibor Pézsa • Péter Marót • Péter Bakonyi • Tamás Kovács • Pál Gerevich
2	Romania	ROU	1	1	14	14
	Dan Irimiciuc • Iosif Budahazi • Gheorghe Culcea • Constantin Nicolae • Octavian Vintilă
3	Bulgaria	BUL	0	2	9	23
	Hristo Hristov • Stoyko Lipchev • Anani Mihaylov • Valentin Nikolov • Boris Stavrev

Match #1	HUN	9 – 3	ROU
Match #2	HUN	12 – 4	BUL
Match #3	ROU	11 – 5	BUL

Pool 2

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	MW	ML	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost
1	France	FRA	2	0	20	10
	Régis Bonnissent • Bernard Vallée • Philippe Bena • Serge Panizza
2	Cuba	CUB	1	1	14	16
	Hilario Hipólito • Guzmán Salazar • Francisco de la Torre • Manuel Ortiz • Manuel Suárez
3	United States	USA	0	2	12	20
	Paul Apostol • Bob Dow • Alfonso Morales • Alex Orban

Match #1	FRA	9 – 5	CUB
Match #2	FRA	11 – 5	USA
Match #3	CUB	9 – 7	USA

Pool 3

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	MW	ML	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost
1	Soviet Union	URS	2	0	19	13
	Mark Rakita • Viktor Sidyak • Vladimir Nazlymov • Eduard Vinokurov • Viktor Bazhenov
2	Italy	ITA	1	1	20	12
	Michele Maffei • Rolando Rigoli • Cesare Salvadori • Mario Aldo Montano • Mario Tullio Montano
3	Great Britain	GBR	0	2	9	23
	David Acfield • Richard Cohen • Rodney Craig • John Deanfield • Richard Oldcorn

Match #1	URS	9 – 7	ITA
Match #2	URS	10 – 6	GBR
Match #3	ITA	13 – 3	GBR

Pool 4

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	MW	ML	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost	TD	TR
1	Poland	POL	3	0	0	35	13	–
	Józef Nowara • Krzysztof Grzegorek • Zygmunt Kawecki • Jerzy Pawłowski • Janusz Majewski
2	West Germany	FRG	1	1	1	25	23	–
	Walter Convents • Volker Duschner • Knut Höhne • Dieter Wellmann • Paul Wischeidt
3	Austria	AUT	0	2	1	20	28	–
	Hans Brandstätter • Bernd Brodar • Fritz Prause • Günther Ulrich
4	Switzerland	SUI	0	1	2	16	32	–
	Alain Barudoni • Sandor Gombay • Istvan Kulcsar • Janos Mohos • Toni Reber

Match #1	POL	11 – 5	FRG
Match #2	POL	12 – 4	AUT
Match #3	POL	12 – 4	SUI
Match #4	FRG	8 – 8	AUT
Match #5	FRG	12 – 4	SUI
Match #6	AUT	8 – 8	SUI

Quarter-Finals (3 September 1972 — 15:30)

Winner of each pool advanced to semi-finals.

Match #1	HUN	9 – 2	CUB
Match #2	URS	9 – 4	FRG
Match #3	ITA	9 – 2	POL
Match #4	ROU	9 – 4	FRA

Semi-Finals (4 September 1972 — 10:30)

Winner of each pool advanced to final.

Match #1	URS	9 – 7	HUN
Match #2	ITA	9 – 7	ROU

Classification Round 5-8 (4 September 1972 — 10:30-)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bouts Won	Bouts Lost	TD	TR
1	Poland	POL	2	0	18	11
	Krzysztof Grzegorek • Zygmunt Kawecki • Jerzy Pawłowski • Janusz Majewski
2	Cuba	CUB	1	1	14	15
	Hilario Hipólito • Guzmán Salazar • Francisco de la Torre • Manuel Ortiz
=3	West Germany	FRG	0	1	6	9
	Walter Convents • Volker Duschner • Dieter Wellmann • Paul Wischeidt
=3	France	FRA	0	1	6	9
	Régis Bonnissent • Bernard Dumont • Bernard Vallée • Philippe Bena

Match #1	POL	9 – 6	FRA
Match #2	CUB	9 – 6	FRG

Final Pool (4 September 1972 — 19:30)

Match 1-2	ITA	9 – 5	URS
Match 3-4	HUN	8 – 7	ROU
Match 5-6	POL	9 – 5	CUB